GOLE: modelleringswijze voor data en bedrijfslogica

GOLE: from flowchart to software

GOLE is a fully graphical modeling language with which an associated IT implementation can be generated fully automatically. From GOLE, a complete process model can be directly translated into error-free blockchain code using the OLE compiler. The result is an exact technical reflection of the GOLE model in the form of a workflow software solution. In addition, it is a very user-friendly way to display processes in a clear and complete way. This blog provides more information about how GOLE can be used not only for modeling business processes, but also for the data and business logic that are part of business processes.

The missing puzzle piece of process models

In a previous blog we explained the importance of process modeling to properly map an organization, and also to ultimately make good software. As mentioned , there are many process modeling languages in circulation. But almost all of these languages are limited to processes, and often make no statements about what flows through the processes, namely data.

In the modeling world, a strict distinction has traditionally been made between the modeling of processes and the modeling of data. For example, there are separate process modeling languages and separate data modeling languages. That’s strange in a way, though: how can I design a process without thinking about what data flows through it? And also: how can I give the well-known diamond-shaped symbols -which indicate choices/decisions- in, for example, BPMN a good meaning if I do not know which data plays a role in that decision? In other words, on the basis of what do you make a choice to take one path or another?

In short, how do I model data, and how do I model business logic? And even better: how can I model both processes and the data flowing through them with the associated decision logic in one and the same language? And preferably also a language that is fully machine-readable (by a computer), so that the piece produces working software. That is quite a challenge for process modeling language designers.

The development of GOLE as a modeling tool for process, data and business logic

Fortunately, one person once laid the foundation for an integrated language for processes, data and logic, and that is the renowned American mathematician and language philosopher Saul Kripke. With his so-called possible worlds semantics , he has shown that processes mainly consist of sequences of states, and that there is a so-called accessibility relationship between a state within a process and the state that follows it. What Kripke didn’t yet have, however, was a process modeling language suitable for modeling business processes, which was also machine-readable by a computer, let alone resulting in blockchain code implementing that process.

That’s the merit of the scientists inside NorthChain , which is a have designed process modeling language GOLE , which, in a completely graphical way, contains business processes, as well as the data that flows through them and contains a decision logic, which also translates fully automatically into a blockchain-based IT implementation. Data in GOLE is not only highly structured: the data can also take on very complex forms, if necessary. The decision logic in GOLE is also able to support a wide range of business rules.

In short, GOLE gives a business process designer all the tools one needs to map out a business process of an organization: process, data and business logic in one and the same language. GOLE models in their entirety also automatically translate into working workflow software . Isn’t that beautiful?