Business Modeling With UML

Until now, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been primarily used to design software, but should you use it to model your entire business as well? That's the intriguing argument of Business Modeling with UML, a text that combines leading-edge enhancements to UML with some solid thinking about business. Written for any manager with some technical background, this book looks at the possibilities of UML used to model entire organizations.



The book makes a strong case for the advantages of modeling businesses in UML. With models, an organization can provide better software, define and implement new goals, and even decide whether to outsource certain operations. The Erickson-Penker Business Extensions for UML, invented by the authors and presented within the text, permit UML to document the entire business enterprise. This book shows how to model businesses, from business architecture to processes, business rules, and goals. Short case studies--for Web-centric and more traditional companies--are used to illustrate key concepts here.



Later sections of the book will perhaps take a little more background in software engineering to appreciate fully as the book presents a handful of business patterns, which offer reusable solutions to common problems (just like software patterns). The authors also look at how to leverage a business model to create better software.



In engineering, a new car is modeled and thoroughly tested on a computer before any physical prototype is ever built. As the authors point out, a business that has accurate models can test out new ideas cheaply and then adapt to changing market conditions quickly. This title makes a case that UML--a tool traditionally used by software developers--is ready to tackle the job. Read this notably informative and intelligent book to see the possible benefits of business modeling in UML for your organization. --Richard Dragan



Topics covered: Business modeling basics, UML notation and Erickson-Penker Business Extensions, class diagrams and powertypes, object diagrams, statecharts, activity diagrams and swimlanes, sequence and collaboration diagrams, collaboration and use case diagrams, component and deployment diagrams, stereotypes, business architectures, business processes, resources, goals, business rules, Object Constraint Language (OCL) and collections, business views and patterns, business goal allocation, business goal decomposition, business goal-problem, and software architectures