DEMO Business Ontology report

Enterprise Ontology IN4148TU Assignment 3: Education Administration Administration Identification of Business Components

Christiaan ten Berg Thie hieme Henni nnis

1149563 1052381

[email protected] [email protected] t.a.hennis@st @student.tudelft. ft.nl

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Index 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................... ...................................33 2. Case description.......................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................ .............................. ................ ..........4 3. Identification of business components........................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................66 Discussing the relationship weights..............................................................................................................11 Graphical representations...............................................................................................................................12 Component description.................................................................................................................................. description...................................................................................................................................13 .13 4. Component diagrams of Business Components.......................................................................................... ..........................................................................................15 15 Services for component 1................................................................................................................................15 Services for component 2................................................................................................................................15 Services for component 3................................................................................................................................16 Services for component 4................................................................................................................................16 Services for component 5................................................................................................................................16 5. Orchestration of business components................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... ......17 17 6. Deployment of orchestration...................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................... .................... .....22 22 7. Remarks and conclusions ........................................................................................................ ................................................................................................................................ ........................23 23 On the Standard Solution................................................................................................................................23 On the Assignment...........................................................................................................................................23 On the BCI-3D tool...........................................................................................................................................23 Appendix A – Standard Solution............................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................... ..........25

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1. Introd troduc ucti tio on This This thir third d and and fina finall assi assignm gnmen entt for for the the cour course se IN41 IN4148 48 – Ente Enterp rpri rise se On Onto tolo logy gy and and Busi Busine ness ss Component Componentss – describes describes the different different steps tow towards ards identification identification and orchestra orchestration tion of business business components. The case used for this assignment is the same case as for the first assignment, namely the Education Administration case, described in the following chapter. A standard solution, on which the results in this report are based, is provided in appendix A. In chapter 3 the BCI-3D tool for the identification of the business components is used. All five BCI-3D tables (io, fun, ioio, funfun, iofun) and the 3D-graphical representation of the dependencies between the nodes before before and after applying applying the optimization optimization algorithm algorithm are provided provided.. Additional Additionally ly the weights assigned to the different relationships we have chosen are listed, including some remarks about the advantages of using the weights assigned to the relationships. Finally a list is given with all process steps and information objects assigned to each single component. In the fourth chapter a UML/2.0 component diagram listing all business components, their services and parameters is included, with an explanation about how we identified the single services. The 5th chapter shows a UML/2.0 activity diagram for the orchestration of the business components to an information system. The result is a component diagram including the orchestration and the service calls. Besides, the single process steps executed by the orchestration are provided as an activity diagram. The last part of the assignment is found in chapter 6. The orchestration and the business components on systems are deployed in a UML/2.0 deployment diagram and the result is explained. The last chapter includes some remarks about the modeling tool and other issues we came about during this assignment, which might m ight be interesting input for next year. year. We would like to thank Dr.Dipl-ing. Antonia Albani for her interesting and informative lectures, and for the BCI 3D modeller tool which really helped us in the identification of the business components. Christiaan ten Berg Thieme Hennis November 2006

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2. Case Case des descr crip ipti tion on The HIT HIT (Ho (Holla lland nd Instit Institute ute of Technol echnology ogy)) is a unive universit rsity y of techno technolo logy gy in the Nether Netherlan lands, ds, comprising fifteen schools, in seven faculties, which offer Bachelor and Master programs in a variety of technological areas. One of them is the school for Information Architecture (IA). This school offers a two-year Master Program with the same name. General information about the program can be found on the (public) website of the school. Although most students who do the IA program have either a B.Sc. in Computer Science (CS) or a B.Sc. in Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management (SEPAM) from HIT, also students from other universities, in principle from all over the world, follow the Master program IA. In the school is a department of Educational Administration that deals with all admini administr strati ative ve mat matter terss concer concerning ning the Master Master Progra Program. m. The operat operation ional al activi activitie tiess of this this department, for which we will use from now on the shorthand name EdA, are described hereafter. The first thing students have to do if they want to follow the IA Program is to apply for admission. To this end they have to fill out the so-called Program Admission Form, of which a PDF can be downloaded from the website of the school. One has to add photocopies (Xerox) of the Bachelor diploma one possesses, or of a diploma that one considers to be an alternative (e.g. a Master diploma). The applications for admission are collected and processed by the Admission Office of EdA. The rules for admission are as follows: 1) Students Students with with a BSc in CS from HIT HIT or from some some other other Dutch universit university y or from a Europea European n university in the so-called IDEA-league1 are directly admitted. 2) Students Students with with a BSc in SEPAM SEPAM from HIT or or with a BSc in Business Business Administrat Administration ion from from a Dutch university are directly admitted. 3) All other other applicatio applications ns are passed passed through through to the Program Program Directo Directorr of the IA Progr Program. am. The Program Director decides on all other individual cases, and in doing so also refines existing admission rules and may conceive new ones. These rules are stored in the so-called Admission Rule Base, which originally only contained the first two rules above. Approved admissions are entered into MASH (MSc Administration System HIT). A confirmation of the approval of an admission is sent to the student by e-mail, as well as by a written letter, which is sent by the public postal mail service. After having been admitted, students have to enroll in the courses they want to follow by means of the WhiteBoard system. The complete program and schedule of the courses can be found on the school’s website. Successful enrolments are confirmed to the students by a corresponding e-mail message. The WhiteBoard system is also used for all kinds of communication between the lecturers of the courses and the students. The scheduling of the courses is also a task of the EdA. Scheduling a course means that one has to find a free lecture time slot and a free lecture hall for a course, such that there are no conflicts of coinciding lectures within the IA program. Put differently, students can always take the courses they want. A lecture time slot consists of two consecutive lecture hours. A lecture hour effectively is 45 minutes, since by tradition it starts with 15 minutes spare time. A weekday has 8 lecture hours, usually identified by the numbers 1 through 8. So, an example of a lecture time slot is “Friday, 5 th and 6th hour”. The course year is divided into four periods of 9 weeks. Lectures are given in the first seven weeks. The eighth week is free for study and in the ninth week are the exams. The availability of the lecturers is not taken into account while scheduling the courses, which means that they are considered to be available. Of course, time conflicts for the lecturers in the schedule are avoided. Exams are scheduled either in the morning (9-12 hrs.) or in the afternoon (14-17 hrs.) of the weekdays in the ninth week of a period. This is also a task of the EdA. Students have to register explicitly for the

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exams, via MASH. The system produces a list of all registered students for an exam, which is sent to the examinator (who is usually the same professor as the lecturer of the course). After having valuated the answers of the students, the examinator writes the grades on the list and sends it back to the EdA. These data then are processed processed in MASH. For security reasons, reasons, students are not able to inspect inspect their grades online. Instead they can apply to the students’ desk of the EdA and ask for a printout of all their grades. The grades per course are also published on the WhiteBoard system. They can be accessed by the students on the basis of their personal user code and password. If a student has passed all exams of the IA Master Program, he or she is entitled to receive the diploma. In order to get a diploma, one has to fill out the so-called Diploma Application Form, which can be downloaded from the school’s website. These forms have to be handed over or sent to the EdA who passes passes them them to the Examinati Examination on Board. Board. This This board board formal formally ly decide decidess about about the issuin issuing g of diplomas. The EdA records these decisions.

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3. Identifi Identificati cation on of business business component componentss In this chapter the BCI-3D tool for the identification of the business components was used. All five BCI-3D BCI-3D tables tables (io, fun, ioio, funfun, iofun) and the 3D-graphical 3D-graphical representation representation of the dependencies dependencies between the nodes before and after applying the optimization algorithm are provided. Also the weights assigned to the different relationships are given. Some remarks about the advantages of using the weights assigned to the relationships have been made as well. Finally a list is given with all process steps and information objects assigned to each single component. IO Admission Appr Appro oved Adm Admis issi sio on Exam Registered Exam Student Registered Student Course Enrollment Person Program Exam Period Course Period Admission Rules Course Schedule Exam Schedule

