Modelling Businessobjects

Modelling Businessobjects (BOM)

A business object is an entity within a multitiered software application that works in conjunction with the data access and business logic layers to transport data.

Function

Whereas a program may implement classes, which typically end in objects managing or executing behaviors, a business object usually does nothing itself but holds a set of instance variables or properties, also known asattributes, and associations with other business objects, weaving a map of objects representing the business relationships.

A domain model where business objects do not have behaviour is called an anemic domain model.

Business objects separate state from behavior because they are communicated across the tiers in a multi-tiered system, while the real work of the application is done in the business tier and does not move across the tiers.

Examples

For example, a “Manager” would be a business object where its attributes can be “Name”, “Second name”, “Age”, “Area”, “Country” and it could hold an 1-n association with its employees (a collection of Employee instances).

Another example would be a concept like “Process” having “Identifier”, “Name”, “Start date”, “End date” and “Kind” attributes and holding an association with the “Employee” (the responsible) that started it.

Explanation Domain Object (DO)

A domain object when used in business process management, is a representation of whole domains of a business. A domain object may represent, for example, a group of BO’s or a fragment of a conglomeration of Business entities and exist as for example a group of entities which has relations between each other such as “product data” or “address data”.

Relationship: The association between domain objects that is a reflection of the inter-relationships between their business purposes and the interactions therein.

Explanation Business Object (BO)

A business object when used in business process management, is a representation of parts of a business, A business object may represent, for example, a person, place, event, business process, or concept and exist as for example and invoice, a product, a transaction or even details of a person. Although classes may contain executing or management behaviors, a business object is usually inert holding sets of instance variables or properties

Relationship: The association between business objects that is a reflection of the inter-relationships between their business purposes and the interactions therein.

The Elements

Domain

Business Object

Settings:

If you click on Business Object Model (listed on top of your Microsoft Visio), you have got the possibility to adjust diverse settings.

With setting a checkmark you have got the possibility to create different views of your BOM.

Blackbox Domain: Only Domains and their Relationships are visable. With this you can get a good overview of a complex BOM.
Whitebox Domain: Fades all Domains and the Business Objects inside them in. You can also see all of their Relationships but just the ones inside of a Domain.
BOM with Domain: Like the name suggests all Domains and Business Objects fade in surely with their Relationships.
BOM without Domain: Shows just the Business Objects and and their Relationships. All Domains are hidden now.

Further you have got the possibility to export your BOM (With a click on SQL Import/Export). Now you can Export your BOM to SQL or if you want as an Excel file.

If you recreate a BOM or just want to make a new version of it, you can get help with the option Update. With this option you can update and compare your diagram. Just choose the diagram you want to compare with the BOM you are currently working on and confirm it. Now you should see which elements (predominantly Business Objects) are the same, are different or not in your BOM at all.

Surely you can save your BOM in the repository. Just click on “Save to Repository” and fill in all needed data.