Defining Conceptual Model Components

You define relationships between conceptual model entities by adding components to conceptual model entities. A component is a container that represents all of the viable configurations that can be defined for the relationship. For example, the Broadband_Internet_Access customer facing service can include the Access component. The Access component represents all of the resource facing services that can be used to deliver the Broadband_Internet_Access service.

See Design Studio Concepts for information about components and conceptual model entity relationships.

To define conceptual model components:

1. In the Solution view, double-click a conceptual model entity to open the entity in a conceptual model editor.

   For example, if you double-click a CFS entity, Design Studio opens the CFS entity in the Customer Facing Service editor.

2. Click the Components tab.

3. In the Components area, click Add.

   The Create Components Element dialog box appears.

4. In the Name field, enter a name for the component.

   Name your components to emphasize the role that the component serves (rather than naming the component with the name of associated entity). For example, if you intend to associate the Broadband_Internet_Access Customer Facing Service with the Access_Node Resource, you might name the component ActivationTarget. This naming convention enables you to replace the conceptual model entity defined for the component with a different conceptual model entity without needing to rename the role of the component.

   The component name must not be identical to any of the data elements defined for the same entity.

5. In the Component Type field, select an entity type.

   The types of components that are available in this field are determined by all associated provider functions. Associated provider functions are those that define the conceptual model entity as an input type.

   For example, consider that you are defining components for a Customer Facing Service entity, and that there exists in the workspace one provider function, named DesignAndAssign. And, consider that this provider function defines the Customer Facing Service entity as input and defines the Resource Facing Service entity and the Location entity as output.

   In this example, there are two available options in the Component Type field, the RFS value (resource facing service) and the Location value.

   If you need to add resources as components of a customer facing service (such as when modeling a Carrier Ethernet) you can edit the DesignAndAssign provider function definition to add the Resource entity as an output type.

6. In the Options field, define specific details about the components.

   Do one of the following:

   • Click Add to define the component option using a new conceptual model entity.

   • Click Select to define the component option using an existing conceptual model entity.

7. Define the option cardinality.

   The Minimum field indicates the minimum number of option instances, and the Maximum field indicates the maximum number of option instances.

   Enter 0 in the Minimum field (or select Optional) to indicate that the option is optional. Select Unbounded to define the maximum number of occurrences with no explicit limit.

8. In the Relationship Type field, define how the entity is related to the component.

   See Design Studio Concepts for information about the types of relationships you can define in between entities and components.

9. Click OK.

Related Topics

Conceptual Model Editor Components Tab

Configuring Conceptual Model Entities

Relationship Type Editor