Session 2: Understanding the ER/Studio BA Infrastructure
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Before we begin, let’s cover some of the basic constructs that help organize and display the information in ER/Studio Business Architect:
Workspace: The workspace is the top level container or owner of your projects and reference objects. You can only have one workspace open at a time.
Project: The Project is a collection of items relevant to a customer including models, model objects, documents, business rules, etc. For example, a “Human Resources” project might contain a business process model describing the main functions of the Human Resources department, business rules describing the behavior of the organization can be created as reference objects and referred to in the project. You can nest a project within an existing project, where one project is parent of another project. A project need not contain a model, but is most commonly used to organize groups of models. You can have multiple projects in a workspace. However, a project is not required. You can nest models directly under a workspace without using a project to organize them.
Model: A model is a specific collection of elements/objects related to a modeling notation (Business Process Modeling Notation [BPMN], Conceptual, etc.). For example, the Human Resources BPMN model would contain those objects associated with the business processes of HR: tasks, swimlanes, gateways, etc. A model is where the object “lives.” Objects are stored within a model but can be visualized in other formats such as a visual diagram and grid editor.
Diagram: A diagram is used for creating graphical models of business operations. The main types of diagrams in ER/Studio Business Architect are Business Process and Conceptual Model. The third diagram type, Impact Analysis, displays the relationships you created between objects.
- Business Process Model Diagram
- A Business Process Model is a visual representation of the flow of activities and their order of performance using a set of graphical elements that use shapes familiar to most modelers and business users. For example, activities are rectangles and decisions are diamonds. The result is having an easy-to-understand mechanism for creating business process models which produce complex business processes.
- Conceptual Model Diagram
- Conceptual modeling is used by enterprise architects, business users, and data architects to model high-level business concepts and subject areas. A common usage of a Conceptual Model is to relate the model to a Logical Data Model. However, it could include other elements like data flow, process, or information assets in addition to more abstract interactions between business ‘things’, for example, areas of a business and their associations, such as the association between Sales and Finance organizations.
- Impact Analysis Diagram
- The Impact Analysis Diagram is a graphical representation of the relationship between various objects based on links you create to form relationships. This diagram is discussed in Session 15.
Object: An object is a generic term for items or elements that make up business processes and conceptual models: tasks, swimlanes, gateways, flow objects, business entities, business attributes, etc.
In the following sessions, we’ll use ER/Studio Business Architect to create a sample business process diagram and conceptual modeling diagram. We will also learn how to use reference objects, the grid editor, and the import/export framework. We will also create links and usages, create an Impact Analysis Diagram, and view Impact Analysis and Usage (CRUD) reports.
Proceed to Session 3: Creating a Business Process Model Diagram