UMM Add-In: A UML Extension for UN/CEFACT's Modeling Methodology

The tighter coupling of enterprises in regard to information system technology<br> has also changed the way business processes are modeled. Modeling interorganizational<br> business processes is necessary in order to gain a profound and<br> unique representation of the processes involved. However this requires a new<br> methodology especially designed for modeling inter-organizational business processes.<br> The United Nation´s Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business<br> (UN/CEFACT) took up the challenge and started to develop such a methodology.<br> The research efforts became known as UN/CEFACT´s modeling methodology<br> (UMM) [1]. UMM enables the business modeler to capture the business<br> knowledge independent of the underlying implementation technology such as<br> ebXML or Web Services.<br> Due to the popularity of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) the UMM is<br> built on top of it. UMM is defined as a UML profile - i.e. a set of stereotypes,<br> tagged values and constraints - in order to customize the UML meta model for<br> the specific purpose of modeling the collaborative space in B2B.<br> Although the standard is well developed and documented, its complexity and<br> mightiness make it difficult for the novice user to perceive from scratch. Therefore<br> a tool, supporting themodeler in creating a validUMMmodel would help those inexperienced<br> with UMM.We have developed such a plug-in for the UML modeling<br> tool Enterprise Architect 1 called UMM Add-In 2.We highlight the main features<br> of the Add-In and show how the tool facilitates the use of the methodology.