Declarative techniques for model-driven business process integration

Abstract

Business process integration and automation are among the most significant factors driving the information technology industry today. In addressing the manifold technology challenges of integration and automation, new standardization efforts aim at improving the interoperability of businesses by moving toward a declarative specification of business processes, that is, one which describes what a business process does and not how it is implemented. At the same time, Model Driven Architecturet focuses on improving the software-engineering methods with which business process solutions are implemented by separating the business or application logic from the underlying platform technology and representing this logic with precise semantic models. In this paper, we present an approach to the model-driven generation of programs in the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), which transforms a graphically represented control-flow model into executable code by using techniques that originated in compiler theory. We discuss the underlying algorithms as well as general questions concerning the representation and analysis of model transformations. We study a declarative representation of transformation rules, where preconditions and postconditions are represented in the Object Constraint Language. By adopting a declarative approach, we pave the way for future automatic consistency checking of transformation rules and bidirectional reconciliation of evolving models.Model Driven Architecture** (MDA**) has been proposed by the Object Management Group (OMG) to enhance the efficiency and quality of software development and to reinforce the use of an enterprise architecture strategy. Models can be specified from different views, such as that of a business analyst or an information technology (IT) architect, and can be represented at different levels of abstraction. MDA separates the business or application logic from the underlying platform technology and represents this logic with precise semantic models. In particular, MDA distinguishes between Ó

From UML/SPT models to schedulability analysis: approach and a prototype implementation using ATL

“…The object constraint language (OCL) (OMG 2006b) is an integral part of UML that is used to specify constraints on UML models and metamodels. OCL has also been used to express platform independent model transformation (Briand et al 2003;Cariou et al 2004;Garousi et al 2005;Koehler et al 2005). Porres (2003) presented a scripting language for model manipulation.…”

Stepwise structural verification of cyclic workflow models with acyclic decomposition and reduction of loops

“…The first example is the model shown in Fig. 2, and the second one is the workflow of an e-commerce system from Koehler et al [59].…”

“…Koehler et al [59] used this model, as provided with its description in Appendix C, to present their approach, transforming a graphical control-flow model to executable code. They mentioned that this model is a concurrent process, which seems to occur frequently in business process design.…”

“…C-1 shows the model used in the second example of Section 5. It is the control flow of an enterprise-customer commerce system (ECCS), specifying the electronic purchasing of products via a Web interface, from [59] represented in UML 2.0 activity diagram. The model has nine task nodes (represented by rounded rectangles), seven XOR gateways (labeled as D1…D7), and four AND gateways (labeled as F1…F4).…”

Model Checking with Graphical Validation Rules

“…Model-driven software development is accepted in industry. Here an example for leading research may be IBM [13] as well as many other companies. Hence, assuring the quality of models is of utmost importance in model-driven development.…”