REA Technology

Book

The book Model-Driven Design Using Business Patterns by Pavel Hruby, Jesper Kiehn and Christian Vibe Scheller explains REA (Resources, Events, Agents) in detail, shows how to apply it in business software applications, and presents more than 20 structural and behavioral patterns that use REA as a common backbone.

» Sample Pages

» Part I Structural Patterns
What is REA
Joe's Pizzeria
Exchange Process Pattern

» Part II Behavioral Patterns
Cross-cutting concerns
Identification pattern

» Part III Modeling Handbook
Penalty for Violated Commitment

» Code Samples
An REA-based example application illustrates how to build a web shop for Joe’s Pizzeria, an REA model analyzed in the book.
An aspect-based example application illustrates how to extend an REA application by various user-, application-, and branch-specific functionality using aspect patterns.

Both applications require this SQL Server database. In order to compile and run the applications you need Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005. However, even browsing the code without actually running it will give you an idea about possible complexity of the applications that can be created using the methods described.

Other people wrote

The best book on REA so far."I came across Fowler's book and I think it was great, and I liked it so much, especially modeling the account and the related entries. But that was about it as far as the simplicity goes. It started to get a bit more complex as I started to get more patterns.

I started to do some more searches till I got to the REA, Resources- Events-Agents and that was it. I was blown away. The model is so simple but powerful in capturing the most fundamental concepts in the accounting and business domain". Read the complete review here. Dave Feistein on amazon.com.

"This book is destined to become a landmark in business modeling. Pavel heralds the replacement of traditional workflow-oriented modeling with a new breed of approaches that focus on delivering change-resilient and highly reusable business models. I highly recommend this book to you!" Krzysztof Czarnecki, University of Waterloo, Canada

"This book presents a unique approach to enterprise modeling based on core economic and business principles. The authors skillfully interweave a multitude of examples that you can readily integrate into your own designs. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in enterprise systems!" Guido L. Geerts, Associate Professor of Accounting and MIS, University of Delaware

"The book looks very interesting, and very well done."William E. McCarthy, Professor of Accounting and Information Systems, Michigan State University

"It's a great book, marvelous in breadth and depth. An impressive achievement. I particularly liked the modeling handbook examples." Bob Haugen, Business Technology Consultant and Contributor to REA standardization in ISO, UN/CEFACT and ebXML, UK

"I enjoyed reading it very much, it gave many new insights into REA and its applications." Paul Johannesson, Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden