UML/Analyzer: A Tool for the Instant Consistency Checking of UML Models

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Authors: Alexander Egyed

Large design models contain tens of thousands of model elements. Designers easily get overwhelmed maintaining the consistency of such design models over time. Not only is it hard to detect new inconsistencies while the model changes but it also hard to keep track of known inconsistencies. The UML/Analyzer tool identifies inconsistencies instantly with design changes and it keeps track of all inconsistencies over time. It does not require consistency rules with special annotations. Instead, it treats consistency rules as black-box entities and observes their behavior during their evaluation to identify what model elements they access. The UML/Analyzer tool is integrated with the UML modeling tool IBM Rational Rose? for broad applicability and usability. It is highly scalable and was evaluated on dozens of design models.