APPENDIX I UML Interfaces

SIMPROCESS and Unified Modeling Language (UML) tools complement each other by bridging the gap from business analysis to systems analysis. SIMPROCESS is used for the business process models, and UML tools are used for the systems models. These tools work together in documenting the operational architecture of a business. They communicate the content of the business requirements and the systems requirements and designs by using both notations in combination.

UML-based tools such as Rational Rose focus on Systems Modeling to help define requirements, model designs, and develop object-oriented code such as Java. Rational Rose is one of the leading tools on the market for system modeling activities in a software development life cycle, but other capable tools support the UML standard.

UML tools do not fully address the functional/business process modeling requirements. For example, Use Cases and Activity Diagrams are the only views UML has for modeling any part of the business process, but they still focus on the "system" needs in the models rather than the function or business steps. For instance, Use Cases show Actors (usually people) interacting with objects (usually realized as object oriented components such as Java classes). This helps to understand the system transactions but does not model the full breadth of the business workflow or process. Activity diagrams similarly model activity steps that can be used to model business flow diagrams but typically focus on objects and transition of states between objects based on changes to the objects in a system transaction. Activity diagrams do not provide the dimensions needed to do robust business process analysis such as dynamic modeling, entity flow simulations, resource utilization, queueing theory, and cost based business metrics.

SIMPROCESS focuses on the functional and business work flow (including manual/physical processes that have nothing to do with the system but need to be understood and modeled in order to build a system to support the business properly) and not just on the system transactions. This is made clear when looking at how activities such as delays, splits, joins, batching, unbatching, assembling, etc., are described for behavior in a SIMPROCESS model. These are representative of business activities that people do in carrying out their jobs regardless of what interaction they have with the system. In addition, SIMPROCESS looks at the resources, entities, and workflow as a complete dynamic model that allows visualization of how the business works both from manual steps and system interaction. This is important in order to match up the business transactions with the system transactions.

SIMPROCESS has a more functional and business view and focuses on activity based costing metrics, throughput, bottlenecks, timing, re-work and other business performance metrics regardless of the system that is supporting the business. This is why business and functional representatives prefer SIMPROCESS for the business modeling - it speaks their language. SIMPROCESS focuses on the business concerns and not all the system modeling notations and methods (which often confuses functional people). The dynamic modeling capabilities for business metrics are non-existent in UML modeling tools. This is appropriate since UML tools are system analysis, design, and development tools, not process and workflow modeling tools.

There is a clear gap between business analysis and systems analysis. SIMPROCESS focuses on the business analysis and UML tools focus on the systems analysis. Clearly, both are needed from business requirements to systems requirements to system design to system development. They work hand in hand and not in opposition to each other. This gap in business analysis and systems analysis is the basis for the SIMPROCESS to UML interfaces. These interfaces use the complementary strengths of both UML and SIMPROCESS to provide customers a complete toolset for business and systems modeling.

SIMPROCESS has two basic interfaces to UML. One is the ability to export a SIMPROCESS model to a UML Activity Diagram. The export to Activity Diagrams is based on the standard UML XMI specification and provides a transfer of the SIMPROCESS activities and connectors to UML activities and transitions. In addition, SIMPROCESS Entities and Resources are exported as UML Classes (with attributes included); however, the classes are not accompanied by a UML Class Diagram. The Activity Diagram includes the Diagram information for Rational Rose only. The XMI activity information can be imported into any UML tool other than Rational Rose that supports XMI by simply deleting the Diagram information at the bottom of the XMI file that is created from the export process.

The other type of interface is an active link between activity nodes on a SIMPROCESS model and Use Case Diagrams in a Rational Rose model. This interface requires a Microsoft Windows version of SIMPROCESS and a licensed copy of Rational Rose.

Exporting to UML

This capability can be used by selecting File/Export/UML Activity Model from the SIMPROCESS menus. It outputs the model to a UML compatible XML file. No dialog is displayed for this export operation. The file is created in the model's directory with a .xml extension and is compatible with Rational Rose, including diagram information. The XMI file may be compatible with other UML tools as well, such as the ArgoUML open source tool, but diagram information intended for Rational Rose will not be compatible with other UML tools.

