System Engineering in Action! Model How Your Business Processes and AI May Work!

By Tim Ackroyd on

We are starting a series on Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) as it meshes with Unified Modeling Language (UML). You can follow this series on the UML Operator Channel. My focus is on Model-Driven-Architecture (MDA) which I have been practicing for over 30 years. 

The Evolution

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) getting more attention as a subject these days, our world is in for a bigger change since the DOTCOM boom. As Personal Computing became a hot subject in the 70s, we heard people in fear of losing their jobs, but history proved them wrong. The same applies to AI today.

Computers made us smarter, mobile devices keep us aware 24x7, and AI will augment our lives. Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE), Computer Aided Design (CAD), and MDA will become an import launchpads for success in everything we do.

The Revolution

We are already seeing disruptive changes and a fundamental shift. For some, this transformation is NOT fast enough, but others, fear these changes and are taken in by the fear-mongering taking place in news and other channels.

In the 90s as the Internet took off, we heard the need for regulations and government control. Today is no different. We just need to be aware of who is pulling the reins and ensure our privacy and security are protected and we understand what AI is doing/saying versus humans with bad intentions.

With the computer evolution, we have seen what "bad intentions" can do and how fast they can be done. With AI, these issues will move exponentially faster. This is why "visual" representation can help and augment human's understanding of what is taking place, and allow both humans and machines to control what is delivered, consumed, and used.

Conclusion?

Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics". With AI, we need to monitor and manage the "lies" and ensure we are monitoring "the facts". While we don't want to constrain our freedoms, we must constrain "narratives" pushing "non-facts" or "lies". And please, don't think politics, but rather real life. For example, let's take "personalization". When we want products and services tailored for us, we need the system to use "our data" properly to describe, diagnose, predict, and prescribe what we want or need. We do not need bad actors injecting "their data" into our experience, biased or misleading information, to drive what they want or need. 

Today, we hear "A picture speaks a thousand words". In my journeys, I have seen many architects and modelers fail to effectively model, design, and deliver. Thus, my thoughts are "If a picture speaks a thousand words, most of us mumble a lot". With A.I.-driven knowledge and content, there can be "no mumbling". Everything should be backed up with facts and references. For example, if a mathematical outcome of "2+2=4", there should be proof and references to how this conclusion was reached.

Most humans will not take the time to read a thousand words, more or less a hundred. I know this because I have been modeling, solutioning, and designing systems for over three decades. My project models speak hundreds of thousands of words, certainly more than what I even want to read. I feel AI will only help us become more productive and effective in our modeling exercises. AI can help us manage "the truth", discover issues and defects, and provide predictions to help augment successful outcomes.

Over the last 20 years, we have been able to speak in a human active voice and see models generated for us, automatically. Shortly we will be able to think and converse with AI to build and deliver our visions. From concept to product realization in moments, AI will help us do things better, faster, smarter, and more effectively.

Just imagine...

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