Business Modeling With UML: Business Patterns at Work

In this book, Eriksson and Penker (E-P) define UML extensions for describing business processes. Here's a summary of my interpretation of thier ideas:Processes are generally modeled using UML activity diagrams. A "process" is shown as an Activity stereotyped as >. The <<process>> activity is also given a new icon and a set of tagged values. I think the icon was added to make buissness developers feel more at home. Instead of a retangle with rounded corners, it looks like a big arrow. Four base types of objects are shown in a process diagram: Goal, Input, Output and Resource objects. "The input objects are resources that are transformed or *consumed* as part of the process..." An input object may become an output object with a state change, but this is not always the case. Sometimes input objects are consumed. E-P say "An output object can be a completely new object created during the processes or it can be a transformed input object". Another quote: "During its execution, the process interacts with other resource objects, objects other than the input and output objects, that are just as vital. These objects carry information required by the process or they are resources responsible for executing the activities in the process, such as people or machines.". Output objects flowing from one process can become input objects or resource objects flowing to another process. Goal objects define a set of rules for controlling the process. A process diagram is drawn with input objects to the left, resource objects below, goal objects above and output objects to the right of each process symbol. Object flows (dashed arrows) are used to connect the objects to the processes. Just as in standard UML, <<process>> Activities can contain sub <<process>> Activities and Activities. Non-process Activities being automic. The State of an object can be shown with standard UML syntax. A description on the use of "swimlanes" in activity diagrams is also given. Classes of objects and their associations are provided by standard class diagrams. E-P also describe the use of sequence diagrams and state diagrams in a business modeling context. They even provide a meta-model for thier Modeling extensions! The book also describes another type of process diagram that they call an "assembly line" diagram. It appears to be a process diagram that utilizes Packages to represent resource collections. I believe that Eriksson and Penker stayed within the UML standard and in fact thier extensions don't appear to be that "extensive". Mostly some stereotyping, some tagged values and an icon. The second half of the book is dedicated to design patterns for busineess development. But many of these patterns could be very usefull to you. They also show how to provide object constraints using OCL and provide a pretty decent UML primer.<p>One thing that is bothering me about the process diagrams it that they do not show object collaboration very well. I think that

While I didn't really enjoy UML Toolkit I do enjoy this book. The presentation and writing styles are same between books however, which are very structured and easy to follow however.This book does a wonderful job of discussing the "design patterns" around the activities of a business, this is it's strength. While I haven't yet mapped these out in UML to a business I think they can stand on their own outside of UML. UML just makes the flow more understandable.Overall the design patterns are enough to recommend it. Very novel and useful!

The authors effectively present the concepts related to the modeling of the business. Keep in mind that the scope of the book is much borader thans the tradiotional modeling for building computer information systems.

Being relatively new to business modelling in the eCommerce arena, I purchased this book with the aim of guiding me to a consistent diagramatical notation/methodology for functional requirements. Whilst many customers are still more comfortable with the old flow chart and DFD, I was able to at least apply some of the principles behind the notation. I showed someone else in our workshop sessions and they took the details so they could purchase their own copy. I have compared notes with a few others and find that they either have the book or have at least seen it. I would recommend this to someone in the same situation as I was - relatively new to business modelling, yet not naive wrt analysis and design methodologies. For those who are old hands it might still be worth a look.

Sometime ago I have been wondering if somebody will try to bridge the gap between business modeling (the one used by consultants) and software engineering. It would certainly make it easier for people to understand and explain business operations.This book is an application of the UML into the realm of business modeling. It is very good in the sense that it explains and goes through the patterns that form business models. The introduction on UML is pretty short and concise, so if you are new to it try using "Applying UML..." book to get an introduction. Be prepared to sit down and spend some time reading, since the material can be a little bit daunting to try to understand and remember all the patterns available. Overall, I wish I had this book for Systems Analysis instead of the outdated software engineering books that we used.