Object Process Methodology: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:24, 26 November 2020

Revision as of 05:46, 11 December 2020

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[[File:OplNEW.jpg|thumb|320px|Graphical contents OPL: an example of the OPM language]]

{{InfoMaps}}

''' Object Process Methodology''' ('''OPM''') is a conceptual [[modeling language]] and [[methodology]] for [[Knowledge capture|capturing knowledge]] and [[Systems design|designing systems]], specified as [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[Publicly Available Specification|PAS]] 19450.<ref name="ISO19450">{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/62274.html |title=ISO/PAS 19450:2015 - Automation systems and integration -- Object-Process Methodology |website=iso.org |date=December 2015 |accessdateaccess-date=3 May 2017}}</ref> Based on a minimal universal [[Ontology (computer science)|ontology]] of [[stateful]] [[Object (computer science)|object]]s and [[Process theory|process]]es that transform them, OPM can be used to formally specify the function, structure, and behavior of artificial and natural systems in a large variety of domains.

OPM was conceived and developed by [[Dov Dori]]. The ideas underlying OPM were published for the first time in 1995.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last=Dori|first=Dov|authorlinkauthor-link=Dov Dori|title=Object-Process Analysis: Maintaining the Balance between System Structure and Behavior|journal=[[Journal of Logic and Computation]]|date=1995|volume=5|issue=2|pages=227–249|doi=10.1093/logcom/5.2.227}}</ref> Since then, OPM has evolved and developed.

In 2002, the first book on OPM<ref name="Object-Process Methodology – A Holistic Systems Paradigm"/> was published, and on December 15, 2015, after six years of work by ISO TC184/SC5, [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] adopted OPM as ISO/PAS 19450.<ref name="ISO19450" /> A second book on OPM was published in 2016.<ref name="Model-Based"/>

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In OPM, an ''object'' is a thing that exists, or might exist, physically or informatically. Objects are [[stateful]]—they may have states, such that at each point in time, the object is at one of its states or in transition between states. A ''process'' is a thing that transforms an object by creating or consuming it, or by changing its state.

OPM is bimodal; it is expressed both visually/graphically in Object-Process Diagrams (OPD) and verbally/textually in Object-Process Language (OPL), a set of automatically generated sentences in a subset of English. A patented software package called OPCAT, for generating OPD and OPL, is freely available.<ref name="OPCAT">{{cite web |url=http://esml.iem.technion.ac.il/opcat-installation/ |title=Enterprise Systems Modeling Laboratory » OPCAT installation |website=technion.ac.il |accessdateaccess-date=3 May 2017}}</ref>

==History==

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UML 1.X had nine types of diagrams. Following a 2001 initiative of the [[International Council on Systems Engineering]] (INCOSE), in 2003 OMG issued the UML for Systems Engineering Request for Proposals, and in 2006 OMG adopted SysML ([[Systems Modeling Language]]) 1.0 specification, which is based on UML 2. Since then, SysML has become the de facto standard for systems engineering.

The first book on OPM, ''Object-Process Methodology: a Holistic Systems Paradigm'', was published in 2002,<ref name="Object-Process Methodology – A Holistic Systems Paradigm">{{cite book |last=Dori |first=Dov |authorlinkauthor-link=Dov Dori |title=Object-Process Methodology: A Holistic Systems Paradigm |date=2002 |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |___location=Berlin, Heidelberg, New York |isbn=978-3540654711 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-56209-9 |s2cid=13600128 }}</ref> and OPM has since been applied in many domains, ranging from the [[Semantic Web]] to defense and to molecular biology.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Perelman |first1=Valeria |last2=Somekh |first2=Judith |last3=Dori |first3=Dov |title=Model verification framework with application to molecular biology |date=2011 |publisher=Society for Computer Simulation International |pages=140–145 |url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2048494 |ref=MolecularBiology}}</ref> The recognition that models can and should become the central artifact in system lifecycles has been gaining momentum in recent years, giving rise to [[model-based systems engineering]] (MBSE) as an evolving field in the area of systems engineering.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fischer |first1=Amit |last2=Nolan |first2=Mike |last3=Friedenthal |first3=Sanford |last4=Loeffler |first4=Michael |last5=Sampson |first5=Mark |last6=Bajaj |first6=Manas |last7=VanZandt |first7=Lonnie |last8=Hovey |first8=Krista |last9=Palmer |first9=John |last10=Hart |first10=Laura |title=3.1.1 Model Lifecycle Management for MBSE |journal=INCOSE International Symposium |date=2014 |volume=24 |pages=207–229 |doi=10.1002/j.2334-5837.2014.tb03145.x}}</ref>

