Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Modelling of publishing processing with UML 1

Ståhl, H., Jankko, T. and Oittinen, P.

Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Automation and System Technology, Laboratory of Media Technology P.O.Box 6400, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland, http://www.media.hut.fi E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

KEYWORDS Publishing Process, Cross-Media, Publication, Business Process Modelling, UML, Unified Modelling Language, News Object, Multiple Media

TIIVISTELMÄ Artikkelissa tarkastellun tutkimuksen kokonaistavaoitteena on olla kannustamassa viestintä- ja julkaisualan yrityksiä mallintamaan omia prosessejaan ja käyttämään mallintamista osana tulevien prosessien suunnittelua. Publication Unified Prosessin (PUP) tarkoituksena on toimia esimerkkinä ja helpottaa alkuunpääsyssä omassa mallinnuksessa. Raportissa käydään läpi kuvitteellinen PUP-prosessi yksityiskohtaisesti eri tyyppisiä UML-kaavioita käyttäen. Luotu malli kuvaa yleispätevästi monikanavajulkaisemiseen soveltuvaa prosessia ja sen osatekijöitä ja on samalla hyvä esimerkki liiketoiminnan mallintamisesta UML-kielellä ja objektiajattelun mukanaan tuomista eduista. Mallista voi myös havaita eri medioiden julkaisuprosesseissa yhdistämisestä koituvia monikanavaisuuden etuja. Mallin on kuitenkin erityisesti tarkoitettu käytettäväksi valmiina pohjana uusille prosessimalleille. Jatkossa olisi hedelmällistä tehdä tutkimusta ja kehittää vastaavan kaltaisia mallipohjia muiden alojen keskeisistä prosesseista, sillä valmiit mallipohjat madaltavat huomattavasti mallintamisen aloittamiskynnystä.

ABSTRACT The goal of the research project discussed in this article was to encourage the companies within the areas of media and publishing technology to model their own processes and to use business process modelling in designing future processes. Publication Unified Process (PUP) is meant to serve as an example and to facilitate the first step to modelling. The report goes through in detail an imaginary PUP-process and different types of UML diagrams are used in describing the process. The model created is a generic description of a cross-media publication process and associated key factors. At the same time it is a good example about modelling business processes with UML and it illustrates the benefits that object-orientation brings to modelling. The model also shows the advantages that integration bring to cross-media publication. The model is especially meant to serve as a design pattern for new process models.

10

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Further research should be done in designing more design patterns for the essential business processes in different area of business, because ready-made design patterns make the first step to business modelling easier.

INTRODUCTION The techniques and processes of information and media technology have undergon big changes during the past ten years. The break-through of Internet brought possibilities like disseminating digital papers and hypertext documents around the world. Many traditional media houses have expanded their activities to Internet. For a long time the contents to different media have been produced separately, even in separate organisations within a media house. In the 21st century cross-media publishing has arisen and one and the same unit may produce content to different media. Cross-media publishing brings along more complicated processes than in the pastand several new elements, like real-time publishing. Therefore designing and managing processes is both economically and functionally much more challenging and important than before. The goal of the research was to encourage the companies within the areas of media and publishing technology to use business process modelling while designing their processes. The diagrams produced in this project are available via Internet and they are free to be reused and modified. Therefore they can help companies starting to model. Modelling the present state of own processes with the help of the example diagrams, teaches also UML (Unified Modelling Language) and its use in business process modelling. Different modelling methods and tools were considered in projects carried out in the Laboratory of Media Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology and finally UML was qualified as modelling method for this project. This article goes through the idea of improving business processes and the basics of UML in business process modelling. On this basis, the PUP example process is introduced and the concept of the news object is examined. The full report can be reached in Finnish via URL http://www.media.hut.fi/GTTS/Suomi/dt&raportit/PUP/www_raportti.htm.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND Improving Business Processes It is often very useful to model a business process while trying to make improvements. Modelling gives a good overall picture about the process as a whole and its different phases. A thorough understanding of the current processes helps creation of a vision about more productive and costeffective processes and find the steps to reach them. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is an effort to improve the productivity by creating better business processes. BPR proceeds often through the following five steps /12/: 1. Learn to understand the existing processes, 2. Model the processes, 3. Search the ways to improve the processes, 4. Create the future model (a model about the better future) and 5. Find the steps to achieve the better future.

