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ByFrancoisCoetzee
NowyouknowtheUML.Sowhat? Learningthetechniquesandapplyingthosetechniquesinthebusinessandsystemsenvironmentarenot alwaysassimpleasitseemsintheclassroomorinthelatestUMLbookyouhavebought.Withthisin mindwehavedesignedaverysimpleapproachtomodellingbusinessusingtheUMLtechniques. Butbeforewebegin,weneedtounderstandafewconceptsfirst.Abusinessmodeltypicallyisdescribed fromthepointofviewofthebusiness.Withthatwemeanthatthebusinessmodelshouldbedescribedin thewordsandthoughtsofthepersonsthatexecuteitandthosethatparticipateinit. Whenmodellingabusinessprocess,orsystem,thebusinessprocess/system(=businessproblem) becomesthesubjectofthemodel.Inordertoproperlydescribethebusinessprobleminsimpleandeasy tounderstandterms,andyetnotlosethecomplexity,welookatthebusinessproblemfromdifferent perspectives,orviews.Withineachoftheseviews,differentUMLdiagramsmaybeusedinorderto properlydescribetheview. Forasimplebusinessmodelwewillconsiderthefollowingviews,ordimensions: FunctionalThefunctionalviewdescribesthefunctionsthatareperformedinthebusiness. Functions(drawnasusecases)aretypicallyexecutedbyanactor,whotakesresponsibilityforthe successfulexecutionofthefunction.Usecasediagramsmaybeorganizedwithinpackagestructures. Packagediagramsmayalsobeusedtodescribedependenciesbetweenthepartsofthebusiness. Functionsdefinedinthefunctionalviewtypicallyreferstothe"What"thatisbeingdoneinthe businessandthe"Who"whoperformsit. StructuralThestructuralviewidentifiesallofthebusinessentitiesthatcomeintoplayandhow theseentitiesarerelatedtoeachother.Thebusinessentitiestypicallyrepresentsthe"Withwhat" entitiesthatareusedby,orisaffectedbythefunctionsdescribedinthefunctionalview. BehaviouralThebehaviouralviewisusedtodescribetheflowofactivitiesthatareexecutedinorder tosuccessfullyachievethefunction'soutcome,orworkflowacrossthefunctions.Thebehavioural viewdescribes"How"thingsaredone.Thebehaviouralviewoftenalsodescribeshowthebusiness entitiesarereferenced,orused,aspartoftheactivities.
Figure1.Modelviews
Figure2.Usecasecentricapproach
Theusecasecentricapproachconsistsofafewsimplesteps:
Figure3:Highlevelbusinessdomains
Figure4.Usecasediagram
Theverbnounrequirementinthenamingoftheusecaseshelpsuswhenweidentifytheclassesinthe structuralview,sincethenounsbecomesthebusinessentitiesintheclassdiagrams.Describingand
documentingtheusecasesareimportantandasmuchdetailshouldbedescribedagainsttheindividual usecasesandactors.
Figure5.Classdiagram
Step3:ModeltheBehaviouralView Inthebehaviouralviewtherearetwoflowsofbehaviourweareinterestedin. Thefirstisinternalbehaviourthatdescribeswhathappensifausecaseinteractionisexecuted.This typicallydescribestheworkflowfromwhentheusecaseinteractionisinitiatedtowhenitlogically concludes. Theseconddescribesbehaviourasitflowsacrossusecaseinteractionsandtypicallymaydescribeentire endtoendprocessworkflows. Bothtypesofworkflowsaredescribedusingactivitydiagrams. Figure6showstheinternalbehaviourofausecaseanddescribeshowtheobjectintheworkflowis derivedfromanexistingclass:
Figure6.Internalbehaviourworkflow
Figure7.Endtoendworkflowacrossusecases