ECIMF Project Group Meeting, Brussels, Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. Business Context Equivalence Using REA and UMM for Interoperability Andrzej Bialecki WebGiro, Chief System Architect

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 2 ECIMF Principles Top-down analysis Top-down analysis Structured, iterative process Structured, iterative process Business Context: the “plain business” understanding Business Context: the “plain business” understanding Syntax mapping Business process mediation Semantic translation Business context

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 3 The need for Business Context IT infrastructure exists to support business goals IT infrastructure exists to support business goals  IT systems don’t exist in a void  IT systems play specific roles in the business Business context is crucial Business context is crucial  Information is useful only when considered in the business context  Business context determines the meaning of data and information exchange Business flow before technical flow Business flow before technical flow REA is often used as the underlying meta-model REA is often used as the underlying meta-model

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 4 REA Enterprise Modeling Economic exchange as a central concept Economic exchange as a central concept Recently extended to provide a comprehensive meta-model Recently extended to provide a comprehensive meta-model Non-standard modeling notation (can be expressed in UML) Non-standard modeling notation (can be expressed in UML) Economic Event Economic Resource Economic Commitment/Event Type reserves stock-flow participation Economic Resource Type Economic Agent Type Economic Event Economic Agent Economic Commitment/Event Type dual executes reciprocal Commitment custody association typification Knowledge Infrastructure Operational Infrastructure reciprocal dual executes participation reserves stock-flow linkage participation associationlinkage custody description “the type of resources an agent can provide…”

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 5 REA Enterprise Script Enterprise script is a series of processes, consisting of exchanges realized with recipes (ordered tasks) Enterprise script is a series of processes, consisting of exchanges realized with recipes (ordered tasks) Revenue Process other processes stock-flows Customer Rental Agent Car GIVE TAKE CashRcpt Customer Cash Cashier laborcars used carscash Assess Customer Check car File & Choose Assess Insurance & Credit Fill in Contract ProcessesExchangesRecipes (tasks, ordering) Find Car & Keys Check-out Car Return Car Update Files

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 6 UMM Business Requirements View * Slightly different, but compatible with REA Slightly different, but compatible with REA More focused on technical than human aspects More focused on technical than human aspects Provides clear connection with the dynamic aspects Provides clear connection with the dynamic aspects Uses standard UML diagrams Uses standard UML diagrams * simplified Economic Event Economic Resource reserves Economic Resource Type Partner Type Economic Agent Economic Commitment/Event Type Commitment reciprocity duality fulfills resource-flow classifies Agreement Collaboration governs classifies role participation resultsIn establish resultsIn

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 7 ebXML Economic Modeling Elements Closely follows a subset of UMM-BRV Closely follows a subset of UMM-BRV Non-normative and disconnected Non-normative and disconnected  Status of “Technical report”  No specified influence on the BPSS formation BUT: Very useful worksheets in bpWS BUT: Very useful worksheets in bpWS  Could be recommended as one of the Business Context modeling procedures in FIG There is hope for the tools to support it … There is hope for the tools to support it …

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 8 REA vs. UMM vs. ebXML All are suitable for acquisition of the business context knowledge All are suitable for acquisition of the business context knowledge REA provides more human oriented view REA provides more human oriented view  should be easier to understand for the business people UMM/ebXML provide more technology oriented view UMM/ebXML provide more technology oriented view  should be easier to understand for the technical people Each can provide similar results: Each can provide similar results:  Economic exchange view  class/collaboration diagram  Business process view  activity diagram

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 9 Business Context Equivalence What is required in traditional business? What is required in traditional business?  Both partners need to agree on:  The type of resources exchanged  The timing (event sequences/dependencies)  The persons/organizations/roles involved  Each of the partners needs to follow the commitments under legal consequences Business Context models need to be equivalent Business Context models need to be equivalent  Partners need to play complementary roles  Expected resources need to be equivalent  Timing constraints need to be mutually satisfiable  The sequence and dependencies between events need to be the same, even though the individual interactions may differ  Transaction boundaries need to be preserved  Especially those, which cause legal consequences

