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Book review: “Project Management with UML and Enterprise Architect”

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:08:58 +0000

The book “Project Management with UML and Enterprise Architect” is a translated version of the german book “Projektabwicklung mit UML und Enterprise Architect”.
This book is a great ressource and guide for UML with Enterprise Architect, which you can use for EA Trainings and even for self-studying.
It gives you a good and compact overview of UML 2.1 including a comprehensive description of the 13 UML diagram types:
Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, Class Diagram, State Machine Diagram, Package Diagram, Interaction Diagram, Sequence Diagram, Communication Diagram, Interaction Overview Diagram, Component Diagram, Deployment Diagram, Timing Diagram, Composite Structure Diagram, Object Diagram.

Next step is an introduction to Enterprise Architect. Here you will learn how to start a new project, the use of a model project, setting up user defined structures.

Within the Online Banking Example you will learn a lot about:
- Specification
- Tasks
- Use Case Diagrams
- Use Case Descriptions
- Activity Diagrams
- Child Diagrams
- Domain Model
- Code generation and much more…

The book closes with Extended Functionality of Enterprise Architect, which brings you close to the:
- Use of Stereotypes
- Relationship Matrix
- Creation of documents

Don’t miss “Project Management with UML and Enterprise Architect”. You can directly order it here, or go to your favorite book-store.
ISBN-10:3-9502692-1-5
ISBN-13:978-3-9502692-1-5

The BPMDummies

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:10:59 +0000

Take a look at this 2 funny videos about Mr. Ed N Sand and his problems with BPM Technology.

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:08:11 +0000

The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) will define a Business Process Diagram (BPD) of business process operations. The informations for the notations are based on flowcharting techniques tailored for creating graphical models. This notation is easy readable and understandable for all business user and all other people involved in this project. Business Analysts are creating drafts of processes, technical developers implement the technology for those processes and at least the business people manage and track those processes.

BPMN models are holding only simple diagrams with a small set of graphical elements:

Flow Elements
- Activity
- Events
- Gateways
- Sequence flows
- Message flows
- Associations

Swimlanes/Partitions
- Pools
- Lanes

Artifacts
- Data objects
- Groups
-Annotations

One of the key features of BPMN, is the ability to create hierarchical decomposition of processes into smaller tasks. You also have the ability to represent looping constructs as well as the ability to have external events interrupting the normal process flow.

“Offpage connectros, which are link triggered intermediate events, for your Upstream and Downstream Activities”.

To repeat loops use “Repeat for Each Supplier” which is an activity that repeats its three contained activities. Repeating either once for each supplier or until a defined time exceeds.

Business Process Model

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:10:55 +0000

Normally the use of UML is more associated with software engineering and software design than with analysis and business prosses modeling, but
raditionally, the UML has been associated more with software engineering and systems design than with analysis and modeling of business processes.

Already in the standard version of UML 2.x you have a rich set of behavioral models you can use to model proccesses, acitivites, people and other information for almost every business.
But there is no need only using the standard UML notation for your requirements. There are two proven and well respected UML “extensions” already on the market.

First is the popular Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), which rapidly became a new standard for modeling and designing business processes. And there is the “Ericsson-Penker profile”. It is used for the visualizisation and communication in business processes, keeping the important flow of information within an organization.

For further information on these two Models you should read:
Business Procces Modeling Notation
Ericsson- Penker Profile

What is UML?

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:28:09 +0000

The official OMG specifiation says:

“The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a graphical language for visualizing, specifying, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of a software-intensive system.
The UML offers a standard way to write a system’s blueprints, including conceptual things such as business processes and system functions as well as concrete things such as programming language statements, database schemas, and reusable software components.”

The most important thing to understand is, that UML is a language for specifying! It is not a method or procedure. With UML you define a software system - UML is the language who writes the blueprint and does not specify itself in that methodology or process.

Following domains can be defined with notation and semantics:
- Use case model
- Communication model
- State or dynamic model
- Logical or class model
- Physical component model
- Physical deployment model

UML also offers the possibility for extending the UML for your specialized needs (for example Business Process Modeling extensions). For further information on Business Process Modeling take a look at the whitepapers BPM.