An extension of UML activity diagram for generation of XPDL document

Abstract

Currently there are a variety of different tools that may be used to analyze, model, describe and document a business process. However, it is difficult to exchange the information of a business process created in different tools because of the distinct information formats used in different tools. The XML Process Definition Language(XPDL) forms a common interchange standard. Generally a business process model can be represented by the UML activity diagram, but there is a difficult task to directly generate an XPDL document from a business process model represented by the standard activity diagram. In the paper we will propose an approach to generate an XPDL document from a business process model represented by the extended UML activity diagram and provide an implementation for the approach. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.