Shortcut A AA E RE S RS C EN P PR EP CP AR CS ES

is part of external component

CPB4 CPB1 CPB4 CPB1 CPB2 CPB5 CPB5 CPB3

Table 1 - Information Objects

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Function accept program admis mission prod produc ucee prog progra ram m admi admiss ssio ion n prom promis isee pro progr gram am admi admiss ssio ion n requ reques estt pro progr gram am admi admisssio sion state program admission accept ad admission ap approval prod produce uce admi admissi ssion on appr approv oval al prom promis isee admis admissi sion on appr approv oval al requ reques estt admi admiss ssio ion n appr approv oval al state admission approval accept course enrollment prod roduce uce cours oursee enro nrollm llment ent promis mise co course en enrollme lment request co course en enrollment state course enrollment accept exam registration produce uce exam registr stratio tion promis mise exam xam regis gistratio tion request exam registration state exam re registration accept course scheduling prod roduce uce cours oursee sche schedu duli ling ng promis mise co course sc scheduling request co course sc scheduling state course scheduling accept co course ma management prod produce uce cour course se man manag agem emen entt prom promis isee cour course se ma mana nage geme ment nt requ reques estt cour course se ma mana nage geme ment nt state course management accept exam scheduling produce exam scheduling promise ex exam sc scheduling request ex exam sc scheduling state exam scheduling accept ex exam ma management prod roduce uce exa exam m man manag ageement ment promi romise se exam xam man manag ageement ment request exam ma management state exam management

Shortcut T01/ac /ac T01/ T01/ex ex T01/ T01/pm pm T01/r 01/rq q T01/st T02/ac /ac T02/e T02/ex x T02/p T02/pm m T02/ T02/rq rq T02/st T03/ac T03/e 03/ex x T03/pm /pm T03/rq T03/st T04/ac T04/ex /ex T04/pm /pm T04/rq T04/st T05/ac T05/e 05/ex x T05/pm /pm T05/rq T05/st T06/ac /ac T06/e T06/ex x T06/p T06/pm m T06/ T06/rq rq T06/st T07/ac T07/ex T07/pm T07/rq T07/st T08/ac T08/e 08/ex x T08/p 08/pm m T08/rq /rq T08/st

is part of external component

Table 2 - Fun

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IO-IO Admission Approved Admission Exam Registered Exam Student Registered Student Course Enrollment Person Program Exam Period Course Period Admission Rules Course Schedule Exam Schedule

related-to P, PR

founded-on AR

state-of A E S

C, S

CP EP

Table 3 – IO-IO

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Fun-Fun accept program admission prod produc ucee prog progra ram m admi admiss ssio ion n prom promis isee prog progra ram m admi admiss ssio ion n request program admission state program admission accept admission approval prod produc ucee adm admis issi sion on appr approv oval al prom promis isee adm admis issi sion on appr approv oval al requ reques estt ad admiss missio ion n ap appro proval state admission ap approval accept course enrollment produce uce course enrollme lment promis mise course enrollme lment request course enrollment state course enrollment accept exam registration produce ex exam re registration promise exam registration request exam registration state exam registration accept course scheduling produce uce course scheduling ing promis mise course sch scheduling request course scheduling state course scheduling accept course management prod produc ucee cour course se man manag agem emen entt prom promis isee cou cours rsee man manag agem emen entt requ reques estt co course urse ma mana nage geme ment nt state course management accept exam scheduling produce exam scheduling promise exam scheduling request exam scheduling state exam scheduling accept exam management prod roduce uce exam xam ma mana nage geme ment nt prom promis isee exam exam ma mana nage geme ment nt request ex exam ma management state exam management

Normal T01/ T01/st st T01/ T01/ex ex T01/pm T01/ac T01/pm T02/ T02/st st T02/ T02/ex ex T02/p 02/pm m T02/ac

Optional

M a in

T02/rq

T03/st T03/ex T03/pm T03/ac T04/st T04/ex T04/pm T04/ac T05/st T05/ex T05/pm T05/ac T06/ex T06/ T06/st st T06/ T06/ex ex,, T05 T05/r /rq q T06/p 06/pm m T06/ac T08/ex T07/st T07/ex T07/pm T07/ac T08/s 08/stt T08/ T08/ex ex,, T07/ T07/rq rq T08/pm T08/ac

