Purpose
This short tutorial developed is a non-technical introduction to documenting
the design of information systems using the Unified Modeling Language or UML.
The intended audience is business professionals with no experience in designing
business information systems. However, it is expected the reader has experience
using information systems and a need to collaborate with other business and IT
professionals to develop new technology based solutions.
Why We Model Systems
What are systems? They are a combination of hardware, software and
peripherals collectively working in an environment where together they fulfill a
need of those who use the system. Because there are often many intangible
components, it is difficult to create an accurate representation or model. And
yet accurately modeling the system should always a pre-requisite of building
one. Having good models allows others to understand what is being built and how
it will work. Because business management often has the most to gain from a new
system that will automate value chains in unique and innovative ways they should
be involved in modeling.
Introduction to UML
The Unified Modeling Language or UML is a common language that stakeholders
from many different backgrounds can use to discuss complex systems with very
little training. While UML is simple to begin using, it is also highly
extensible and capable of documenting fine grain details (down to the single
line of code). Consequently, UML has the most applicability for the information
technology team who must fully document and define a system before they can
build it. However, because of the intuitive graphical nature of UML even the
least technical team member can benefit from viewing UML diagrams and make
contributions to refine and improve the system's design.
As the diagram above illustrates, business analysts are most active early in
a project as they document the systems capabilities. Ideally, their work
modeling the system would be used by the technology team to implement a solution
which (hopefully) end users benefit from once the system is deployed.
Now that you know why we model systems and what UML is. In
Part 2 of this tutorial we will dig into the
details of UML. Please continue to Part 2