Abstract
One of the key success points of a data warehousing project is the design of the multidimensional schema. Many researches shows that the use of ontologies in information system design is becoming more and more promising. In this paper, we propose a method for multidimensional design of data warehouses, from an operational data source, using ontologies. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of multidimensional ontology as a tool for the specification of multidimensional knowledge. In addition, we present an ontology-based method for data modeling schema that eventually covers different phases of the data warehouse life cycle, and takes into account the users by considering their personalized needs as well as their knowledge of the domain.