Extracting Use Cases and Business Processes

[Tom Tomasovic]

Hi,

I have several packages in my model which include use cases and BPMN Business Processes.

I have two issues which are occurring in an extract:

1. EA will not let me move the Business Process object above the use cases in the Project Browser, and the result is that the business process diagram appears at the bottom of the extract, when I need it at the top.
2. When I add a package object to a diagram, I cannot remove the Business Process objects from the diagram (I can control other objects in the package).

I think the underlying issue is that the BPMN 2.0 objects are an extension, since they do not appear in the lists of objects.

In the former case, my document profile seems to indicate that the process object will display first, but the reality is that it displays last. I have also tried making the use cases children of the business process, but that results in them disappearing from the extract entirely.

In the latter case, you can see that there are a number of objects in the package which are not included in the package view. These have been specifically excluded, but I cannot do the same for the business processes.

Hope you can provide some insight!

Thanks!

Tom

[eadocX Support]

Firstly, all BPMN elements can have eaDocX Profiles. You just have to find out which ‘true’ meta-type they are stereotypes of. Most BPMN things are stereotypes of ‘Class’, but there are also other meta-types. To find out, just create ‘Quick Document’ from the package, and eaDocX will figure out all this for you.
AS for the rest of your question, I’m not sure which bit is an EA problem, a problem with your model structure, or and eaDocX problem.
I suspect a bit of all of them.
When I’m teaching people about modelling, I usually tell them to avoid the structure you have: a package, with lots of different important things in it. You have Use Cases, and Processes, plus I guess other stuff related to these two. I always say to create sub-packages: one for the use cases, one for the processes. Tidier, and easier to manipulate.

[Tom Tomasovic]

Works for me.

I was advised to keep the package structure as “flat” as possible, and I am finding that does not work particularly well in many cases. In this case, I have a product which covers business processes, which are realized by use cases (and requirements, etc.). Package structure should probably be Product>>Processes, Product>>Use Cases.

I will see what I can dig up on the element profiles, since I don’t recall them showing up for BPMN Processes, but, then again, I might not have added a process as a specific element to the document. Anyway, I will give that a try.

Thanks!!

Tom

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