The Existence-Dependency Graph

Abstract

One of the main tasks in domain modelling is the identification of relevant concepts in the universe of discourse. Typical kinds of concepts are classes, attributes, methods and relationships between classes. In this chapter, we primarily deal with classes and relationships between classes. Business object types are classes that represent a set of similar objects in the universe of discourse of an enterprise. For example, in the universe of discourse of a library, we can identify members and books as business object types. As business objects do not exist independently, but coexist and interact with other business objects, relationship types called ‘associations’ are used to capture the semantics according to which business objects are related.