ARIS UML DESIGNER

MIGRATION GUIDELINES

VERSION 10.0 - SERVICE RELEASE 18

MAY 2022
Document content not changed since release 10.0.17. It applies to the current version
without changes.

This document applies to ARIS Version 10.0 and to all subsequent releases.
Specifications contained herein are subject to change and these changes will be reported in
subsequent release notes or new editions.
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Reston, VA, USA, and/or its subsidiaries and/or its affiliates and/or their licensors.
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Use of this software is subject to adherence to Software AG's licensing conditions and terms.
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product(s).
MIGRATION GUIDELINES

Contents
1 Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 1

2 Running the UML Migration ................................................................................................................. 2

3 UML Migration Basics............................................................................................................................ 4

4 UML Migration Details ........................................................................................................................... 6

4.1 UML 1.4 Compatibility Profile ................................................................................................. 6
4.2 Class diagrams .......................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Deployment diagrams .............................................................................................................. 9
4.4 State machine diagrams ......................................................................................................... 9
4.5 Activity diagrams .................................................................................................................... 10
4.6 Sequence diagrams ................................................................................................................ 10
4.7 Communication diagrams ..................................................................................................... 10

5 Legal information.................................................................................................................................. 11
5.1 Documentation scope............................................................................................................. 11
5.2 Support ...................................................................................................................................... 11

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

1 Preface
ARIS UML Designer 10 supports UML 2.5. UML 1.4 content created with ARIS UML Designer 7.x
must be migrated to UML 2.5 before it can be used by ARIS UML Designer 10.
The first chapter Running the UML Migration (page 2) shows how the UML migration can be
started and which options are provided to the user.
The chapter UML Migration Basics (page 4) describes how UML 1.4 elements and diagrams are
migrated into UML 2.
UML 2 is not 100 % backward compatible to UML 1.4. The chapter UML Migration Details (page
6) describes how most of these incompatibilities are solved automatically by the UML
migration and which parts of a UML 1.4 model should be adapted manually in ARIS UML
Designer 7.x to avoid the risk of data loss by the UML Migration.

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2 Running the UML Migration

Warning
We strongly recommend creating a backup of each database with UML 1.4 content in ARIS 7.x
before migrating it to UML 2 in ARIS UML Designer 9.x or a following version. By doing so
migration problems based on inconsistencies in the UML 1.4 data can be fixed in ARIS UML
Designer 7.x.
When starting the UML migration, only the administrator should be logged into the database.
UML 1.4 diagrams and elements which have not been created or saved by ARIS UML Designer
7.x are not migrated.

The UML migration is started on the Administration tab of ARIS UML Designer 9.x or a
following version. You can access the Administration tab if you have selected the working
environment Configuration & Administration.
After having logged into a database, its pop-up menu provides the menu item Convert to
UML 2:

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This menu item opens a dialog where some options for the UML migration can be specified:

The option Logging level specifies the level of details which are written into the migration log
file. The file is created in the log directory of the ARIS Design Server. Its name is created
based on the following schema: uml2migration_<name of the
database>_<date>_<time>.log. Parts of the schema marked by angled brackets are filled
with the actual values.
The option Do not delete converted UML elements, which is disabled by default, is
described in the chapter UML Migration Basics (page 4).
There is also an ARIS report API of the UML migration available which allows migrating
databases by script (see ARIS > Help > ARIS Script > Methods for reports and semantic
checks > Global objects > Report component interfaces > OMF > OMF >
migrateDatabaseToOmf).

