The Stardust Process Workbench provides import facilities for process models stored in other formats. With the current release, Stardust supports import from:
To import a model from an existing model definition in an external XML or XPDL format, you have to choose an existing model version as your target model. The newly imported model elements have to be merged with the elements already existing in the chosen model version.
To import an external model file:
In the upcoming dialog you select the model file you intend to import from the Model Types list. Stardust will analyze the differences between the imported model elements and the model elements already contained in the currently opened model version and display these changes in a migration dialog.
After that, Stardust will parse the model information and list all parsing errors and inconsistencies found in the imported model elements in a corresponding dialog.
Once you confirm the inconsistency dialog, you may either commit or reject these changes. If the changes are committed, they will be applied on the currently opened model version. This operation can only be undone by immediately closing the model without saving the applied changes.
Note that the migration dialog even allows to select some detected changes to be applied while selecting others not to be applied using the check boxes in the migration dialog for any model element.
The following mapping rules are used to map elements in an ARIS® Toolset model to elements of process models:
| Stardust Model Element | ARIS® Toolset Model Element |
|---|---|
| Process | Model |
| Activity | Function |
| Subprocess | Function with Linked Model |
| Transition | Event |
| Role | Position |
| Organization | Organization Unit |
| Data | Info |
| Join/Split |
Rules |
| Application | Application System |
| Trigger | Starting Event |
| Data Mapping | - |
| Transition Condition | - |
| Completion Method | - |
Models imported from third party products are normally not executable without further modifications on the model, because at least
are not comprehensively specified.
However, especially in the analysis and design phase of a project, it might be desirable to execute such an incomprehensibly specified model to investigate whether this model satisfies certain requirements.
For this purpose, Stardust provides two modes for the import from external XML formats, the prototype mode and the production mode.
Using the prototype mode, Stardust adjusts imported model information by converting
The resulting model can than be executed immediately and without further changes in the Stardust Workflow Execution Perspective.
Hence, the project team may immediately (e.g. after a design meeting) verify, whether the provided model structure satisfies the project's expectations and requirements. This procedure supports an incremental proceeding and helps project teams to identify semantic errors in an early stage of process design.
If you choose the production mode for import, model elements will remain unchanged during import (except possible changes for model element migration explicitly specified by the modeler).