UML vs IDEF

The process of business modelling is employed in order tocreate an abstraction of an otherwise complex business. This will enablebusiness stakeholders (owners, customers, management, etc) to gain a betterunderstanding of the business functions and also promote business improvementsand/or innovation.

What is the connection between business and softwaremodelling ?

In order to survive in today's competitive world, businesseshave to continuously review their products, services, and relations with the environment(suppliers, competitors, clients, laws, etc). To assess the quality of theirproducts and effectiveness of their services, businesses rely on theinformation systems. Initially only a support component, the informationsystems have now become an integral part of the businesses. The business itselfmust define the requirements for the information system.

Unfortunately, very often the software system does notproperly support the business. The causes may be: lack of accurate requirementsdefinition, deficiencies in proper business understanding by the softwaredesign team, or even the nature of the business (which may change so often thatthe software simply cannot follow).

Software modelling is an accepted way of designing softwaresystems. By applying the modelling approach to the business itself, accuraterequirements may be achieved for the subsequent software design activity. Thisconcept was taken even further by the idea of using the same modelling languagefor both software and business modelling. 

One example of a language that could model both the businessand the software system belonging to the business is the Unified ModellingLanguage, the UML. Many developers are already familiar with UML from modellingsoftware systems. Using one single language across the business and softwaremodelling would promote consistency and communication among modellers and alsotake advantage of a whole range of modelling tools that support the UML.

Translating the business model into a software model is not astraightforward process. Not all the classes and objects defined in a businessarchitecture may be mapped directly to a software model

Here’s a mapping of the IDEF to the UML

IDEF	UML
· IDEF0 : Function modeling · IDEF1 : Information Modeling  · IDEF1X : Data Modeling · IDEF2 : Simulation Model Design · IDEF3 : Process Description Capture · IDEF4 : Object-Oriented Design  · IDEF5 : Ontology Description Capture	· Activity Diagram · Class Diagram · Object Diagram · Collaboration Diagram · Activity/ State/ Use Case Diagram · Class/ Object/ Activity/ State Diagram · Meta Object Facility

UML has primarily been conceived with software design inmind, while IDEF have their origins in Computer Assisted Manufacturing. Theinteresting fact is that each of these methodologies is being extended to coverthe other's domain. While UML is being extended now to cover businessmodelling, the IDEF family is added new components that enable it to addresssoftware (and information systems in general) development.

IDEF is coming from the manufacturing / informationenvironment and aims to cover object orientation, knowledge representation andsoftware development.

UML is still in its infancy; it comes from the domain of object-orientedsoftware development but there are increasing efforts to extend it towardsbusiness process modelling.

Which method ? It is up to the user: the task, background,resources, patterns… will all play a role in selecting the right tool for thejob.

reference: 

Business Modelling: UML vs. IDEF

www.ict.griffith.edu.au/noran/Docs/UMLvsIDEF.pdf