Chapter 5 – System Modeling

Lecture 1

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Topics covered

 Context models
 Interaction models
 Structural models
 Behavioral models
 Model-driven engineering

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System modeling

 System modeling is the process of developing abstract

models of a system, with each model presenting a
different view or perspective of that system.
 System modeling has now come to mean representing a
system using some kind of graphical notation, which is
now almost always based on notations in the Unified
Modeling Language (UML).
 System modelling helps the analyst to understand the
functionality of the system and models are used to
communicate with customers.

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Existing and planned system models

 Models of the existing system are used during requirements

engineering. They help clarify what the existing system does and
can be used as a basis for discussing its strengths and
weaknesses. These then lead to requirements for the new system.
 Models of the new system are used during requirements
engineering to help explain the proposed requirements to other
system stakeholders. Engineers use these models to discuss
design proposals and to document the system for implementation.
 In a model-driven engineering process, it is possible to generate a
complete or partial system implementation from the system model.

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System perspectives

 You may Develop different models to represent the

system from different perspective:
1. An external perspective, where you model the context or
environment of the system.
2. An interaction perspective, where you model the
interactions between a system and its environment, or
between the components of a system.
3. A structural perspective, where you model the organization
of a system or the structure of the data that is processed by
the system.
4. A behavioral perspective, where you model the dynamic
behavior of the system and how it responds to events.
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UML diagram types

 Activity diagrams, which show the activities involved in a

process or in data processing .
 Use case diagrams, which show the interactions
between a system and its environment.
 Sequence diagrams, which show interactions between
actors and the system and between system components.
 Class diagrams, which show the object classes in the
system and the associations between these classes.
 State diagrams, which show how the system reacts to
internal and external events.

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Use of graphical models

 As a means of facilitating discussion about an existing or

proposed system
 Incomplete and incorrect models are OK as their role is to
support discussion.
 As a way of documenting an existing system
 Models should be an accurate representation of the system but
they do not have to be complete as you may only wish to
develop models for some parts of a system.
 As a detailed system description that can be used to
generate a system implementation
 Models have to be both correct and complete.

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Interaction models

 Modeling user interaction is important as it helps to

identify user requirements.
 Modeling system-to-system interaction highlights the
communication problems that may arise.
 Modeling component interaction helps us understand if a
proposed system structure is likely to deliver the required
system performance and dependability.
 Use case diagrams and sequence diagrams may be
used for interaction modeling.

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Use case modeling

 Use cases were developed originally to support

requirements elicitation and now incorporated into the
UML.
 Each use case represents a discrete task that involves
external interaction with a system.
 Actors in a use case may be people or other systems.
 Represented diagrammatically to provide an overview of
the use case and in a more detailed textual form.

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Transfer-data use case

 A use case in the MHC-PMS

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Tabular description of the ‘Transfer data’ use-
case

MHC-PMS: Transfer data

Actors Medical receptionist, patient records system (PRS)
Description A receptionist may transfer data from the MHC-PMS to a
general patient record database that is maintained by a
health authority. The information transferred may either
be updated personal information (address, phone
number, etc.) or a summary of the patient’s diagnosis
and treatment.
Data Patient’s personal information, treatment summary
Stimulus User command issued by medical receptionist
Response Confirmation that PRS has been updated
Comments The receptionist must have appropriate security
permissions to access the patient information and the
PRS.

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Use cases in the MHC-PMS involving the role
‘Medical Receptionist’

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Sequence diagrams

 Sequence diagrams are part of the UML and are used to

model the interactions between the actors and the
objects within a system.
 A sequence diagram shows the sequence of interactions
that take place during a particular use case or use case
instance.
 The objects and actors involved are listed along the top
of the diagram, with a dotted line drawn vertically from
these.
 Interactions between objects are indicated by annotated
arrows.
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Sequence diagram for View patient information

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Sequence diagram for Transfer Data

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Structural models

 Structural models of software display the organization of

a system in terms of the components that make up that
system and their relationships.
 Structural models may be static models, which show the
structure of the system design, or dynamic models,
which show the organization of the system when it is
executing.
 You create structural models of a system when you are
discussing and designing the system architecture.

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Class diagrams

 Class diagrams are used when developing an object-

oriented system model to show the classes in a system
and the associations between these classes.
 An object class can be thought of as a general definition
of one kind of system object.
 An association is a link between classes that indicates
that there is some relationship between these classes.
 When you are developing models during the early stages
of the software engineering process, objects represent
something in the real world, such as a patient, a
prescription, doctor, etc.
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UML classes and association

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Classes and associations in the MHC-PMS

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The Consultation class

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 Relationships between Class Diagrams

 Association -- a relationship between instances of the two

classes. There is an association between two classes if an
instance of one class must know about the other in order to
perform its work. In a diagram, an association is a link
connecting two classes.

 Generalization -- an inheritance link indicating one class is a

superclass of the other. A generalization has a triangle pointing
to the superclass.

 Aggregation -- an association in which one class belongs to a

collection. An aggregation has a diamond end pointing to the
part containing the whole.
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Generalization

 Generalization is an everyday technique that we use to

manage complexity.
 Rather than learn the detailed characteristics of every
entity that we experience, we place these entities in
more general classes (animals, cars, houses, etc.) and
learn the characteristics of these classes.
 This allows us to infer that different members of these
classes have some common characteristics e.g.
squirrels and rats are rodents.

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Generalization

 In modeling systems, it is often useful to examine the classes in a

system to see if there is scope for generalization. If changes are
proposed, then you do not have to look at all classes in the system
to see if they are affected by the change.
 In object-oriented languages, such as Java, generalization is
implemented using the class inheritance mechanisms built into the
language.
 In a generalization, the attributes and operations associated with
higher-level classes are also associated with the lower-level
classes.
 The lower-level classes are subclasses inherit the attributes and
operations from their superclasses. These lower-level classes then
add more specific attributes and operations.

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A generalization hierarchy

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A generalization hierarchy with added detail

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Object class aggregation models

 An aggregation model shows how classes that are

collections are composed of other classes.
 Aggregation models are similar to the part-of relationship
in semantic data models.

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The aggregation association

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Key points

 A model is an abstract view of a system that ignores system details.

Complementary system models can be developed to show the
system’s context, interactions, structure and behavior.
 Context models show how a system that is being modeled is
positioned in an environment with other systems and processes.
 Use case diagrams and sequence diagrams are used to describe the
interactions between users and systems in the system being
designed. Use cases describe interactions between a system and
external actors; sequence diagrams add more information to these by
showing interactions between system objects.
 Structural models show the organization and architecture of a system.
Class diagrams are used to define the static structure of classes in a
system and their associations.

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