Elektrotehniˇ ski vestnik 68(2–3): 109–114, 2001 Electrotechnical Review, Ljubljana, Slovenija Enterprise modelling with UML Aljaˇ z Zrnec, Marko Bajec, Marjan Krisper University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science Trˇ zaˇ ska 25, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-poˇ sta: {aljaz.zrnec, marko.bajec, marjan.krisper}@fri.uni-lj.si Abstract. Making effective project selection decisions in an enterprise requires a clear idea of where the enterprise is in the current state, what its vision for the future is, and how to make a transition to its desired future state possible. A strategic plan is a document that encompasses this information and is produced as an output of corporate strategic planning. In this paper we examine business modelling as an integral part of strategic planning, where models of a current and future enterprise are developed and refined. The question that we address in this regard is, whether the unified modelling language (UML) notation, the today’s defacto standard in engineering modelling, can serve as an appropriate language for enterprise modelling, in particular for corporate strategic planning. In the paper we discuss types of models that are usually used in strategic planning to describe the enterprise from different perspectives and suggest some extensions to the UML notation to make it more suitable for this purpose. Key words: strategic planning, unified modelling language (UML), notation, standard, business modelling Poslovno modeliranje z jezikom UML Povzetek. Sprejemanje uˇ cinkovitih odloˇ citev o izbiri projektov v velikih podjetjih zahteva jasno predstavo o tem, v kakˇ snem stanju se podjetje nahaja v sedanjem trenutku, kakˇ sna je vi- zija prihodnosti podjetja in kako izvesti prehod iz sedanjega v ˇ zeleno prihodnje stanje. Strateˇ ski plan je dokument, ki nastane kot rezultat strateˇ skega planiranja. Vsebuje informacije o sedan- jem stanju podjetja, njegovi viziji in naˇ crt, kako priti do ˇ zelenega stanja v prihodnosti. V tem ˇ clanku smo se omejili na poslovno modeliranje, ki je del strateˇ skega planiranja. Zanimalo nas je predvsem, ali lahko notacija jezika UML, ki je ˇ ze moˇ cno uvel- javljena, sluˇ zi kot primeren jezik za izdelavo strateˇ skih naˇ crtov velikih podjetij. Vˇ clanku smo se omejili na poslovno mod- eliranje in raziskali zmoˇ znosti jezika UML za modeliranje ra- zliˇ cnih pogledov na sistem. Kjer je bilo mogoˇ ce, smo upora- bili obstojeˇ ce diagrame jezika UML, ki najbolj ustrezajo potre- bam po jedrnati predstavitvi doloˇ cenega pogleda na poslovanje. Kadar se nam je zdela notacija pomanjkljiva, smo predlagali razˇ siritve UML notacije. Kljuˇ cne besede: strateˇ sko planiranje, UML, notacija, standard, poslovno modeliranje 1 Introduction The purpose of every business is to survive and make profit. These are the goals toward which its energy and enterprise are directed. Running business today is much more competitive than ever and constantly requires busi- ness people to acquire and adapt to new business logic. To remain competitive, companies must assess the quality of Received 18 December 2000 Accepted 5 Februar 2001 their products and services and consider the world around them. They must examine their products and services to find out if improvements are possible [3]. Business people must evaluate information systems in their companies. They have to keep asking: Do our infor- mation systems effectively support the way of working? Are the systems flexible enough to adapt business changes easily and rapidly? Is our information system adequate? Does it support information use as an important strate- gic resource? If companies want to stay competitive, they have to rethink the ways in which they do business or even the types of business they do. This undoubtedly reveals the need for a coherent and efficient business strategy. What enterprises usually do in this regard is strate- gic planning, in which they develop the current and fu- ture enterprise models and set the strategy for transition from the current to a desirable state. Corporate strategic planning is a difficult and delicate process as it involves business people from the highest positions in the organ- isational hierarchy and produces outputs that serve as a plan for selection of development projects. In this pa- per we focus on activities that correspond to enterprise modelling, trying to examine the language that we use to present the enterprise from different perspectives. Like in conceptual modelling of an information system, in en- terprise modelling a vast number of diagramming tech- niques and methods can be applied. Our experiences in corporate strategic planning for companies from dif-