Purpose
State modelling is used to describe and analyze the different possible states of an entity within a system, how that entity changes from onestate to another, and what can happen to the entity when it is in each state.
Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)
State modelling describes how an object behaves when it encounters event with in the system. It typically describes the state of the object, the transitions between different states and the events that trigger those transitions. The business analyst use the state modelling to describe and analyze the various potential states of an entity within the system. An entity is an object within the system which can be used in several processes. Every entity life cycle has an beginning and an end. In state model, a state is a formal depiction of the status. It is used when it is necessary to have an accurate and shared understanding of an entity that has a complicated behaviour and rules. It describes the following a set of potential state, order of the states, how the entity changes from one state to other, events and conditions, and the actions to perform.
The state model is also called as the state transition model which is a formal representation of the status. An entity is an object or concept within the system. It may be used in several processes. While the process model can show all of the entities that are used in or affected by the process, the state model shows a complementary view of what happens to one entity across all the processes that affect it or use it. It is the powerful way of presenting the information about the lifetime of the business entity. State modelling is used to describe the important conditions that occur in entity’s lifetime. The triggers and events can be described that allow the state transition to occur. Each state can define the behavior that occur on entry, during and exit from the state.
Some of the articles related to State modelling techniques are as follows,
- State Modelling - http://www.statemodel.edu/~gurdal/EE351L/lab02.pdf
- Representation of State Modelling - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-space_representation
- Introduction to State Modelling - https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20020050518.pdf
- Process in State Modelling - https://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi/Papers/SE-Encyc/Process-Models-SE-Encyc.pdf
- An Approach to State Modelling - https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_050801.pdf
- State Modelling Operation - https://www.me.utexas.edu/~jensen/ORMM/models/index.html
- Overview of State Modelling - https://people.eecs.ku.edu/~hossein/Teaching/Fa13/810/Readings/UML-diagrams.pdf
- State and Transition Modelling - https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs144p2_050801.pdf
The main elements in state modelling technique are,
- State - An entity has a finite number of states during its life cycle, although it can be in more than one state at a time. Each state is described with the name and the activities that could be performed while in that state. A complex states can be decomposed into sub-state.
- State Transition - The changes from one state to another could be determined by the steps of process, by business rules, or by information content. The transition may conditional or automatic. It may also be recursive, leaving one state and returning back to the same state.
- State Diagram - It shows the life cycle of one entity, beginning when the entity first comes into existence and moving through all the different states that the entity may have until it is discarded or no long of use. The entity life cycle is shown with the special symbols both in the initial and the final state.
- State Tables - It is a two-dimensional matrix showing the states and the transitions between them. It is a simple way to get started on a state model in order to elicit the state and the event names from the domain subject matter experts.
Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)
Some of the books for State modelling techniques are,
- State Modelling : Order and Transition | Andrew Briggs | https://www.amazon.com/State-Modelling-Order-and-Transition/dp/0195526828/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=state+modelling+books&qid=1572848797&sr=8-5