SysML and OPM have been serving as the two MBSE languages, but since SysML was adopted as a standard about eight years before OPM and has been backed by top-notch vendors, its adoption is currently more widespread. However, OPM is rapidly gaining acceptance in academia and industry.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

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In August 2014, after five years of work by ISO TC184/SC5, ISO adopted OPM as ISO/PAS 19450.<ref name="ISO19450" />

A second book on OPM, which also covers SysML, was published in 2016.<ref name="Model-Based">{{cite book |last=Dori |first=Dov |authorlinkauthor-link=Dov Dori |title=Model-Based Systems Engineering with OPM and SysML |date=2016 |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |___location=New York |isbn=9781493932955 |oclc=959032986 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4939-3295-5|s2cid=32425215 }}</ref>

==Design==

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; Object Process Diagram (OPD)

OPD is the one and only kind of diagram of OPM. This uniqueness of diagram kind is a major contributor to OPM's simplicity, and it is in sharp contrast to UML, which has 14 kinds of diagrams, and to SysML, which has nine such kinds.<ref name="SysMLvsOPM">{{cite book |last1=Grobshtein |first1=Yariv |last2=Perelman |first2=Valeriya |last3=Safra |first3=Eliyahu |last4=Dori |first4=Dov |title=Systems Modeling Languages: OPM Versus SysML |date=2007 |publisher=IEEE |___location=Haifa, Israel |isbn=978-1-4244-0770-5 |pages=102–109 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/424372 |accessdateaccess-date=15 November 2018 |ref=SysMLvsOPM}}</ref> An OPD graphically describes objects, processes and links among them. Links can be structural and procedural. Structural links connect objects to objects or processes to processes, expressing the static system aspect—how the system is structured. Procedural links connect objects to processes, expressing the dynamic system aspect—how the system changes over time. The entire system is represented by a set of hierarchically organized OPDs, such that the root OPD, called the systems diagram (SD), specifies the "bird's eye" view of the system, and lower-level OPDs specify the system in increasing levels of detail. All the OPDs in the system's OPD set are "aware" of each other, with each showing the system, or part of it, at some level of detail. The entire system is specified in its entirety by the union of the details (model facts) appearing in all the OPDs.

; Object Process Language (OPL)

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In his foreword to Dori's book ''Model-Based Systems Engineering with OPM and SysML'', [[Edward F. Crawley]] said:

<blockquote>OPM semantics was originally geared towards systems engineering, as it can model information, hardware, people, and regulation. However, in recent years OPM started to serve also researchers in molecular biology, yielding new published findings related to the mRNA lifecycle. This is a clear indication of the universality of the object-and-process ontology.<ref name="Model-Based"/>{{rp|vi}}<ref>See also: {{cite web |url=http://esml.iem.technion.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Supplement-1.pdf |title=The mRNA Lifecycle |website=technion.ac.il |accessdateaccess-date=3 May 2017}}</ref></blockquote>

==Basics==

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A previous OPCAT version, 3.1, with fewer capabilities, is also available from the same site. Both are coded in Java. The first OPCAT version, OPCAT 1.X, was written in Visual C++ in 1998.

In the beginning of 2016 a team of students under the management of Dori began working on the new generation of OPCAT which will be called OPCloud.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Enterprise Systems Modeling Laboratory |title=opcloud |url=https://www.opcloud.tech/}}</ref> As suggested by the name of the software, it will be a cloud-based application, and will enable users to create OPM models using a web-based application.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dori |first1=Dov |last2=Jbara |first2=Ahmad |last3=Levi |first3=Natali |last4=Wengrowicz |first4=Niva |title=Object-Process Methodology, OPM ISO 19450 – OPCloud and the Evolution of OPM Modeling Tools |url=https://www.ppi-int.com/syen61-a1/ |website=Project Performance International |accessdateaccess-date=18 November 2018}}</ref>

==Standardization==

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In June 2008, Richard Martin approached [[Dov Dori]] after his presentation at the [[International Council on Systems Engineering|INCOSE]] International Symposium in Utrecht, the Netherlands, to inquire about the possibility of creating an International Standard for OPM.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Martin, convener of ISO TC184/SC5/WG1 for automation systems interoperability architecture and modelling, had for some time been searching for methodologies offering more than static information and process modeling.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} He provided Dori with a simple example to model that could demonstrate both the modelling capability of OPM and its dynamic simulation opportunity.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

In May 2010, Dori presented a brief overview of OPM and his demonstration model at the ISO Technical Committee 184/Sub-Committee 5 (TC184/SC5) plenary meeting, which then adopted a resolution to create an OPM Study Group for the purpose of examining the potential for OPM to enhance the standards created by SC5.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dori |first1=Dov |last2=Howes |first2=David |last3=Blekhman |first3=Alex |last4=Martin |first4=Richard |title=OPM as a Basis for Model - Based Enterprise Standards, Report of the ISO TC184/SC5 OPM Working Group to the Plenary ISO TC184/SC5Meeting, Tokyo 26, 2010 |url=http://esml.iem.technion.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/OPM_WG_Report_to_TC184-SC5_Tokyo_March_26_2010.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=18 November 2018}}</ref>

The OPM Study Group began its work in October 2010 and issued an interim report for the 2011 SC5 Plenary.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blekhman |first1=Alex |last2=Dori |first2=Dov |last3=Martin |first3=Richard |title=Model-Based Standards Authoring |url=http://esml.iem.technion.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Model-Based-Standards-Authoring-March-2011.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=18 November 2018}}</ref> The report included several uses of OPM to model existing SC5 standards and led to an initial motivation for the standardization of OPM with the realization that being text-based, ISO standards are prone to suffer from inconsistencies and incomplete information. This deficiency could be significantly reduced if the standards were model-based rather than text-based, and OPM offered a useful underlying modeling paradigm for this purpose.

A final OPM Study Group Report and a draft for a metamodel for model-based standards authoring document were delivered at the 2012 SC5 Plenary.<ref>{{cite web |last1=SC 5 PLENARY MEETING |title=Meeting Report |url=http://esml.iem.technion.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ISO-TC184-SC5_N1185_2012_SC5_Plenary_Meeting_Report_-_Haifa_.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=18 November 2018}}</ref> As the OPM Study Group effort progressed, it became obvious that OPM could also serve as a solid and comprehensive basis for model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and for modeling both natural and man-made systems.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}}

===ISO 19450 Document===

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; OPM vs. UML

The differences between OPM and UML are highly perceivable during the analysis and design stages. While UML is a multi-model, OPM supports a single unifying structure-behavior model. The crucial differences stem from the structure-oriented approach of UML, in which behavior is spread over thirteen diagram types, a fact that inevitably invokes the model multiplicity problem.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Peleg | first1 = M. | last2 = Dori | first2 = D. | year = 2000 | title = The Model Multiplicity Problem: Experimenting with Real-Time Specification Methods | url = | journal = IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering| volume = 26 | issue = 8| pages = 742–759 | doi=10.1109/32.879812| citeseerx = 10.1.1.321.5507 }}</ref> First, using the OPM approach enables to view at main diagram (SD) the main process, objects and the connection between them.<ref name="Object-Process Methodology – A Holistic Systems Paradigm"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2017}} In addition, it easy to understand what is the main system's benefit (presented at the SD). In OPM, it's also easier to understand the main three aspects of the system: behavior, structure and functionality (contrary to UML which describes these aspects with different types of diagrams).<ref name="Object-Process Methodology – A Holistic Systems Paradigm"/>{{Page needed|date=October 2017}} Database unfolding modeling contributes to the understanding of system and all details which is stored in the system. In addition, creating in-zooming enables simplifying the model. OPM requires extensive knowledge of systematic processes such as how the system saved the path and gets decisions.

==Generating SysML views from an OPM model==