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 10 Pragmatic Conclusions Use whichever best suits the scope of your work Use whichever best suits the scope of your work  Since the traditional bias is towards technology, REA seems a better choice to counter-balance this… REA is probably more understandable in the SME context REA is probably more understandable in the SME context  Less technical/modeling knowledge required  Less complex scenarios to model Use UMM and ebXML/bpWS for practical in-depth guidance Use UMM and ebXML/bpWS for practical in-depth guidance  The ebXML Worksheets provide a good tool for knowledge acquisition  Though they need to be re-adapted for use with REA!

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 11 Business Context: application Economic exchange view Economic exchange view  Events sequence constraints  Stock management constraints  Legal constraints Business process view Business process view  High-level transaction boundaries  Relationship to business activities  Relationship to business documents All above aspects will limit the degrees of freedom in other integration layers All above aspects will limit the degrees of freedom in other integration layers

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 12 «Event» Rental «Resource» Car GIVE «Agent» RentalAgent custody stock-flow role 1 Tx 1 Example: Business Context model Customer and RentalAgent follow the same collaboration protocol Customer and RentalAgent follow the same collaboration protocol Customer, RentalAgent and Cashier execute commitments according to the Contract Customer, RentalAgent and Cashier execute commitments according to the Contract Rental occurs first, and then CashReceipt (within time constraints) Rental occurs first, and then CashReceipt (within time constraints) The transaction boundaries are related to Events (and legal constraints) The transaction boundaries are related to Events (and legal constraints) «Agent» Customer TAKE «Event» CashRcpt «Resource» Cash «Agent» Cashier Assess Customer Needs Check Car file & Choose Assess Insurance & Credit Fill in Contract Find Car & Provide Keys Check Out Car Tx 2 Return Car Update Files collaboration Rental Agent Customer Collaboration (Business interface tasks) role takes gives 2

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 13 Example: Application Business Context Equivalence: Business Context Equivalence:  Both partners play complementary roles  Both partners expect first Rental, then CashRcpt  They still need to agree on the exact timing!  The collaboration tasks have to be grouped into 2 transactions, which correspond to Events  Both agreed to the type of Car and amount of Cash Conclusions from the Business Context model: Conclusions from the Business Context model:  The assessment of needs doesn’t cause any Events  I.e. the Customer can repeat this step as many times as he wants without any legal obligations on either side  The success of Return Car should depend on success of tasks related to CashRcpt  This collaboration (Customer - Cashier) should be recorded in another activity diagram

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 14 Summary Business Context model is necessary to understand the non-technical constraints Business Context model is necessary to understand the non-technical constraints Establishing the Business Context Equivalence is necessary for any meaningful integration Establishing the Business Context Equivalence is necessary for any meaningful integration  REA provides a formal way to do it REA seems better suited for use in SME context than UMM/ebXML REA seems better suited for use in SME context than UMM/ebXML ebXML Worksheets can be adjusted for use with REA ebXML Worksheets can be adjusted for use with REA More work needed on the equivalence rules More work needed on the equivalence rules More work needed on the application of the Business Context models to other interoperability areas More work needed on the application of the Business Context models to other interoperability areas

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 15 Further Information REA REA  The Ontological Foundation of REA Enterprise Information Systems G.L. Geerts, W.E. McCarthy, Aug 2000  An accounting object infrastructure for knowledge-based enterprise models, same authors, IEEE Intelligent Systems, Aug 1999 UMM UMM  UN/CEFACT Unified Modeling Methodology, TMWG N090 R9.1 ebXML ebXML  Business Process Analysis Worksheets & Guidelines v1.0, ebXML Technical Reports, bpWS  Business Process and Business Information Analysis Overview v.1.0, ebXML Technical Reports, bpOVER ECIMF Project Information Center ECIMF Project Information Center 