Unit 5.

System Modeling

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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

 An external perspective, where you model the context or environment

of the system. (Context Model)
 An interaction perspective, where you model the interactions between
a system and its environment, or between the components of a
system. (Interaction Model)
 A structural perspective, where you model the organization of a system
or the structure of the data that is processed by the system. (Structural
Model)
 A behavioral perspective, where you model the dynamic behavior of
the system and how it responds to events. (Behavioral Model)
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Use of graphical models

 As a means of facilitating discussion about an existing or proposed system

 As a way of documenting an existing system
 As a detailed system description that can be used to generate a system
design finally leading to implementation.

UML: Unified Modeling Language

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 UML

 The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose modeling

language
 Intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system
 Developed by Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson and James Rumbaugh at
Rational Software in 1994–1995, with further development led by them
through 1996
 In 1997, UML was adopted as a standard by the Object Management
Group (OMG), and has been managed by this organization ever since.
 In 2005, UML was also published by the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) as an approved ISO standard.
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 UML

 Dynamic Models
• Behavior diagrams emphasize what must happen in the system being modeled
• Ex: Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, State Transition Diagram, Sequence
Diagram
 Static Models
• Structure diagrams emphasize the things that must be present in the system
being modeled
• Ex: Class diagram, CRC Index, Object diagram, Component diagram,
Deployment diagram

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C
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System boundaries

 System boundaries are established to define what is inside and

what is outside the system.
 They show other systems that are used or depend on the system being
developed.
 The position of the system boundary has a profound effect on the
system requirements.
 Defining a system boundary is a political judgment
 There may be pressures to develop system boundaries that increase /
decrease the influence or workload of different parts of an organization.

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Process perspective

 Context models simply show the other systems in the environment, not how
the system being developed is used in that environment.
 Process models reveal how the system being developed is used in broader
business processes.
 0 Level data flow diagram may be used to represent the context model
 May also be represented as Block diagram of sub-systems

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M
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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 and CRC Index

 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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Class diagrams

Class Identification
1.Hierarchical Object Oriented Design (HOOD) Approach
English Grammar Based Approach
Common Nouns: Class
Verb: Methods
Adjectives: Attributes

2. SOLID Principles
Single Responsibility Principle
Open-Closed Principle
Liskov’s Substitution Principle
Interface Segregation Principle
Dependency Inversion Principle
Class diagrams

• Relationships
 Class diagrams
• Visibility
• Private ( - ) :
• A private member is visible only from within the class
• Protected ( # ) :
• A protected member is visible from within the class and
from the subclasses inherited from this class
• Public ( + ) :
• A public member is visible from anywhere in the system
Behavioural Model

 Behavioral models are models of the dynamic behavior of the system as it

is executing
 They show what happens or what is supposed to happen when a system
responds to a stimulus from its environment
 You can think of these stimuli as being of two types:
 Data: Some data arrives that has to be processed by the system
 Events: Some event happens that triggers system processing. Events may have
associated data but this is not always the case
 Sequence diagram and State Transition Diagram may be used for
Behavioural Modeling

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Data modeling

 Data modeling is the analysis of data objects and their relationships to other
data objects
 Data modeling is often the first step in database design
 Two Models
 Flow Model:
• Shows the movement of data from source to the sink
• Data Flow Diagram is used for modeling the flow
 Relationship Model:
• Shows the relation between different objects of the system
• Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram is used for modeling the flow

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Data modeling

 Data Flow Diagram

 A data-flow diagram (DFD) is a way of representing a flow of a data of a
process or a system
 The DFD also provides information about the outputs and inputs of each
entity and the process itself
 A data-flow diagram has no control flow, there are no decision rules and no
loops
 Levels: 0, 1, 2 … n Level DFD

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 Data modeling
 Data Flow Diagram
 Components of DFD
 Entity
• An external entity that communicates with the system and stands outside of the system.
• An entity may be another system with which the modeled system communicates
 Process
• The process (function, transformation) is part of a system that transforms inputs to outputs
 Database
• database is used to represent storage of data for later use
 Flow
• flow shows the transfer of information (sometimes also material) from one part of the system to
another

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Data modeling
 Data Flow Diagram
 Notations:

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Data modeling

 ER Diagram
 The ER or (Entity Relational Model) is a high-level conceptual data model
diagram
 Entity-Relation model is based on the notion of real-world entities and the
relationship between them
 Components of the ER Diagram
• Entities
• Attributes
• Relationships

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Model-Driven Architecture

 Model-driven architecture is a software design approach that provides a set

of guidelines for the structuring of specifications, which are expressed as
models
 It was launched by the Object Management Group (OMG) in 2001
 Model-driven architecture supports model-driven engineering of software
systems
 Model-driven engineering focuses on creating and using domain models,
which are conceptual models of all the topics related to a specific problem.
 It highlights and aims at abstract representations of the knowledge and
activities rather than the algorithmic concepts.
Model-Driven Architecture

 MDA focuses on developing a domain model which is a conceptual model of

the problem domain
 The domain model incorporates both behavior and data
 A domain model is a formal representation of a knowledge domain with
concepts, roles, data-types, individuals, and rules, typically grounded in a
description logic
 In the Unified Modeling Language (UML), a class diagram is used to
represent the domain model