11

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Business Process Modelling Methods There are many different modelling methods and tools for business process modelling. Of these the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is one of the most promising. UML is an object-oriented modelling language standardised by the Object Management Group (OMG) in 1997 /10/. Different companies have provided a huge amount of UML supporting tools, because UML is a totally independent standard. UML was originally designed for system and software development /5/ and was later extended toward different areas of modelling, including business process modelling /8/. By way of examples, UML has been used to modelling traffic systems. Because the complexity of the problems is arising Urban Traffic Systems designers are forced to use modelling approaches in order to manage the design their systems, and to define and implement traffic management strategies. In this use UML has turned to be a very useful tool /1/. Second, UML has been used in the insurance sector in the transformation to a process oriented organization. Based on reengineered business processes, a refocusing of the information system infrastructure was sought. UML and PROMET Business Process Re-engineering were used together. The conclusion was that the combination of UML and PROMET BPR produced the best results /2/. To be fair to the other modelling methods, IDEF0 has been used for publishing processes modelling. First, In Helsinki University of Technology had a project called Information Flow in Newsroom Processes. The object of the study was to model the newsroom process chain in a way which would make it possible to assess development needs from a technical viewpoint. As a conclusion, The IDEF0 model was found to offer sufficient features for describing the newsroom work flow. /9/

TOOLS Unified Modeling Language The notation of UML is clear and easy to learn. Therefore UML diagrams can be understood without big efforts of study. The generally applicable UML diagrams fit well to many purposes. UML suites particularly to business process modelling, because UML supports well visualization of actions and activities. The processes can be divided in sub-processes and the important actions or parts can be modelled in more detail. Additionally UML can present synchronisation and parallelism of actions and both human and IT-roles in collaboration. And object orientation in common allows the models to be comprehensive, understandable, changeable, adaptable and reusable. /4/ Different approaches to a process can be presented with nine different diagrams types of UML. In business process modelling the best applicable diagrams are Use Case, Activity and Class diagrams, but also State, Sequence and Collaboration diagrams are very useful. /8/ A Use Case diagram describes the actors, roles and activities. It has a simple and effective notation. It is especially applicable in describing process goals. A Class diagram presents instead the static structures and associations. A Class diagram is very versatile and it can also describe very complicated structures. It is good when used in forming entities and describing their relations.

12

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

The process behaviour and actions can be shown with Activity, State, Sequence and Collaboration diagrams. An Activity diagram is similar to flowcharts used in many modelling approaches. Furthermore the activity diagram supports powerful additions for dividing responsibilities and for showing parallel actions and changes of the states of objects. An Activity diagram is very powerful in presenting processes, which go through different divisions of the company.

Realizing the Business Model In business process modelling it is important to create a model with appropriate depth and precision. Especially the model should not be too detailed but present only the essential things /3/. While creating a model, its final purpose should be kept in mind. So all the available resources can be focused on the essential parts of the process with the feasible accuracy.

APPROACH TO DESIGNING PUP UML modelling was carried out with a Use Case driven method. This means that the publication process as a whole is first described with Use Case diagram. The main Use Case diagram organises the totality into logical use cases and roles of the actors. The use cases are then specified with different behavioural diagrams and some of the use cases may be defined with another more specific use case. Usually the use cases are defined with activity and sequence diagrams. From a sequence diagram one can create automatically a corresponding collaboration diagram. In this phase the understanding of the total picture and object-orientation is adequate to start shaping a class diagram of the overall process and of the roles of the actors. Additional information about the relationships between the object and the roles can be presented in class diagrams. Other UML diagram types can be used if desired. A good way to use a state diagram is to describe how an object, for example a news object, changes during the phases of the process /7/. An Object diagram can be used to present an example implementation of a class diagram.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION As a result of the project there a model with 25 UML diagrams that describe an imaginary publication system was prepared and written up as a report (as referenced earlier). The model describes a cross-media publication process with a strong integration between the different news media. The processes are defined in top-down fashion starting with an overall picture and proceeding to more detailed diagrams. Finally the report examines the evolution of the news object during the different process steps.