Depending on the size of the database and its amount of UML 1.4 content the UML migration
takes a few seconds up to several hours.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

3 UML Migration Basics

The UML 2 implementation of ARIS UML Designer 9.x and the following versions is based on a
completely new architecture providing much better UML support than ARIS UML Designer 7.x
and a new flexible and user-definable way of integration of business process and UML
modeling. As a consequence all UML 2 object, connection, attribute and model types in the
ARIS methodology are pure UML 2 types.
Basically the UML migration creates new UML 2 elements and new UML 2 diagrams
corresponding to the existing UML 1.4 content. Only UML 1.4 elements and diagrams which
had been created or at least saved by ARIS UML Designer 7.x are migrated. Such elements and
diagrams are tagged with a special UML Designer flag in the database. UML 1.4 diagrams and
elements which had been created by an ARIS 7.x client without UML Designer license and
which had never been loaded and saved by ARIS UML Designer 7.x are ignored by the UML
migration.
By default all UML 1.4 elements without occurrences in non-UML diagrams and all UML 1.4
diagrams are deleted at the end of the migration process unless the option Do not delete
converted UML elements has been set. Setting this option makes only sense if the UML 1.4
elements and diagrams provide information which is not handled by the UML migration such
as user-defined attributes or other non-UML attribute content. Such information must be
migrated manually or by a user-defined script.
If UML 1.4 elements and diagrams are not deleted by the UML migration, their UML Designer
flag is removed in the database so that from that time on they are handled as standard ARIS
content and no longer as special UML content in ARIS.
All UML 1.4 elements which had not been deleted (either because they occur in a classical
ARIS diagram or because the do-not-delete-option had been set) are connected to their
corresponding UML 2 element by a re-usage link. If, for example, an EPC function occurred in
a UML 1.4 use case diagram as UML use case it has a re-usage link to the corresponding UML
2 use case.

Warning
Although migrated UML 1.4 diagrams can be opened in ARIS Designer their layout is most
probably corrupted, because ARIS Designer cannot handle UML-specific things like edges
visualizing an object (for example associations) or edges connected to other edges. These
diagrams should be deleted as soon as their additional information had been migrated
manually.
UML 2 root elements (that is, packages, models and profiles which are not owned by other
UML 2 elements) are created in the ARIS group containing the corresponding UML 1.4 root
element so that the same user permissions are applied to them.

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According to the UML 2 specification only packages, models and profiles do not require an
owning UML element, that is only these three types can directly exist in an ARIS group.
Therefore all other UML elements and all UML diagrams must be owned by another UML
element in ARIS UML Designer 9 and the following versions. In ARIS UML Designer 7.x UML
elements and UML diagrams can exist and not be part of the containment hierarchy of a
package, model or profile. If such an element is migrated a default owner is created for the
element in the ARIS group. If, for example, a class without owner is migrated, the UML
migration creates a default package for the migrated class. If an attribute or operation is
migrated, the UML migration creates a default class owned by default package for the
attribute or operation in the ARIS group of the attribute or operation.
The GUID of each UML 2 element is calculated based on the GUID of its original UML 1.4
element. If the same UML 1.4 element is contained in different databases, these databases
can be merged after having been migrated to UML 2 without duplicating the corresponding
UML 2 element. Do not merge not yet migrated UML 1.4 elements into a database which
contained the same UML 1.4 elements and which has already been migrated to UML 2.
Otherwise, if started again, the UML 2 migration will create new corresponding UML 2
elements having the same GUIDs like the ones created by the previous migration.

Warning
ARIS 7.x standard functionalities like Merge or Definition copy did not support
UML-1.4-specific structures entirely. Therefore they could cause certain inconsistencies in
the UML 1.4 structure of the database like attributes and operations owned by more than one
class (that is, the classes showed the same attributes and operations in diagrams or property
dialogs). The UML 2 migration can handle such inconsistencies but might not always create
the expected result. If, for example, a UML 1.4 operation is owned by two different UML 1.4
classes the corresponding UML 2 operation is owned by exactly one of the two corresponding
UML 2 classes and the other UML 2 class does not show this operation in diagrams or its
properties dialog at all. We recommend fixing such inconsistencies in ARIS UML Designer 7.x
before migrating a database to UML 2.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

