Generation of Object Models for Information Systems from Business System Models

Abstract

There exists a gap between business system modelling and object-oriented information system modelling as organization structures and business processes are not explicitly modelled in object models by current object modelling techniques and methods. Organization structures are considered as the outside of the system boundary and business processes are implied by sequences of messages among objects. This gap has caused a difficulty of building object models for information systems that are suited not only to information systems but also to organizations. This paper suggests a new object modelling approach that aims to bridge the gap by building a business system model for organizations and using it as a vehicle for generating an object model for information systems. Three primary business elements (i.e., business processes, organization structures, and resources) are focused and explicitly modelled in the business system model, using business concepts and terms. They are then translated into classes in the object model, using object concepts and terms. Three types of classes (i.e. user interface classes, control classes, and entity classes) are particularly generated by the translation.