Table 4 – Fun-Fun

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IO-Fun Admissi ssion Approv Approved ed Admissi Admission on Exam Registered Exam Student Regis gistered St Student Course Enrollment Person Program Exam Period Course Period Admission Rules Cour Co urse se Sch Sched edul ulee Exam Exam Sch Sched edul ulee

create use T01/ex T01/rq, T0 T02/rq, T0 T02/pm /pm, T0 T02/ex, T0 T02/st, T0 T02/ac, ac, T0 T01/pm, T0 T01/st, T0 T01/ac T02/ac T02/ac T04/ex, T07/ex T04/ac T01/ex, T02/ex T04/ac T03/ex, T05/ex T03/ac T01/ex, T02/ex T01/ex, T02/ex T08/ex T06/ex T01/ex T05/ T05/ex ex T05/ T05/rq rq,, T06/ T06/rq rq,, T06/p T06/pm, m, T06 T06/e /ex, x, T06 T06/s /st, t, T06 T06/ac /ac,, T05/ T05/pm pm,, T05/ T05/st st,, T05/ T05/ac ac T07/ T07/ex ex T07/ T07/rq rq,, T08/ T08/rq rq,, T08/ T08/pm pm,, T08/ T08/ex ex,, T08/ T08/st st,, T08/ T08/ac ac,, T07/ T07/pm pm,, T07/ T07/st st,, T07/ T07/ac ac

Table 5 – IO-Fun

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Discussing the relationship weights The weights we have assigned to the different relationships can be found below in table 6. Adjusting the weights of the relationships enabled us to identify and compose the Business Components easier. We have used a new type of relationship, founded-on, to describe the relationship between the Information Objects 'Admission' and 'Admission Rules'. Sometimes it was a bit hard to "guess" the weights of the various relationship types in the right direction because the BCI 3D tool was somewhat like a blackbox model, you did not exactly know how the different weights would effect the identification process. In the end however we were able to successfully identify 5 components.

Table 6 - Relat ionship weights

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Graphical representations

Figure 1 - Graphical representation before optimization

Figure 2 - Graphical representation after optimization

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Component description In the list below you can find the different business components we have identified by using the BCI3D tool. For each component the process steps and information objects are given. Component 1: Admitter - Admission - promise program admission - accept admission approval - produce admission approval - state program admission - promise admission approval - state admission approval - request program admission - request admission approval - accept program admission - produce program admission - Approved Admission Component 2: Course Manager - Course Schedule - produce course management - promise course management - state course management - accept course management - promise course scheduling - state course scheduling - request course scheduling - accept course scheduling - request course management - produce course scheduling Component 3: Exam Manager - Exam Schedule - promise exam management - produce exam management - request exam scheduling - state exam management - promise exam scheduling - state exam scheduling - accept exam scheduling - request exam management - accept exam management - produce exam scheduling Component 4: Course Enroll Manager - promise course enrollment - produce course enrollment - state course enrollment - accept course enrollment - request course enrollment

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- Enrollment Component 5: Exam Registration Manager - produce exam registration - state exam registration - promise exam registration - accept exam registration - request exam registration - Registered Student - Registered Exam Extern Student Data: - Student - Person Programs: - Program Admission Rules: - Admission Rules Extern Course Types: - Exam - Course Time Data: - Exam Period - Course Period

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4. Componen Componentt diagr diagrams ams of Business Business Componen Components ts Below Below severa severall diagra diagrams ms of the busine business ss com compo ponen nents ts wil willl follow follow,, includ including ing their their service servicess and parameters, with an explanation about how we identified the single services.

Services for component 1 In component 1, admitter, there are only two provided services, because the component is fully independent of other components.

Promise ProgramAdm ission

ProvideApprovedAdmission (Approved Admission Admission )

Component 1 Admitter ProvideAdmission (Admission )

Figure 3 - Component 1 "Admitter"

Services for component 2 In component 2, course manager, there also is only one provided service, which is the service of managing courses.

