Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Exhibit 4-9.
Sample event documentation.
Description:
Ship order
Primary entity:
Order
Trigger:
Order has been picked and end of the day
Action Required:
Mark order as shipped
Other Events Triggered:
Quantity added to shipped quantity
History is added
Update year-to-date amounts
Order is deleted
ITEMS TO BE RECORDED ABOUT AN EVENT
Exhibit 9 shows a sample of event documentation. This shows the doc-
umentation of an event called Ship Order. In Exhibit 9, the event's triggers
have been listed; an order is shipped if it has already been picked and it is
the end of the day. This is an example of a compound trigger: time (i.e., end
of day) and another event (i.e., the picking of the order).
The event documentation also identifies the primary entity (i.e., ORDER)
and what happens to it as a result of this event (i.e., order is marked as
shipped). The documentation also indicates the other events that are trig-
gered by this event. Each of these triggered events has its own specific
event documentation. This documentation can be used as process specifi-
cations for the process model.
EVENT NETWORKS
It is difficult to review each event document, its triggers, and resulting
events and subsequently judge its correctness. It is difficult to visualize the
trigger-to-trigger relationships of events. This difficulty can be overcome
with aid of a graphic tool. This tool is an adaptation of the traditional
Project Evaluation Review Technique/Critical Path Management
(PERT/CPM) chart. Exhibit 10 shows how event objects are placed into a
PERT/CPM-like network to show relationships and dependencies.
Exhibit 10 also shows that additional triggers can be added to the event
network to visually illustrate the trigger dependencies of certain events.
For example, the Ship Order event in the network depends on two events-
the picking of the order and the time trigger of End-of-Day. In the chart, par-
allelograms indicate an input trigger and squares indicate a time trigger.
An additional degree of structure can be added to the network by arrang-
ing the event network by primary entities (see Exhibit 11). Exhibit 11 is so
arranged that it traces the ELH of each entity. Exhibit 12 shows how the ELH
for the ORDER entity can be derived from the structured event network.
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