GRADE News
GRADE Modeler Release 4.0.18 is Internally Available
Users of Windows 2000 Should Obtain a
Hotfix from Microsoft
GRADE Modeler Release 4.0.16 is Available
New
GRADE Modeler Offers Additional Customization Features
GRADE 4.0.14:
Component Model Introduced
The
New GRADE 4.0.13:
Organizational Diagrams That Really Hit the Bull's-Eye
First
Version of the Graphical Diagramming Engine Released
GRADE
4.0.12: Enjoy More Freedom When Modeling
GRADE Modeler
Release 4.0.11 is Available!
Release
of GRADE 4.0.10: Linking Models to the Outside World
Launch of miniGRADE:
Models that Talk!
Layout
Algorithms Win International Competition
Holzkirchen, February 15, 2004 - An updated version of the GRADE
Modeler - Release 4.0.18 - is available.
If you use GRADE Modeler under Windows 2000, have built a larger
model and perform syntax analysis for it, under certain circumstances
GRADE Modeler can stop responding. This problem has been confirmed
by Microsoft and will be fixed in the Service Pack 3 for Microsoft
Windows 2000.
In the meantime, if you encounter this problem, click
here to obtain a hotfix from Microsoft (size 350 KB).
Holzkirchen, May 12, 2001 - An updated version of the GRADE
Modeler - Release 4.0.16 - is available. The new release brings
improvements in HTML export functionality (more customizing options
available, exported pages look better) and adds new functionality
for importing the relational database schematas to UML class diagrams.
Holzkirchen, Sept. 11, 2000 - The new GRADE Modeler 4.0.15,
released today, offers a host of new customization features that
give you more freedom of choice when modeling and exporting models.
When exporting GRADE models in HTML format for use via the Internet
and intranet, you now have the choice of automatically exporting
the glossary and other special tables associated with
a particular model. You also have the option of showing not only
the name of a given diagram, but the diagram type as well,
in the exported HTML pages. And you can specify various options
governing navigation in your exported model.
GRADE's new symbol style dialogs let you hide attribute keywords.
For example, if your organizational structure diagram shows the
working hours of each employee, you have the choice of whether to
display those hours as follows:
Availability: "*.*.(MON-FRI) (08:00-18:00)"
Or as follows, without the keyword "Availability":
"*.*.(MON-FRI) (08:00-18:00)"
Another new feature is designed to simplify complicated business
process diagrams. By switching off the Auto BP->TD option,
you will ensure that the creation of a new task in a business process
(BP) diagram does not automatically generate a corresponding task
details (TD) diagram. Many tasks are so simple that they do not
warrant the creation of an individual TD diagram.
When checking out the new GRADE, be sure to take a look at the
component modeling feature introduced in release 4.0.14.
It is specially designed for modeling today's enterprise systems,
which allow customers and businesses alike to handle a wide variety
of transactions via the Internet.
Holzkirchen, July 26, 2000 - The GRADE Modeler 4.0.14, released
today, introduces component models, which can be used for
the semi-formal modeling of business systems. Component models contain
a series of packages in which the user can model business components,
software applications and data.
This interim release of GRADE thus introduces a fourth type of
modeling in addition to the three existing types: system modeling,
object modeling and traditional business modeling, which focuses
mainly on organizational structures and business processes.
Holzkirchen, July 18, 2000 – There are plenty of tools out
there for creating organizational diagrams, but how many of them
are flexible enough to reflect your business the way you see
it? How many of them offer a sufficiently wide variety of diagram
symbols so that you can really capture the situation at hand
– not just create an approximation? And how many of them provide
maximum flexibility in terms of layout, so that the diagram you
see in your mind's eye actually appears on the screen?
The new GRADE Modeler 4.0.13, released today, offers all of the
above. GRADE's organizational/resource structure (ORG) diagrams
now provide an expanded range of diagram symbols:
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Organizational units for representing a group, department,
company, etc.
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Positions for representing a particular role (job title)
within an organization.
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Resources for depicting non-human performers, such as
computers, cars, or assembly lines.
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Persons, a new symbol for depicting individuals.
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Functions, a new symbol for depicting a function fulfilled
within the business process.
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References, a new symbol that provides a fast way of
creating a duplicate, or reference copy, of a symbol already
used elsewhere in this or another ORG diagram in the model.
The duplicated symbol can be identified easily because it appears
within a dotted frame. For example, if employee Jack Watson
works as a graphic artist for Department A, but is sometimes
"loaned out" to Departments B and F, the main Jack
Watson symbol can appear under Department A, with reference
copies appearing in Departments B and F.
GRADE also lets you enter a wide range of attributes when modeling
organizational structures. For example, in addition to entering
a given employee's qualifications, skills, working hours, cost per
hour, etc., you can now enter user-defined attributes, such
as e-mail and postal addresses, phone and fax numbers, database-access
rights, and so on.
In addition, the ORG diagram's layout capabilities have
been expanded to let you design your diagram exactly as you see
fit. Now, you can use the layout assistant to attach one
or more nodes to any box symbol and then, in turn, add one
or more child symbols to any node. As a result, a single parent
symbol can have several groups of child symbols, each arranged vertically
or horizontally as desired.
Another new feature is the addition of double-sided layout
in ORG diagrams. In earlier releases of GRADE, working in vertical
mode meant that all child symbols beneath a parent symbol branched
off to the right. Now, you can drag these child symbols to
the left (or right) as needed, thus creating a double-sided effect.
Other new features of release 4.0.13 include the following:
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Customized glossary
The GRADE glossary table offers a central location where terms
used in a model can be defined. Thanks to a new feature of GRADE,
the user can create and name new columns in this glossary
table. For example, in addition to specifying a term and its
definition, you can set up a new column containing the origin
of the term or giving other relevant information.
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Expanded use of Unified Modeling Language (UML) packages
Up to now, GRADE's UML packages were designed to include zero
or more subordinate packages and zero or more class diagrams.
Now these packages can include organizational/structure, business-process
and data-definition diagrams, as well. This increases the range
of possibilities for this type of conceptual modeling.
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Nameless tasks
In business-process diagrams, you now have the option of creating
so-called inline tasks, having no name. If you wish,
you can use the Operation field to enter a description
of the task, e.g., Wait for order confirmation. The use
of inline tasks, where appropriate, can speed up the modeling
process and keep the model from becoming unnecessarily complicated.
Our 14 years of experience developing graphical editors have culminated
in the unveiling of the Graphical
Diagramming Engine, released in early July 2000.
This product, an ActiveX component, is unlike any other
on the market. It was designed by tool developers for tool developers.
It is for those who need to build sophisticated and powerful graphical
editors fast. And it is suited for different kinds of tools -- from
simple database browsers to complex graphical modeling applications.
Holzkirchen, April 11, 2000 -– The GRADE
Modeler 4.0.12, released today, lets you enjoy even greater freedom
when creating GRADE models.
For example, you can now define customized
tables. If you are modeling the organizational structure of
a university, go ahead and add tables showing this year's and last
year's budgets, the number of students and faculty in each department,
etc. These tables appear in the model tree in the form of TAB diagrams.
Stereotypes, which up to now could be
used only in UML class diagrams, are now also available for business
modeling. For example, define a stereotype to distinguish employees
who have some special skill. That way, these employees are identifiable
at a glance, even in a very large organizational structure diagram.
In addition, you can define customized symbol
palettes for many GRADE diagrams. If you want to define a new
default color for organizational units, go ahead and do so, then
specify a corresponding icon in the symbol palette. When you want
to use the new symbol, simply click on the corresponding icon, then
in the diagram itself. It's that simple.
And it's now even easier to add special graphics
to your GRADE diagrams. The PIC table, which is a part of every
model, comes pre-loaded with dozens of pictures to choose from.
You'll find computer-related graphics, icons to use as links to
Web sites, etc.
Don't forget to check out the external-link
feature. Recently updated, this feature can be used to link
a diagram element to
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a Web site (or any other Internet address)
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a document (e.g., a Microsoft Word or Excel document,
an audio or video file)
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an entry in the model's glossary
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an executable program, or
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another diagram.
Holzkirchen, Feb. 8, 2000 -- The GRADE
Modeler 4.0.11 is available as of today. The main improvement
in this release is the possibility of using graphical screen forms
as a part of your business models. These screen forms can be utilized
to prototype the user interface of the systems described by your
business model.
Holzkirchen, Dec. 17, 1999 -- INFOLOGISTIK's flagship product,
the GRADE Modeler, enters a new
era with the release of GRADE 4.0.10.
In addition to offering sophisticated capabilities for modeling
business and IT systems, GRADE 4.0.10 opens up new possibilities
for linking models to the outside world. By using the new
external-links feature, the user can link any diagram symbol to
- a Web site (or any other Internet address)
- a document (e.g., a Microsoft Word or Excel document, an audio
or video file), or
- an entry in the model's glossary.
Once the link has been established, double-clicking on it opens
the corresponding Web site, file, etc. These external links can
be used both when viewing the diagram in GRADE and after the export
of the diagram in HTML format.
This feature provides a new way of making models come alive:
- In a model of a multinational enterprise, for example,
the user can double-click on a corresponding diagram element to
start a video showing operations at a particular plant.
- In a quality-assurance model, the user can double-click
on any procedure represented in a diagram to open a Word document
with the company directive for that procedure.
- In a model making use of complex terminology, the user
can double-click on any unfamiliar term to jump to its definition
in the model glossary.
- And in a model representing a consortium of enterprises, the
user can double-click on any enterprise symbol to open that company's
Web site.
Another new feature of GRADE 4.0.10 is the capability to include
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) pictures in diagrams. That means
models can be enhanced with screen shots and photographs.
Holzkirchen, Oct. 8, 1999 -- INFOLOGISTIK has started active
marketing of its GRADE product family with the launch of miniGRADE,
a subset of the GRADE Modeler.
miniGRADE 4.0.9 is a professional tool based on the Unified
Modeling Language (UML), which has become the de facto industry
standard for software-system modeling.
As a special feature, miniGRADE allows the user to turn models
into talking presentations. The user records a series of
spoken texts, each of which is associated with a given part of the
model. When the presentation is played back, the narration is heard
as the given part of the model is pointed out on the screen. (This
feature is also available in the GRADE Modeler, starting with version
4.0.9.)
This added dimension of voice to graphical models promises a dramatic
increase in their usefulness. Communicating ideas has never been
so simple and effective. And it opens new opportunities for using
miniGRADE and GRADE for Computer-Based Training.
Stirin Castle, the Czech Republic, Sept. 15, 1999 -- GRADE
layout algorithms received 1st and 3rd prizes in a layout-algorithm
competition at the International Symposium on Graph Drawing. This
follows a similar triumph in 1995, when GRADE's layout algorithms
took first prize at the International Symposium on Graph Drawing
in Passau, Germany.
The sophisticated layout algorithms used by GRADE and miniGRADE
give the user a definite advantage, particularly when creating large
diagrams. The user can add a new element to any diagram, then watch
GRADE instantly reposition other diagram elements as needed. During
this repositioning, relationships among the various diagram elements
are preserved and overlapping is prevented to ensure optimal layout.
For the latest information, keep watching this Web site!
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