Promise Promise Course Scheduling

Component 2 Course Manager ProvideCourseSchedule (Course Schedule)

Figure 4 - Component 2 "Course Manager"

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Services for component 3 Component 3 provides the service of managing exams.

PromiseExamScheduling

Component 3 Exam Manager

ProvideExamSchedule (Exam Schedule)

Figure 5 - Component 3 "Exam Manager"

Services for component 4 The fourth component provides the enrollment service.

Promise Promise CourseEnrollment

Component 4 Course Enroll Manager

ProvideEnrollment (Enrollment)

Figure 6 - Component 6 "Course Enroll Manager"

Services for component 5 The fifth component, the exam registration manager, again provides two services, which are Registered Student and Registered Exam . We have defined it in this way, because the transaction of registering for an exam results in two result types, as defined in the State Model of the standard solution.

Promise ExamRegistration

Component 5 Exam Registration Manager

ProvideRegisteredStudent (Regis (Registered tered Student )

ProvideRegisteredExam (Regis (Registered tered Exam)

Figure 7 - Component 5 "Exam Registration Manager"

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5. Orchestr Orchestratio ation n of business business componen components ts This 5th chapter describes the orchestration of the business components to an information system. The result is a component diagram including the orchestration and the service calls. Also, the single process process steps executed executed by the orchestration orchestration are provided as an activity diagram. To ensure the readability of our diagram we have split the activity diagram up into five parts. This is possible because the components are fully independent of each other. However one should read the presented diagrams hereafter as if they are one.

No decision by the Program Director needed

PromiseProgram Admission call received

Call internal ProgramAdmissio n

Call ProduceAdmission Approval

ProcessResults call received


Decision by the Program Director needed

ProcessResult

PromiseProgramAdmission ProvideApprovedAdmission (Approved Admission)

Component 1 Admitter ProvideAdmission (Admission)

Figure 8 – Admitter Orchestration

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PromiseCourse Scheduling call received

Call internal CourseScheduling


ProcessResult

PromiseCourseScheduling

Component 2 Course Manager ProvideCourseSchedule (Course Schedule) Figure 9 – Course Manager Orchestration

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PromiseExam Scheduling call received

Call internal ExamScheduling


ProcessResult

PromiseExamScheduling


ProvideExamSchedule (Exam (Ex am Schedule) Schedule)

Figure 10 – Exam Manager Orchestration

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PromiseCourse Enrollment call received

Call internal CourseEnrollment


ProcessResult

PromiseCourseEnrollment

Component 4 Course Enroll Enroll Manager

ProvideEnrollment ProvideEnrollment (Enrollment) (Enrollment)

Figure 11 – Course Enroll Manager Orchestration

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PromiseExamR egistration call received

Call internal ExamRegistration


ProcessResult

PromiseExamRegistration


ProvideRegisteredStudent (Registered (Registered Student)

ProvideRegisteredExam (Registered Exam) Figure 12 – Exam Registration Manager Orchestration

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6. Deploy Deploymen mentt of of orch orchest estrat ration ion The orchestration and the business components on systems are deployed in a UML/2.0 deployment diagram, which is shown below. below. ProvideRegisteredExam ProvideRegisteredStudent (Registered Exam) (Registered Student )


ProvideAdmission (Admission)

EdA Front-end

ProcessResult Promise Program Admission Component 1 Admitter

ProvideApproved Admission (Approved Admission )

ProcessResult

ProcessResult

PromiseExam Registration

PromiseCourse Enrollment

ProvideAdmission (Admission)

Component 4 Course Enroll Manager



ProvideRegisteredStudent (Registered Student) ProvideRegisteredExam (Registered Exam)

ProvideExamSchedule (Exam Schedule)

ProvideCourseSchedule (Course Schedule)

EdA Back-end

Exam Registration Management

Course Enroll Management

Admission

Course Management

Exam Management

ProcessResult

ProcessResult PromiseCourse Scheduling Component 2 Course Manager

PromiseExam Scheduling ProvideCourse Schedule (Course Schedule)


ProvideExam Schedule (Exam Schedule)

Figure 8 - Deployment of orchestration

In this case we are dealing with 5 separate and autonomous components and related services. These can be divided into ones that have an external function, the Front-end services of EdA, and ones that are internal, EdA Back-end. We assumed that the Back-end services are in some way needed by the Front-end part of EdA, which can be seen in the middle. Furthermore, according to our analysis, the components do not need any external information, and can deliver their services without. Therefore just the services are described, which can be seen on top.

