Bridging the gap between business models and system models

This paper discusses links that may be made between process models and Unified Modelling Language (UML) software specification techniques, working from an argument that the whole complexity of organisational activity cannot be captured by UML alone. The approach taken is to develop a set of use cases, which would be capable of providing information support to a pre-defined organisational process. The nature of the thinking, which is necessary to derive the use cases, is outlined using the pre-defined process as a case study. The grouping of transactions and state changes into Use Cases is shown to require design choices, which may vary between particular organisational contexts. Conclusions are drawn about the direction of further investigation of links between process modelling and UML. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved