CF4BDA: A Conceptual Framework for Big Data Analytics Applications in the Cloud

Building big data analytics (BDA) applications in the cloud introduces inevitable challenges, such as loss of control and uncertainty. To address the existing challenges, numerous efforts have been made on BDA application engineering to optimize the quality of BDA applications in the cloud, such as performance and reliability. However, there is still a lack of systematic view on engineering BDA applications in the cloud. Therefore, in this paper, we present a conceptual framework named CF4BDA to analyze the existing work on BDA applications from two perspectives: 1) the lifecycle of BDA applications and 2) the objects involved in the context of BDA applications in the cloud. The framework can help researchers and practitioners identify the research opportunities in a structured way and guide implementing BDA applications in the cloud. We perform a preliminary evaluation of the usefulness of CF4BDA by applying it to analyze a set of representative studies.