4 UML Migration Details

4.1 UML 1.4 Compatibility Profile

UML 1.4 defines several stereotypes which are either no longer supported by UML 2 at all or do
not extend any longer the same meta classes. Examples for such stereotypes are «Become»
extending dependencies or «Table» extending artifacts. UML 1.4 also defines for some meta
classes in addition to their attributes so-called default tagged values which are also no
longer supported by UML 2 like semantics for associations.
ARIS UML Designer 7.x provided in addition to the predefined stereotypes and default tagged
values of the UML 1.4 specification some ARIS-specific stereotypes and tagged values like
«OrganizationalUnit» extending actors or nonfunctionalRequirements defined for
UseCases.
In ARIS UML Designer 9 and the following versions all these stereotypes and tagged values
are provided by the UML 1.4 Compatibility Profile which is applied automatically by the UML
migration if it detects stereotypes or tagged values which are no longer supported by UML 2.
After the migration the UML models should be revised by adapting them better to UML 2 or by
providing corresponding user-defined profiles so that the UML 1.4 compatibility profile is not
required any longer and can be detached.

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UML 1.4 and UML Designer 7.x standard stereotypes and tagged values are no longer
supported by UML 2:

UML 2 meta class Stereotype* Tagged Value

(corresponding
UML 1.4 meta class)

Actor ApplicationSystemType

Group

OrganizationalUnit

Person

Position

Artifact Table

Association Implicit

CallEvent Create

Destroy

Classifier ExtendedClassifier isPersistent

Metaclass

Powertype

Process

Thread

Utility

Comment Requirement

Responsibility

Constraint Invariant

Dependency Become
(Dependency, Flow)
Copy

Flow

Generalization Implementation

ObjectNode SignalFlow
(ObjectFlowState)

RedefinableElement ExtendedRedefinableElement isRoot

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UML 2 meta class Stereotype* Tagged Value

(corresponding
UML 1.4 meta class)
(Classifier, Association) semantics

Package Facade

Stub

TopLevel

State StubState
(State, StubState, SynchState)
Synchstate

UseCase ExtendedUseCase changeAnnotations

changeHistory

contactPersons

exceptions

invariances

nonfunctionalRequirements

processDescription

requirements

result

rules

services

trigger

variations

* All stereotype names in the UML 1.4 compatibility profile are followed by the postfix (UML
1.4) which has been removed from this table for better readability.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

4.2 Class diagrams

If a UML 1.4 class diagram is owned by a UML 1.4 profile it is migrated into a UML 2 profile
diagram.
The UML 1.4 type subsystem is no longer supported by UML 2. UML 1.4 subsystems are
migrated into UML 2 components with applied UML 2 standard stereotype «Subsystem».
The UML 1.4 type flow is no longer supported by UML 2. UML 1.4 flows are migrated into UML 2
dependencies with applied stereotype «Flow (UML 1.4)» provided by the UML 1.4
compatibility profile.

4.3 Deployment diagrams

In UML 2 there is no longer a deployment relationship between nodes and components, that
is, components can no longer be nested graphically in nodes in deployment diagrams using
this relationship. It has been replaced by a deployment relationship between nodes and
artifacts.
If a UML 1.4 component has a deployment relationship to a node the UML migration creates a
default artifact for the component both connected by a manifestation relationship. This
artifact is also connected to the node by a deployment relationship. By doing so there is still a
connection between the migrated node and the migrated component.
In the migrated deployment diagram the component is still visible at the same location but it
is no longer graphically nested. The diagram should be revised after migration so that the
relationship between node and component should be expressed by using the newly created
artifact.

4.4 State machine diagrams

UML 2 no longer supports the types synch state and stub state. Both types are migrated
into standard states with corresponding stereotypes provided by the UML 1.4 compatibility
profile. However affected diagrams should be revised because these states have lost their
original semantics after migration.

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4.5 Activity diagrams

Dependency relationships between objects and signal send and signal receive symbols are
no longer supported. Affected diagrams should be revised in ARIS UML Designer 7.x before
migrating them to UML 2.

4.6 Sequence diagrams

UML 1.4 uses objects as lifeline symbols in sequence diagrams at instance level (sequence
diagrams at classifier level are not supported by ARIS UML Designer 7.x). In UML 2 lifeline is a
new element type, so that lifeline symbols are no longer occurrences of objects which could
also appear in class diagrams.
If a UML 1.4 object occurs in a sequence diagram and in a class diagram it is migrated into a
UML 2 lifeline and a UML 2 instance specification.
If the UML 1.4 object has a type the property represented by the corresponding UML 2 lifeline
has the corresponding UML 2 type.

