Using UML for software process modeling

Abstract

We examine the benefits of using an object-oriented modeling language for software process modeling. We show how the Unified Modeling Language (UML) can be used to model software processes based on dynamic task nets, which evolve continuously during enactment. We have selected UML for various reasons: it is wide-spread, pro- vides a comprehensive set of diagrams for both structural and behavioral modeling, and supports the early phases of process modeling (analysis and design). Like many other object-oriented modeling languages, UML has no well- defined semantics. We indicate how a process model described in UML can be automatically transformed into an executable form, i.e., we pro- vide dynamic semantics for UML models. To this end, UML models are transformed into programmed graph rewriting systems which are used to drive a process management environment. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999.