A methodology for specifying and analyzing consistency of object-oriented behavioral models

Abstract

Object-oriented modeling favors the modeling of object behavior from different viewpoints and the successive refinement of behavioral models in the development process. This gives rise to consistency problems of behavioral models. The absence of a formal semantics for UML models and the numerous possibilities of employing behavioral models within the development process lead to the rise of a number of different consistency notions. In this paper, we discuss the issue of consistency of behavioral models in the UML and present a general methodology how consistency problems can be dealt with. According to the methodology, those aspects of the models relevant to the consistency are mapped to a semantic domain in which precise consistency tests can be formulated. The choice of the semantic domain and the definition of consistency conditions can be used to construct different consistency notions. We show the applicability of our methodology by giving an example of a concrete consistency problem of concurrent object-oriented models.

Synthesizing object life cycles from business process models

“…Though the approach has been defined for UML activity diagrams, it is also applicable to models expressed in languages like the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) [12], provided the models use similar constructs as activity diagrams. Synthesized hierarchical statecharts can be used to generate or configure a software system supporting the business process, or to assess consistency with existing statechart descriptions [2,11].…”

“…This way, the approach discovers an object life cycle that is hidden in a business process model. The synthesized statechart can be used to generate or configure a software system supporting the business process, or to check consistency with existing statechart descriptions [2,11], either due to legacy systems or to specific industrial or governmental standards like ACORD (http://www.acord.org) and SCOR (http://supply-chain.org/scor).…”

MaDe4IC: an abstract method for managing model dependencies in inter-organizational cooperations

“…Engels et al [17] develop a method for checking consistency of UML models to decide at which point in time of the development process UML partial models should be consistent with each other. In UML, consistency requirements exist that specify consistency relations between different model types (e.g., a statechart has to accept each stimulus a sequence diagram specifies).…”

“…When identifying relations between two viewpoint models, the goal is to identify their overlap. We adopt the definition of overlap as given by [17]: "Overlap is defined as two specifications which are not independent since they describe common aspects. "…”

Transforming Use Case Models to Class Models and Ocl-Specifications

“…Modeling from different viewpoints gives rise to vertical, horizontal, syntactic and semantic consistency problems [10]. However, the different models must be consistent for an implementation to be feasible.…”