4.7 Communication diagrams

While UML 1.4 collaboration diagrams at instance level (collaboration diagrams at classifier
level are not supported by ARIS UML Designer 7.x) contain objects connected by links with
attached stimuli, UML 2 communication diagrams contain lifelines connected by connectors
with attached messages.
If a UML 1.4 link occurs in a collaboration diagram and in a class diagram it is migrated into a
UML 2 connector and a UML 2 instance specification.
The remarks above about objects and lifelines in sequence diagrams are also valid for
communication diagrams.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

5 Legal information

5.1 Documentation scope

The information provided describes the settings and features as they were at the time of
publishing. Since documentation and software are subject to different production cycles, the
description of settings and features may differ from actual settings and features. Information
about discrepancies is provided in the Release Notes that accompany the product. Please
read the Release Notes and take the information into account when installing, setting up, and
using the product.
If you want to install technical and/or business system functions without using the
consulting services provided by Software AG, you require extensive knowledge of the system
to be installed, its intended purpose, the target systems, and their various dependencies. Due
to the number of platforms and interdependent hardware and software configurations, we
can describe only specific installations. It is not possible to document all settings and
dependencies.
When you combine various technologies, please observe the manufacturers' instructions,
particularly announcements concerning releases on their Internet pages. We cannot
guarantee proper functioning and installation of approved third-party systems and do not
support them. Always follow the instructions provided in the installation manuals of the
relevant manufacturers. If you experience difficulties, please contact the relevant
manufacturer.
If you need help installing third-party systems, contact your local Software AG sales
organization. Please note that this type of manufacturer-specific or customer-specific
customization is not covered by the standard Software AG software maintenance agreement
and can be performed only on special request and agreement.

5.2 Support
If you have any questions on specific installations that you cannot perform yourself, contact
your local Software AG sales organization
(https://www.softwareag.com/corporate/company/global/offices/default.html). To get
detailed information and support, use our websites.
If you have a valid support contract, you can contact Global Support ARIS at: +800
ARISHELP. If this number is not supported by your telephone provider, please refer to our
Global Support Contact Directory.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

ARIS COMMUNITY
Find information, expert articles, issue resolution, videos, and communication with other ARIS
users. If you do not yet have an account, register at ARIS Community.

SOFTWARE AG EMPOWER PORTAL

You can find documentation on the Software AG Documentation website
(https://empower.softwareag.com/). The site requires credentials for Software AG's Product
Support site Empower. If you do not yet have an account for Empower, send an e-mail to
empower@softwareag.com with your name, company, and company e-mail address and
request an account.
If you have no account, you can use numerous links on the TECHcommunity website. For any
questions, you can find a local or toll-free number for your country in our Global Support
Contact Directory and give us a call.

TECHCOMMUNITY
On the TECHcommunity website, you can find documentation and other technical
information:
 Use the online discussion forums, moderated by Software AG professionals, to ask
questions, discuss best practices, and learn how other customers are using Software AG
technology.
 Access articles, code samples, demos, and tutorials.
 Find links to external websites that discuss open standards and web technology.
 Access product documentation, if you have TECHcommunity credentials. If you do not,
you will need to register and specify Documentation as an area of interest.

EMPOWER (LOGIN REQUIRED)

If you have an account for Empower, use the following sites to find detailed information or
get support:
 You can find product information on the Software AG Empower Product Support website.
 To get information about fixes and to read early warnings, technical papers, and
knowledge base articles, go to the Knowledge Center.
 Once you have an account, you can open Support Incidents online via the eService
section of Empower.
 To submit feature/enhancement requests, get information about product availability, and
download products, go to Products.

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MIGRATION GUIDELINES

SOFTWARE AG MANAGED LEARNINGS

Get more information and trainings to learn from your laptop computer, tablet or smartphone.
Get the knowledge you need to succeed and make each and every project a success with
expert training from Software AG.
If you do not have an account, register as a customer or as a partner.

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