(Maximum 200 words.) The Management System for Heterogeneous Networks (MSHN) is a large, distributed research software system project that began over 18 months ago. The primary goal of MSHN is to develop a framework within which next-generation resource management system (RMS) issues can be investigated. The initial MSHN design was developed using basic object-oriented design principles and the initial prototype was built with object-oriented technology. After building an initial proof-of-concept prototype, we looked to the standardized terms, symbols and diagrams of the Unified Modeling Language to explain the functionality of MSHN to new students and staff members of the development group, as well as interested colleagues outside of the group. As we learned more about the UML and applied it to MSHN in further detail, we found that this semi-formal method not only (I) helped us to communicate MSHN's functionality to others, but also (ii) improved our design, helping us identify bloat..
