Use of UML for software process modeling

In this contribution, we report on a diploma thesis project which combined two major aims: (1) to try out UML as a specification language for a specific software process model, and (2) to study the general aptness of UML for the software process modelling task. Due to the limited space we can only sketch our work and results here, for a longer version of this article cf. [BH03], for the diploma thesis [Be01]. The EOS1 model, developed by the second author [He97, He03], was taken as subject of our experiment, since there was no prior elaborated formalisation (which might have biased the modelling), it has special features (systematics, orthogonality, transparent structure) supporting such a formalisation, and because there is a good mixture of static and (non-linear, sufficiently complex) dynamic process features. The skeleton for all EOS process elements is the building block hierarchy consisting of systems, components (including subcomponents of arbitrary depth) and modules. Building blocks are the central anchor for development cycles, activities, artifacts, management and quality assurance actions; they determine the repository structure and project documentation. The recursive, scalable structure of this hierarchy induces a similar structure of software processes. Development cycles (the central feature for grouping process elements) always consist of the four development phases analysis, design, implementation, and operational use. They can hierarchically be decomposed into further cycles according to the system structure.