A Unified Trace Meta-Model for Alignment and Synchronization of BPMN and UML Models

Aljia Bouzidi, Nahla Haddar, Kais Haddar

Abstract


Organizations often face information system (IS) failures due to misalignment with business goals. Business process models (BPMs) play a crucial role in addressing this issue but are often developed independently of IS models (ISMs), resulting in non-interoperable systems. This paper proposes a traceability method to link BPMs and ISMs, bridging the gap between business and software domains. We introduce a unified trace meta-model integrating BPMN elements with UML constructs (use cases and class diagrams) via traceability links. This meta-model is instantiated as the BPMNTraceISM diagram, ensuring seamless integration through bidirectional transformation models. To validate our approach, we developed a graphical editor for BPMNTraceISM diagrams and implemented transformations using the ATLAS Transformation Language (ATL). A case study on a loan approval process demonstrates the method’s effectiveness in aligning BPMN and UML elements, improving interoperability and model alignment across domains.


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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31449/inf.v49i16.4974

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