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7. Rema Remark rkss and and conc conclu lusi sion onss The last chapter includes some remarks about the modeling tool and other issues we came about during this assignment, which might m ight be interesting input for next year. year.

On the Standard Solution The results of this assignment are based on a standard solution of the Educational Administration case provided by Prof.Dr.Ir. Jan L.G. Dietz. While studying this standard solution we found some errors and inconsistencies. These errors and inconsistencies did not prevent us from making the assignment properly but did cause some confusion and made us assume some aspects. Below we describe some issues in the standard solution that might need further attention: 

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The Object Fact Diagram (OFD) and Object Property List (OPL) (which, by the way is contradict contradictory ory called called Object Object Property Property Table) together form the State Model (SM) and are completely based on the Action Model. When we made the first and second assignment we have paid much attention on the consistency between the different aspect models and at sometimes it was very hard to ensure this. We were therefore highly surprised that we couldn’t find any of the properties listed in the OPL in the AM. We did not understand why the distinction between Student and Admission was made. Now a Person would only become a student when he registers for an exam or enrolls for a course. Isn’t Isn’t someone who has been admitted for a particular program a Student as well? On page 180 of the book Enterprise Ontology of Prof.Dr.Ir. Jan L.G. Dietz it is stated that the Information Use Table Table (IUT) specifies, for every object class, fact type, and result type from the SM, in which steps of the PM its instances are used. In the standard solution (as well as in the example library case in the book) the result types weren’t specified. This could also mean a typographical error in the book was made. The Admission Rules bank CPB3 has not been described in the Bank Contents Table (BCT)

On the Assignment While making While making this this assignm assignment ent we someti sometimes mes needed needed docum document entati ation on on how to solve solve certain certain problems and address certain situations. However we found that the documentation on the Business Components Identification Process was very little and brief. Below are some of the questions we asked ourselves and problems we ran into:  

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How does one describe self-initiation links in the funfun table? The solution on the SSND case presented in the sheets provided by Dr.Dipl-ing. Antonia Albani Albani and in the paper paper ‘The ‘The Benef Benefit it of Enter Enterpris prisee Ontolo Ontology gy in Identi Identifyin fying g Busine Business ss Components’ by Dr.Dipl-ing. Antonia Albani and Prof.Dr.Ir. Jan L.G. Dietz differs from each other (for example the iofun table). This caused some confusion. In the paper ‘The Benefit of Enterprise Ontology in Identifying Business Components’ by Dr.Dipl-ing. Dr.Dipl-ing. Antonia Albani and Prof.Dr.Ir. Prof.Dr.Ir. Jan L.G. Dietz it is stated that object classes, which are provided by external information systems – that concern the data, which is provided by the external production banks – are traded in a special way in the BCI-3D method. We found the term term ‘tra ‘trade ded d in a spec specia iall way’ ay’ highl highly y am ambi bigu guou ouss and and we had had to ma make ke some some furt furthe herr assumptions in the identification process, especially regarding the identification of external Information Objects.

On the BCI-3D tool The BCI-3D tool enabled us to identify and compose the Business Components easier. However at sometimes it was a bit hard to "guess" the weights of the various relationship types in the right

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direction because the BCI 3D tool was somewhat like a blackbox model, you did not exactly know how the different weights would effect the identification process beforehand. Also we already had an idea which components would had to be identified. So the identification process with the BCI-3D tool became more or less a verification process of your own view on the problem. We would have appreciated it more if the BCI-3D tool provided the solution by it self with as less intervention of the user as possible.

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Appendix A – Standard Solution The standard solution, provided by Prof. Dr. Ir. Jan L.G. Dietz, can be read on the following pages.

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DEMO Business Ontology report

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