From RM-ODP to the Formal Behavior Representation

In this work we consider the behavioral aspects of system modeling. In order to specify the behavior of a system, many different notations can be used. Quite often different terms in these notations are related with to same element in a system implementation. In order to relate these terms and guarantee the consistency between different notations some standard can be used. In this work we show how the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) can be used for the purpose of the mapping of terms from different behavioral notations. In particular, we show the correspondence between terms in UML activity diagrams, UML state diagrams and Finite State Automata by means of relating them with RM-ODP terms. This allows us to consider RM-ODP as a possible meta-model for behavior specifications written in UML, which help to insure the consistency of UML models

Strengthening MDA by Drawing from the Living Systems Theory

OMGs Model Driven Architecture initiative comes at a time where information system builders and integrators have realized that application design and thus application interoperability is not primarily a technology issue but is about understanding different types of systems, involving different professional and scientific disciplines. Understanding requires thinking and thinking is modeling. Hence, MDA provides a framework for modeling systems, especially those systems that are relevant in the context of IT-system integration within and across company boundaries. However, model correspondence, i.e., relations and transformations among models and views in a consistent way, presents a challenging problem for MDA. Bridging of disciplines was also a key motivation for the systems science communities, and in particular for the life sciences. A widely accepted theory about all living systems was developed by J. G. Miller the Living Systems Theory. His theory is striking because the basic concepts and principles are applicable at all levels, i.e., for all types of livings systems, from a cell to a supranational organization. The Living Systems Theory thus provides a good basis for consistently relating different systems and different views. In this paper, we will show how the living systems theory can be used to go about the problem of model correspondences. In particular, we suggest that MDA explicitly use the notions of a model reality with organizational levels based on a modeling ontology that is derived from the living systems theory

"RM-ODP part 2: Foundations" in Alloy

This paper presents the Alloy code for the formalization of “RM-ODP part 2: Foundations”. The formalization is defined and explained in the separate work

A New Definition for the Concept of Role, and Why it Makes Sense

There is widespread agreement in the object community that the concept of role is important for object modelling, but little agreement about what is to be understood by a role. In this paper, we present a new definition for the concept of role in the context of ISOs RM-ODP Foundations for object modelling. We show that the concept of role is similar to that of interface, but that there important differences between these two concepts. We also provide definitions for concepts, related to the role concept, that may also be called roles: role type and role object type. We then make the case for our definitions, showing that they are largely compatible with assertions that exist in the literature about roles

Systemic classification of concern-based design methods in the context of enterprise architecture

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a relatively new domain that is rapidly developing. "The primary reason for developing EA is to support business by providing the fundamental technology and process structure for an IT strategy” [TOGAF]. EA models have to model enterprises facets that span from marketing to IT. As a result, EA models tend to become large. Large EA models create a problem for model management. Concern-based design methods (CBDMs) aim to solve this problem by considering EA models as a composition of smaller, manageable parts—concerns. There are dozens of different CBDMs that can be used in the context of EA: from very generic methods to specific methods for business modeling or IT implementations. This variety of methods can cause two problems for those who develop and use innovative CBDMs in the field of Enterprise Architecture (EA). The first problem is to choose specific CBDMs that can be used in a given EA methodology: this is a problem for researchers who develop their own EA methodology. The second problem is to find similar methods (with the same problem domain or with similar frameworks) in order to make a comparative analysis with these methods: this is a problem of researchers who develop their own CBDMs related to a specific problem domain in EA (such as business process modeling or aspect oriented programming). We aim to address both of these problems by means of a definition of generic Requirements for CBDMs based on the system inquiry. We use these requirements to classify twenty CBDMs in the context of EA. We conclude with a short discussion about trends that we have observed in the field of concern-based design and modelin

The Role of ¨Roles¨ in Use Case Diagrams

Use cases are the modeling technique of UML for formalizing the functional requirements placed on systems. This technique has limitations in modeling the context of a system, in relating systems involved in a same business process, in reusing use cases, and in specifying various constraints such as execution constraints between use case occurrences. These limitations can be overcome to some extent by the realization of multiple diagrams of various types, but with unclear relationships between them. Thus, the specification activity becomes complex and error prone. In this paper, we show how to overcome the limitations of use cases by making the roles of actors explicit. Interestingly, our contributions not only make UML a more expressive specification language, they also make it simpler to use and more consistent

Context Based Reasoning in Business Process Models

Modeling approaches often are not adapted to human reasoning: models are ambiguous and imprecise. A same model element may have multiple meanings in different functional roles of a system. Existing modeling approaches do not relate explicitly these functional roles with model elements. A principle that can solve this problem is that model elements should be defined in a context. We believe that the explicit modeling of context is especially useful in Business Process Modeling (BPM) where the meaning of any model element should be defined precisely. The contribution of our work is at the contextaware modeling framework for BPM. We model a system as the composition of small roles, where each role of a system is defined in its own context

A Synthesis of Business Role Models

Modern Information and Communication Technology open a door for innovations that can improve the functioning of companies. Many innovations can come from the analysis of business processes. Today modeling is widely used for the analysis of business processes. In these work we propose a process modeling technique based on role modeling. To specify a process where one business object may play several roles, a synthesis operation (the composition of two base roles in a third role) has to be specified. All role-based techniques have difficulties specifying role synthesis: synthesis is never specified without the description of actual messages passing between business roles. Such implementation details complicate the understanding of the model and semantics of synthesis become implicit. To specify a business process of a complex system at a higher level of abstraction requires the proper understanding of relationships between roles, when they are put together in one common context. In this paper we define the concept of synthesis constraints that shows relations between roles. Using synthesis constraints allows a business modeler to make explicit his decisions about how the synthesis is done in an abstract and implementation independent way. This approach can be used for building a BPR case tool that enables the discovery of new business processes by means of different disassembling and assembling of roles

Application of Information Management with Meeting Automation Tool

This paper presents results of our research that targets the improvement of workgroup efficiency with technological support for the management of group-related information. We built a software tool that enables all the people in a workgroup to work with information related to their common projects. We present our solution: the theoretical concepts that are implemented, its structure, functionality and architecture

A Metamodel for the Unified Modeling Language

Nowadays models, rather than code, become the key artifacts of software development. Consequently, this raises the level of requirements for modeling languages on which modeling practitioners should rely in their work. A minor inconsistency of a modeling language metamodel may cause major problems in the language applications; thus with the model driven systems development the solidness of modeling languages metamodels becomes particularly important. In its current state the UML metamodel leaves a significant area for improvement. We present an alternative metamodel that was inspired by the RM-ODP standard and that solves the problems of UML. RM-ODP was mentioned in UML specifications as a framework that has already influenced UML. Our metamodel was formalized, thus its resulting models can be simulated and checked for consistency. So, our proposed solution with constructive potential towards improvement of the UML metamodel, may have a significant practical impact on the UML specifications