To import the model into Rational Rose, Rational Rose must have the Import/Export XMI plug-in installed. This plug-in can be obtained from the Rational Rose web site (www.rational.com). Once it is installed, simply choose the Import UML Model from the Tools menu in Rational Rose.

Rose Use Cases

SIMPROCESS provides the capability for the user to connect nodes (activities) on the SIMPROCESS model directly to a Rose Use Case Diagram. This allows for a seamless flow from business process modeling and simulation analysis in SIMPROCESS to systems models in Rose. Exported HTML views of the SIMPROCESS models (page 23) are directly linked to Rational Rose exported HTML models. This gives stakeholders a seamless wide area review of the business process models with Rose Use Case models. SIMPROCESS models typically include both manual process steps (activities) and steps that are automated with information technology. This capability ties the manual process steps and the automated process steps (supported by Use Case links) together so that the system requirements are in complete context with the business process.

This feature is licensed by CACI separately from SIMPROCESS and is only available with the Windows version of SIMPROCESS. For this feature to be active, the additional license must be purchased, and Rational Rose must be installed.

Clicking Rose Use Case brings up the following dialog. The path to a Rose model file can be entered or the Browse button can be used to select a Rose model file. Once a Rose model has been selected, a reference to it is stored in the SIMPROCESS model file for subsequent use (this reference will be invalidated if the file is later moved or renamed). The connection to a Rose model remains until the model file name is cleared, and the OK button is clicked.

Once a Rose model is connected to the SIMPROCESS model, the Details button will connect SIMPROCESS to a licensed copy of Rational Rose using the Rational Rose Automation capability. If a successful connection and load of the Rose model is completed (this occurs in the background), a window like the one shown below is presented listing all the Rose views and subordinate packages that contain Use Case Diagrams. Note that if a package or view does not contain any Use Case Diagrams, it is not included in the window since the SIMPROCESS connection is to Use Case Diagrams only.

Utilizing this window, a Use Case Diagram can be navigated to and selected to associate with the SIMPROCESS activity node. Note that the structure in the dialog is a simple Tree structure that works like other graphical file directory trees.

A single Use Case Diagram can be selected by clicking on it and then clicking the OK button. This action will assign that Use Case Diagram to the SIMPROCESS activity node. Optionally, the Show/Hide Rose button can be selected to bring the Rose tool and model up on the screen so that it is available. Once Rose is visible the Rose model can be modified as desired, and the Rose model can be saved. However, any new Use Case Diagrams added will not automatically appear in the SIMPROCESS Use Case List window until it is closed and reopened.

After a Use Case Diagram is selected and the OK button is clicked, the Use Case Diagram information will be added into the SIMPROCESS dialog, as shown below. The Use Case Diagram name and fully qualified name (which includes the entire package structure in Rose) are not directly editable. To clear the Use Case Diagram connection, simply select and clear the Selected Rose Model File field in this dialog and click OK. To change the Use Case Diagram Selected (the node to which SIMPROCESS is connected), simply click on the Details button and choose another Rose Use Case Diagram from the Use Case Diagram dialog as described above.

An important feature of this Use Case Diagram connection between SIMPROCESS and Rational Rose is that when the Rose model is published to HTML and the SIMPROCESS model is published to HTML, the SIMPROCESS HTML nodes will be automatically linked to the Rose Use Case Diagrams in the HTML. For this feature to work, the Rose published model must be in a directory named rose within the directory of the SIMPROCESS published model on the disk drive or web server. When navigating the SIMPROCESS published HTML model, moving the mouse pointer over a SIMPROCESS activity node that has been connected to a Rose Use Case Diagram as described in this section gets a Javascript popup that links directly to the Rose published HTML Use Case Diagram automatically. This capability is very useful for wide area review of business process models that have Use Case functional requirements attached to certain nodes in the SIMPROCESS model. Hence, the business process requirements and the system requirements are in context of each other using this technique.