What's new! (November 10th, 2008)

A compact and computationally complete subset of UML 2 with a full specification of its semantics defined operationally and declaratively. The operational semantics is executable model with methods written in Java, with a mapping to UML Activity Diagrams. The declarative semantics is specified in first order logic and based on PSL.

• Adopted submission: Semantics of a Foundational Subset for Executable UML Models

• Request for Proposal

The Business Process Definition Metamodel (BPDM) is the first standard metamodel to facilitate development of service-oriented architectures within and among enterprises by unifying internal business or department processes (orchestration) with interactions between businesses or departments (choreography). It is also the first standard metamodel to provide uniform performance, enactment, or execution of business processes by modeling common-sense notions of time and process, as captured in the Process Specification Language. The OMG is merging BPDM and BPMN in BPMN 2.

Introductions:

• Business Semantics for Business Processes
  Conrad Bock

  Covers the capabilties of BPDM enabled by its business-level semantics.

• Section 4 (Design Rationale) of the Business Process Metamodel and Notation 2 submission.
  Sections 7.7 (Process, aka Orchestation) and 7.5 (Interaction Protocol, aka Choreography) can be read on their own.

• Execution Interoperability
  Conrad Bock

  Introduces the basic concepts and benefits of BPDM.

• BPDM Tutorial
  Conrad Bock

  Tutorial introduction to the basic ideas and capabilities of BPDM. Covers all necessary concepts, no specialized knowledge is required.

• BPDM Wikipedia page
  

• Rule-enabled Process Modeling
  Conrad Bock

  Gives unified framework for rule and processes based on BPDM, to enable checking that processes are following business rules.

• Orchestration and Choreography for Business Change
  Conrad Bock

  Shows the transition between orchestration and choreography using process specialization, enabled by BPDM.

Specifications:

• Business Process Metamodel and Notation 2 (browse HTML or download zip )
      Submitted to the OMG, with XSD and XMI files.

  The first business modeling notation integrating choreography and orchestration, and interchangable with a PSL-compatible metamodel, BPDM. Contains an updated version of the BPDM document below.

• Business Process Definition Metamodel: Vol. II: Process Definition (HTML: browse or zipped)
                                                                   based on: Vol. I: Common Infrastructure (HTML: browse or zipped)
      Adopted by the OMG with XSD and XMI.

  BPDM, the first standard, PSL-compatible metamodel.

• Introduction to PSL (Process Specification Language)
  By Conrad Bock

  A introductory presentation of PSL.

• PSL and Flow Models (Audio, presented to Ontolog, 1:27 hr, 30.7 mb)
  Conrad Bock

  A presentation comparing the way processes are described in PSL versus flow models, the most common technique in industry.

• Constraint-enabled Process Modeling
  By Conrad Bock

  Shows how to integrate PSL into conventional process modeling.

• PSL: A semantic domain for flow models
  By Conrad Bock and Michael Gruninger

  Shows how to disambiguate common flow modeling constructs by expressing their semantics as constraints on runtime execution.

• Interprocess Communication in the Process Specification Language
  By Conrad Bock

  Extends PSL for interprocess communication. Replaces earlier papers on inputs and outputs and messaging.

• Common Logic
  International Standards Organization

  The language PSL is expressed in.

• PSL web site
  National Institute of Standards and Technology

  Gives the complete PSL ontology, applications, and references.

• OMG Systems Modeling Language (OMG SysML)
  An extension to UML for systems engineering, for requirements-based design of hardware, software, and human systems. It is a response to an RFP developed by OMG and INCOSE.

• OMG SysML site.

• SysML and UML 2.0 Support for Activity Modeling
  By Conrad Bock
  Describes the SysML extension to UML 2 Activity modeling, within a spectrum of activity modeling techniques. It updates information from a previous article.

• Systems engineering in the product lifecycle
  By Conrad Bock
  Introduces basic elements of systems engineering useful in managing the product lifecycle, as expressed in an extension to UML.

• UML without Pictures
  By Conrad Bock
  
  Reviews the primary concepts of repository-centered development with the UML, explaining the relation between notation, semantics, and model compilation.

• Eclipse repository
  Open source implementation of the complete UML 2 metamodel.

• UML 2 Activity Modeling for Domain Experts (UML as a Knowledge Language)

  Presentation reviewing UML from domain experts' viewpoint, and activity modeling in particular.

• UML 2 Composition Model

  Reviews a major upgrade to the UML composition model, which supports connections between parts at the same level of decomposition, which increases independence of reused applications and provides better plug-compatibility for components. Based partly on earlier work on composition.

• UML 2.0 Activities and Actions
  By Conrad Bock
  A series of articles covering the standard models, their semantics, with examples and repository models. Also see introductory presentation.
  • Overview
  • Actions
  • Control Nodes
  • Object Nodes
  • Partitions
  • Structured Activities

• UML 2.1.2 Specification
  Object Management Group

  Includes a major revision of UML activity modeling that gives it a flow modeling semantics, and integrates activity and action modeling, see chapters 12 and 11.

• Martin Fowler's UML Bliki

• UML 2.0 Response to Request for Information
  by Conrad Bock
  Requested Enhancements to UML structural and behavioral modeling for UML 2.

A major revision of UML action modeling covering the coded parts of a system, enabling UML to completely describe an executable system and support retargetable compilation (Model-driven Architecture).

• Goal-driven Modeling, Part II
  by Conrad Bock
  Elaborates on goal-driven modeling with extensions to object-oriented languages that directly support goal-driven modeling.

• Goal-driven Modeling
  by Conrad Bock
  The parts of a behavior interface are reviewed, and a goal-based technique for defining them is presented. Focusing on goals coordinates the choices involved in designing behavior interfaces, links them more closely to the object model, and places object-orientation within a spectrum of modeling styles that includes event-driven and rule-based approaches.

• A More Object-oriented State Machine
  by Conrad Bock
  Identifies two common approaches to state modeling and explains why they provide more powerful analysis when combined under an object-oriented framework. The technique, an elaboration of Gamma's State Pattern, is proposed as an extension to UML.

• Unified Behavior Models
  by Conrad Bock
  Examines language unification in general and of the three models above in particular, taking Unified Modeling Language (UML) as a case study.

• Three Kinds of Behavior Model
  by Conrad Bock
  Reviews three conventional forms of behavior model and how they can be used in an object-oriented way.

• Part IV: Aggregation
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  Proposes a model of aggregation that supports relations as parts and relations as aggregates.

• Part III: Roles
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  Formalizes the notion of role by extending standard object-oriented concepts.

• Part II: Mappings
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  Shows how standard design of relations is incomplete, and gives a better model.

• Part I: Relations as Object Types
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  Shows how standard analysis of relations is ambiguous when it comes time to implement, and gives a more complete model.

• UML 2 Composition Model

• Html Demo of Inheriting Part-Whole Information
  Tired of modelling part-whole without any connections between the parts? This demo is still in OOIE notation but applies with UML also.

• A User-Level Model of Composition
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  More about part-whole modelling from the user's perspective.

• A Foundation for Composition
  by Conrad Bock and James Odell
  Part-whole modelling from a formal viewpoint.

• Six Kinds of Composition
  by James Odell
  A taxonomy of part-whole modelling based on research in cognitive science.

An annotated description of a pre-UML metamodel (much better than UML!). It is Object-Oriented Information Engineering in terms of a small subset of itself, with clickable graphics.

• Jim Odell's web site, also covers analysis and design topics.

• UML Extensions for Agents
  by James Odell and Conrad Bock