Asimpleapproachtobusinessmodelling

ByFrancoisCoetzee
NowyouknowtheUML.Sowhat? Learningthetechniquesandapplyingthosetechniquesinthebusinessandsystemsenvironmentarenot alwaysassimpleasitseemsintheclassroomorinthelatestUMLbookyouhavebought.Withthisin mindwehavedesignedaverysimpleapproachtomodellingbusinessusingtheUMLtechniques. Butbeforewebegin,weneedtounderstandafewconceptsfirst.Abusinessmodeltypicallyisdescribed fromthepointofviewofthebusiness.Withthatwemeanthatthebusinessmodelshouldbedescribedin thewordsandthoughtsofthepersonsthatexecuteitandthosethatparticipateinit. Whenmodellingabusinessprocess,orsystem,thebusinessprocess/system(=businessproblem) becomesthesubjectofthemodel.Inordertoproperlydescribethebusinessprobleminsimpleandeasy tounderstandterms,andyetnotlosethecomplexity,welookatthebusinessproblemfromdifferent perspectives,orviews.Withineachoftheseviews,differentUMLdiagramsmaybeusedinorderto properlydescribetheview. Forasimplebusinessmodelwewillconsiderthefollowingviews,ordimensions: FunctionalThefunctionalviewdescribesthefunctionsthatareperformedinthebusiness. Functions(drawnasusecases)aretypicallyexecutedbyanactor,whotakesresponsibilityforthe successfulexecutionofthefunction.Usecasediagramsmaybeorganizedwithinpackagestructures. Packagediagramsmayalsobeusedtodescribedependenciesbetweenthepartsofthebusiness. Functionsdefinedinthefunctionalviewtypicallyreferstothe"What"thatisbeingdoneinthe businessandthe"Who"whoperformsit. StructuralThestructuralviewidentifiesallofthebusinessentitiesthatcomeintoplayandhow theseentitiesarerelatedtoeachother.Thebusinessentitiestypicallyrepresentsthe"Withwhat" entitiesthatareusedby,orisaffectedbythefunctionsdescribedinthefunctionalview. BehaviouralThebehaviouralviewisusedtodescribetheflowofactivitiesthatareexecutedinorder tosuccessfullyachievethefunction'soutcome,orworkflowacrossthefunctions.Thebehavioural viewdescribes"How"thingsaredone.Thebehaviouralviewoftenalsodescribeshowthebusiness entitiesarereferenced,orused,aspartoftheactivities.

Figure1.Modelviews

Takingausecasecentricapproachtobusinessmodellingmeansthattheusecasesdrivetheother dimensions.Thisimpliesthatthefunctionalviewwilldetermineanddrivethestructuralandbehavioural viewsascanbeseeninFigure2.

Figure2.Usecasecentricapproach

Theusecasecentricapproachconsistsofafewsimplesteps:

Step1:ModeltheFunctionalView Thefunctionalviewisdescribedbytakingthebusinessproblemandsubdividingitintosmallerdomains. Eachdomainwillcontainrelatedareasofwork,orrelatedfunctions.Thedependenciesbetweenthese domainsmaybemodelledbyusingpackagediagrams.averyhighlevelexamplecanbeseeninFigure3:

Figure3:Highlevelbusinessdomains

Oncethemodelisproperlysegmentedbypackagestructurestheusecasesmaybemodelled.Itisalways agoodideatomodelusecasesaccordingtoadefinitioninordertoavoidconfusionaroundabstraction. Webreakdownthemodelusingmoreandmoredetailedpackagediagramsandoncethenextlevel decompositionsatisfiestheusecasedefinitionweuseusecases.Ourdefinitionofanelementaryusecase is: Anelementaryusecaseisaselfcontainedinteractionthatisexecutedbyoneprimaryactor,inoneplace, withnointerveningtimedelays.Ausecaseisnamedwithaverbandanounthatdescribesthefunctional interaction. Thisleadstousecasediagramsasdescribedinthefollowingfigure:

Figure4.Usecasediagram

Theverbnounrequirementinthenamingoftheusecaseshelpsuswhenweidentifytheclassesinthe structuralview,sincethenounsbecomesthebusinessentitiesintheclassdiagrams.Describingand

documentingtheusecasesareimportantandasmuchdetailshouldbedescribedagainsttheindividual usecasesandactors.

Step2:ModeltheStructuralView Oncethebusinessfunctionsareproperlydocumentedanddescribedinthefunctionalview,wecan documentthestructuralview.Thefirstpasswouldbetocreateclassdiagramsusingtheusecasenouns asthebusinessentities(classes). Abusinessentityrepresentsasignificantandpersistentpieceofinformationthatismanipulatedby businessactors.Theyarepassivethatis,theydonotinitiateinteractionsontheirownbutmaybeused inmanydifferentbusinessusecaserealizationsandusuallyoutlivesanysingleinteraction.Business entitiesprovidethebasisforsharinginformation(documentflow)amongbusinessactors. Thisisillustratedbythefollowingfigure:

Figure5.Classdiagram

Itisimportanttonotethatmorebusinessentitieswillappearfromtheusecasedetaileddescriptionsand thatthenounsfromtheusecasesmaynotbetheonlybusinessentities.Operationsagainstthebusiness entitiesmaybederivedfromtheusecaseverbsandthedetailedusecasedescriptions.

Step3:ModeltheBehaviouralView Inthebehaviouralviewtherearetwoflowsofbehaviourweareinterestedin. Thefirstisinternalbehaviourthatdescribeswhathappensifausecaseinteractionisexecuted.This typicallydescribestheworkflowfromwhentheusecaseinteractionisinitiatedtowhenitlogically concludes. Theseconddescribesbehaviourasitflowsacrossusecaseinteractionsandtypicallymaydescribeentire endtoendprocessworkflows. Bothtypesofworkflowsaredescribedusingactivitydiagrams. Figure6showstheinternalbehaviourofausecaseanddescribeshowtheobjectintheworkflowis derivedfromanexistingclass:

Figure6.Internalbehaviourworkflow

Theinternalbehaviourworkflowofabusinessusecasedescribeswhatthebusinessmustdotoprovide thevaluetheprimaryactorrequires.Thebusinessusecaseconsistsofasequenceofactivitiesthat, together,producesomethingforthebusinessactor.Thisisdescribedusingtheactivitydiagramthat explorestheorderingoftasksoractivitiesthataccomplishthebusinessgoals.Anactivitymaybea manualoranautomatedtaskthatcompletesaunitofwork. Tomodelworkflowacrossusecasesthefollowingmaybedone:

Figure7.Endtoendworkflowacrossusecases

Externaleventswilltypicallyinitiateworkflowacrossenterprise.Anactivity=Executionofbusiness function.Ifthebusinessfunctiondoesnotexist,youmayhavemissedfunctionsinyourfunctional decomposition.

Conclusion Creatingbusinessmodelsthatareeasytounderstandareinvaluabletoolsforunderstandingtheinner workingsoftheorganization,itsfunctions,itsroleplayersandthebusinessentitiesituses,createsand consumes.Itisacriticalfoundationforthesystemmodelsthatdescribethesupportingsoftware architectureandallowsforeasytraceabilityandimpactassessmentsofbusinesstosystemandsystemto business.Usingthesimpleapproachdescribedherewillallowthebusinessmodellertorapidlycreate accuratebusinessmodels. Makinglifeeasy! Author:FreemanThesane