CPM: A Cube Presentation Model for OLAP

On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a trend in database technology, based on the multidimensional view of data. In this paper we introduce the Cube Presentation Model (CPM), a presentational model for OLAP data which, to the best of our knowledge, is the only formal presentational model for OLAP found in the literature until today. First, our proposal extends a previous logical model for cubes, to handle more complex cases. Then, we present a novel presentational model for OLAP screens, intuitively based on the geometrical representation of a cube and its human perception in the space. Moreover, we show how the logical and the presentational models are integrated smoothly. Finally, we describe how typical OLAP operations can be easily mapped to the CPM.