Formal and efficient verification techniques for Real-Time UML models

The real-time UML profile TURTLE has a formal semantics expressed by translation into a timed process algebra: RT-LOTOS. RTL, the formal verification tool developed for RT-LOTOS, was first used to check TURTLE models against design errors. This paper opens new avenues for TURTLE model verification. It shows how recent work on translating RT-LOTOS specifications into Time Petri net model may be applied to TURTLE. RT-LOTOS to TPN translation patterns are presented. Their formal proof is the subject of another paper. These patterns have been implemented in a RT-LOTOS to TPN translator which has been interfaced with TINA, a Time Petri Net Analyzer which implements several reachability analysis procedures depending on the class of property to be verified. The paper illustrates the benefits of the TURTLE->RT-LOTOS->TPN transformation chain on an avionic case study

A Visual Formalism for Interacting Systems

Interacting systems are increasingly common. Many examples pervade our everyday lives: automobiles, aircraft, defense systems, telephone switching systems, financial systems, national governments, and so on. Closer to computer science, embedded systems and Systems of Systems are further examples of interacting systems. Common to all of these is that some "whole" is made up of constituent parts, and these parts interact with each other. By design, these interactions are intentional, but it is the unintended interactions that are problematic. The Systems of Systems literature uses the terms "constituent systems" and "constituents" to refer to systems that interact with each other. That practice is followed here. This paper presents a visual formalism, Swim Lane Event-Driven Petri Nets, that is proposed as a basis for Model-Based Testing (MBT) of interacting systems. In the absence of available tools, this model can only support the offline form of Model-Based Testing.Comment: In Proceedings MBT 2015, arXiv:1504.0192

A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

A comparative analysis of business process modelling techniques

Business process modelling is an increasingly popular research area for both organisations and academia due to its usefulness in facilitating human understanding and communication. Several modelling techniques have been proposed and used to capture the characteristics of business processes. However, available techniques view business processes from different perspectives and have different features and capabilities. Furthermore, to date limited guidelines exist for selecting appropriate modelling techniques based on the characteristics of the problem and its requirements. This paper presents a comparative analysis of some popular business process modelling techniques. The comparative framework is based on five criteria: flexibility, ease of use, understandability, simulation support and scope. The study highlights some of the major paradigmatic differences between the techniques. The proposed framework can serve as the basis for evaluating further modelling techniques and generating selection procedures

Do Process Modelling Techniques Get Better? A Comparative Ontological Analysis of BPMN

Current initiatives in the field of Business Process Management (BPM) strive for the development of a BPM standard notation by pushing the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). However, such a proposed standard notation needs to be carefully examined. Ontological analysis is an established theoretical approach to evaluating modelling techniques. This paper reports on the outcomes of an ontological analysis of BPMN and explores identified issues by reporting on interviews conducted with BPMN users in Australia. Complementing this analysis we consolidate our findings with previous ontological analyses of process modelling notations to deliver a comprehensive assessment of BPMN

Modelling Requirements for Content Recommendation Systems

This paper addresses the modelling of requirements for a content Recommendation System (RS) for Online Social Networks (OSNs). On OSNs, a user switches roles constantly between content generator and content receiver. The goals and softgoals are different when the user is generating a post, as opposed as replying to a post. In other words, the user is generating instances of different entities, depending on the role she has: a generator generates instances of a "post", while the receiver generates instances of a "reply". Therefore, we believe that when addressing Requirements Engineering (RE) for RS, it is necessary to distinguish these roles clearly. We aim to model an essential dynamic on OSN, namely that when a user creates (posts) content, other users can ignore that content, or themselves start generating new content in reply, or react to the initial posting. This dynamic is key to designing OSNs, because it influences how active users are, and how attractive the OSN is for existing, and to new users. We apply a well-known Goal Oriented RE (GORE) technique, namely i-star, and show that this language fails to capture this dynamic, and thus cannot be used alone to model the problem domain. Hence, in order to represent this dynamic, its relationships to other OSNs' requirements, and to capture all relevant information, we suggest using another modelling language, namely Petri Nets, on top of i-star for the modelling of the problem domain. We use Petri Nets because it is a tool that is used to simulate the dynamic and concurrent activities of a system and can be used by both practitioners and theoreticians.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure