Annotating a Business Intelligence Framework Through Formal Specification Observations

Abstract

Formal methods (FMs) usage is a lucrative option for reliable software development. Advocates of FMs point to the advantages of using formality, while critics point to the steep learning curve in mastering the underlying discrete mathematics and logic in writing formal specifications. Semi-formal notations for specifying a system may facilitate user comprehension of the envisaged system, but such notations could exhibit ambiguous constructs. Combined semi-formal and formal constructs may be possible, leading to hybrid specifications. In this paper, we introduce the notion of observational annotations, whereby the entities of a high-level, semi-formal framework for data management in Business Intelligence (BI) are annotated on the strength of formally specifying critical constructs in the framework. Our work complements one of the pseudo advantages of using a formal specification, namely, discovering properties of the system under development, whereafter the specification may be discarded, and development proceeds using traditional techniques.