Cross-Media Publication Process as a Whole The first use case diagram (Figure 1) shows the PUP system as a use case and the persons attached to the process are presented as actors. The editorial staff contains all the editorial workers and the source of information is either a person or a machine that may provide the news topics for the editorial staff. The advertisers provide the advertisements to the publication and in some cases they may also provide ideas or even some contents. The customer is the final user of the publication.

13

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Figure 1

PUP Main Diagram

In the use case diagrams of Figures 2 and 3, the news process is modelled starting with the occurrence of a news item to its publication to a customer. These diagrams are sub-diagrams of the PUP use case in Figure 1. The Basis of the News Process (Figure 2) goes through the first steps of the process and the actors possibly influencing the process. ‘News Gathering’ is about retrieving a news topic. It contains observation of the sources of the news, the evaluation of the news topics found and the creation of the news object if the news topic is qualified. ‘Beginning the News Process’ includes choosing the writer or the editors for the news item, determining the broadcasting channels and choosing the point of view. ‘Collecting Materials’ contains gathering the content and other channel-dependent material for the story. Meta information is added to the material gathered and these are filed in the material archive (Figure 3). While filing, it is good to check the information formats immediately and change the format if it is incorrect. More material can be gathered later if needed.

14

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Figure 2

The Basis of the News Process

15

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Figure 3

Filing of the Material

In Figure 3 Filing of the Material includes the phases after the basis of the news process has been created. In ‘Writing story’ phase the story is written by using a cross-media assisting form, which defines the destination channels of the different parts of the text. The material found is gone through and used while writing. The story text is ready after checking the spelling and metainformation. ‘Editing Story from Single to Cross-Media’ deals with editing the ready-made story suitable to be published in another media. ‘Lay outing of Story’ is considered as a phase of the PUP process that has potential to be highly automated and thereby the layouts for cross-media can be generated at once. Therefore it contains the possibility to use layout-templates. By using templates the text and other edited material can be fed to the publications with different layouts with just “a press of a button”. The alternative to automatic layout is making manual layout. Making layout for the story is presented in a digram of its own (available via URL http://www.media.hut.fi/~th/PUP/layout_diagram.html). The use case ’Publishing’ (Figure of Publishing sub-diagram is available via URL http://www.media.hut.fi/~th/PUP/pub.html) is another part of the cross-media publication that can be highly automated. In publishing a separation into two branches takes place: real-time updated news and news updated as a whole. In publishing phase the stories with ready layouts are

16

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

published real-time or they are gathered into a single publication. Creating entities manually or as highly automated as possible are both considered in the diagram. After the publishing phase the published product is ready in its final form and can be made accessible to the customer.

Figure 4

The Editing Phase

The News Object The news process is modelled from the moment of a news event occurrence to the state where the news is delivered to the customer. The news item is ready when it is finally ready for publishing. It is essential to model the development of a news item during the different phases of the process. For this purpose the concept of a news object /7/ was created. Creating a news object (Figure 5) means that an event has been chosen as a news item. The editorial staff creates a news object when it discovers an interesting and suitable topic for news. In the beginning, the news object is abstract and only a decision about creating a news item. After that, the news object is edited to become a ready news item. While working with the news object, things are added to it. Therefore the model shows the concrete state of a news item during the different phases of the process. The model also shows what has been done to the news item and what has to be done before it is ready to be published.

17

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Figure 5

Sequence Diagram of The Creation and Preparation of the News Object

Figure 5 presents the states following immediately the creation of the news object, that is selection of the publication channels. The channels must be chosen in cross-media publishing. After the publication channels are chosen, the editors for the news item are chosen. The actors affecting the news object are presented in Figure 6. Naturally, most of the activities somehow deal with the news object during the news process, but some specifications need to be made.

18

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

Figure 6

The Actors Influencing on the News Object

The editorial staff creates a news object and chooses a reporter for it. The point of view is chosen and it is added to the news object. The reporter searches for information and therefore goes through the archives of the editorial office and other sources of information and news. All the relevant material found is attached to the news object. The meta-information is always updated when adding, removing or updating things to the news object. The reporter writes the story according to the material gathered by using a cross-media assisting form. Editors and the reporter edit and layout the rest of the material and unite it with the text. Finally, after spell checking and other corrections the news object has become a ready news item. The news item is either added to the publication object or published directly in case of real-time publication. The ready news item is filed in the editorial office’s archives.

