Toward a logical/physical theory of spreadsheet modeling

In spite of the increasing sophistication and power of commercial spreadsheet packages, we still lack a formal theory or a methodology to support the construction and maintenance of spreadsheet models. Using a dual logical/physical perspective, we identify four principal components that characterize any spread sheet model: schema, data, editorial, and binding. We present a factoring algorithm for identifying and extracting these components from conventional spreadsheets with minimal user intervention, and a synthesis algorithm that assists users in the construction of executable spreadsheets from reusable model components. This approach opens new possibilities for applying object-oriented and model management techniques to support the construction, sharing, and reuse of spreadsheet models in organizations. Importantly, our approach to model management and the Windows-based prototype that we have developed are designed to coexist with, rather than replace, traditional spreadsheet programs. In other words, the users are not required to learn a new modeling language; instead, their logical models and data sets are extracted from their spreadsheets transparently, as a side-effect of using standard spreadsheet programs.