Conversion of SBVR Behavioral Business Rules to UML Diagrams : Initial Study of Automation

Abstract: Context. Automation of conversion of business rules into source code in software development project can reduce time and effort in phase of development. In this thesis we discuss automatic conversion of behavioral business rules defined in Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR) standard, to fragments of Unified Modeling Language diagrams: activity, sequence and state machine. It is conversion from Computation Independent Model (CIM) into Platform Independent Model (PIM) levels defined by Model Driven Architecture (MDA). PIM in MDA can be further transformed into Platform Specific Model which is prepared for source code generation. Objectives. Aim of this thesis is to initially explore field of automatic conversion of behavioral business rules - conversion from SBVR representation to fragments of UML diagrams. It is done by fulfilment of objectives defined as following: -To find out properties of SBVR behavioral rule which ensure that the rule can be automatically converted to parts of UML behavioral diagrams (activity, sequence, state machine). -To propose mapping of SBVR contructs to constructs of UML behavioral diagrams. -To prepare guidelines which help to specify SBVR behavioral business rules in such way that they can be automatically transformed into fragments of selected UML behavioral diagrams. Methods. Expert opinion and case study were applied. Business analysts from industry and academia were asked to convert set of SBVR behavioral business rules to UML behavioral diagrams: activity, sequence and state machine. Analysis of the set of business rules and their conversions to UML diagrams was basis for fulfilment of objectives. Results. 2 syntax and 3 semantic properties were defined. Conversion rules which define mapping for SBVR behavioral business rules constructs to UML constructs were defined: 5 rules for conversion to activity diagram, 6 for conversion to sequence diagram, 5 for conversion to state machine diagram. 6 guidelines which are intended to help in specification of behavioral business rules that can be automatically transformed into UML diagrams according to the presented conversion rules, were defined. Conclusions. Research performed in this thesis is initial study of automatic conversion of behavioral business rules from SBVR notation to UML behavioral diagrams notation. Validation of defined properties, conversion rules and guidelines can be done in industry as future work. Re-execution of research for larger and more diverse set/sets of behavioral business rules taken from industry projects, sufficiently broad access to business analysts from industry and academia could help to improve results.