19

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

A new concept of ‘publication object’ was developed is this project. It is used like the news object, but it describes the phases of a publication received by the customer. The publication may be for example a whole newspaper or a television broadcast. The creation of a publication begins with the creation of a publication object. The news items and possible advertisements are added to the publication object, when they are ready. The layout is made when all the material is gathered to the publication object. After the layout and necessary corrections the publication object is ready to be filed and published in its media. At that time, the publication object is ready.

CONCLUSIONS The model created is a generic description of a cross-media publication process and its factors. At the same time it is an example about modelling business processes with UML and it illustrates the benefits that object-orientation brings to modelling. The model facilitates the use of logical objects in publication processes, such as news object and publication object. These objects can be used to describe distinctly the development of a single news object and the whole publication in the different phases of the publication process. The model is especially meant to serve as a design pattern for new process models. The diagrams of the model can be adjusted to fit own processes and then specified with more detailed subdiagrams. The diagrams can be simply adjusted with pen and paper or by downloading a diagram file via URL http://www.media.hut.fi/~th/PUP/pup_final.mdl. The diagrams are in a file format used by the Rational Rose. A free trial version of Rose has been available at Rational Software’s web site. The model shows also the advantages brought to cross-media publication by integration. The report describes the parts of the process that offer possibilities for strong integration. Therefore the model can be used as a guide while modifying own publishing processes towards cross-media publication. Further research should be done in designing more design patterns for the essential business processes in different regions of business. This is profitable, because ready design patterns lower the first step to business modelling. Further research should be done also in finding the benefits of object-orientation in business process modelling.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Publication Unified Process project was financed by GTTS which is gratefully acknowledged.

20

Graphic Arts in Finland 31(2002)3

REFERENCES 1. Chabrol, M., Sarramia, D. Object Oriented Methodology Based on UML for urban Traffic System Modeling. In: Evans, A., Kent, S. Selic, B. (Eds). 2000 - The Unified Modeling Language: Advancing the Standard; Third International Conference, York UK, October 2000 Proceedings. Germany 2000, Springer. P. 425 - 439. 2. Dietzsch, A. Adapting the UML to Business Modelling's Needs - Experiences in Situational Method Engineering. In: Jézéquel, J.-M., Hussmann, H., Cook, S. (Eds.). 2002 - The Unified Modeling Language; Fifth International Conference, Dresden Germany, September 2002; Proceedings. Germany 2002, Springer. P. 73 - 83. 3. Eriksson, H., Penker, M. Business Modeling with UML. John Wiley & Sons, USA 2000. 459 p. 4. Fowler, M., Scott, K. UML distilled : applying the standard object modeling language. Addison-Wesley, Reading (MA), USA 1998. 179 p. 5. Jankko, T. The Basic of Publishing Technology 2 course's lecture slides 14.2.2002; Helsinki University of Technology, The Laboratory of Media Technology, Espoo 2002 [referred 21.11.2002]; Available at: 6. Jankko, T. UML-kaaviot - Notaatiot ja käyttö ver2.3. Helsinki University of Technology, The Laboratory of Media Technology, Espoo 2001 [referred 21.11.2002] 7. Jankko, T., Ståhl, H. News Process - Modelled with UML. Helsinki University of Technology, The Laboratory of Media Technology, Espoo 2000. 25p. 8. Noran, O. Business Modelling: UML vs. IDEF. Griffith University, School of Computing and Information Technology, Griffith 2000. CIT 6114. 50 p. Available at: 9. Oittinen, P., Akkanen, M., Hopiavaara, R., Muukka, H. Sanomalehtien uutistoimitusten toimintaprosessien kuvaaminen informaatioketjun kannalta (Information Flow in Newsroom Processes). Helsinki University of Technology, The Laboratory of Media Technology, Espoo 2000. Loppuraportti. 11 p. 10. OMG. Unified Modeling Language (UML), version 1.4. OMG, updated 21.1.2002 [referred 21.11.2002]; Available at: 11. Peltonen, J. The Basic of Publishing Technology 2 course's lecture slides 8.3.2001. Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo 2001, updated 8.3.2001 [referred 21.11.2002]. Available at: 12. Savolainen, T., Saaren-Seppälä, K., Savolainen, S. Liiketoimintaprosessien luova virtaviivaistaminen. Metalliteollisuuden kustannus, Helsinki 1997. 199 p.

21