Analyzing Activities › Event Analysis › Defining Events

Defining Events

Events and their responses are incorporated in the analysis model using event arrows or external objects that are connected to the activities that initiate the event response.

Each event must have a name and its full definition include text that provides:

• Event description—This is for general descriptive purposes.
• Response description—Where there is more than one set of processes that respond to the same event, this description is part of each dependency description that joins the event to the process that initiates a business response.
• Frequency of occurrence—This information is used in system design decisions.
• Required response time—This information is used in business process re-engineering and system design decisions.

Defining External Events

The source of an external event is represented and defined as "an External Object (as described in the chapter "Dependency Analysis") and a flow of the information that tells the responding business activity what has occurred and what is done."

In the information flow between a process and an external object, for example, CUSTOMER is the source of the event Order Arrives. The information flow Order Details represents the information available to the responding process Take Order.

When using event analysis to confirm existing activity hierarchy and dependencies, you can check the list of external objects and the dependency diagrams to see if the event response is already included in the analysis model.

Defining Temporal Events

A temporal event appears as a large red arrow on CA Gen Activity Dependency Diagram.

The name of a temporal event is usually a sentence with a subject and verb, for example, End of Year arrives or Order Delivery (is) due.

If something must happen for a process to execute, it can be said that the process "is enabled by the event," or that the event is a "precondition for the process." The event is therefore connected to a single dependent process by a dependency line.

A temporal event can occur arbitrarily; for example, the arrival of a Delivery Date is an event that enables the Deliver Order process. It can also depict some cyclical occurrence, for example, End of Month.

In the following illustration, the process Count Stock is enabled at the End of Year.

Since an event is a precondition for a process, it follows that the condition can arise as the post-condition of another process.

If the other process is a sibling of the processes on the dependency diagram, an event is not needed; a dependency line between the processes suffice. You can use the event arrow to depict dependencies on other activities that appear elsewhere in the activity hierarchy, or even outside the scope of the analysis model.

Note: CA Gen does not automatically control changes of name for events that are used in this way.