Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models

2. Accountability

The concept of accountability applies when a person or organization is responsible to another. It is an abstract notion that can represent many specific issues, including organization structures, contracts, and employment.

This chapter begins by introducing the important pattern of party (2.1)—the supertype of person and organization. The organization structure problem is then used to show the development of the accountability model. Simple organization structures can be modeled with organization hierarchies (2.2). When many hierarchies develop the model becomes too complex, and the organization structure (2.3) pattern is required. The combination of the party and organization structure patterns produces accountability (2.4 ...