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CONTENTS
1
ABSTRAGT......................,.........,....................................,.
.......,....,.............,..................................................5
1.1 Executive
Summary............................................."".........................
...................,........,...",.......,..,......5
1.2 Key Issues
.,.,.........................................................".....,...........
.....................,......................................,
5
1.3 Audience
..........,...............................,........,...........................
................................................................
6
2 .,
INTRODUCTION 7
......,....,...................................................................
..........................................................
2.1 Current State of Application
Development.........,..........................,....,..................,.......
.................
7
2.2 AD Trends
..............,......,..................~,......................"..............
...,.........................................,................
8
2.3 Silver Leap s
Soiution..,...............................,...,....,.....................,.....
...........,...................,.....,...."......
9
2.4 Overview of
document..................,..,....................................,............
.................................................
9
3 10
APPLICATION
LIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT.............,...,....,.................,......,....,................
.,...........,........
3.1
Definition.,.......".....,........,...........................,................
.....,.................................................................10
3.2 Activities
..............,................................................................
..............................................................10
3.3 Toots
........................................................................"......
....................,...............,..............................11
3.4
Scope...........,...................,........................................".
...,.................................,...................................11
4 12
BUSINESS
MODELING..,.........................................................,..........
.......,..........,.....................................
4.1
Definition.....................................................................
.........................................,...................,.,........12
4.1.1
Organization...................................................................
...........................................................13
4.1.2 Resources
...............................................................................
..................................................13
4.1.3 Business Processes
.....................................................................,.........
..................................14
4.1.4 Business
rules..........................................................................
.................................................14
4.1.5 Using
UML............................................................................
.....................................................15
4.1.6 The different views of a
Business............,..........................................................
.....................15
4.2 Business Patterns
.......,.......................................................................
..............................................16
4.3
Workflow......,.......................................,........................
..........................................................,...........17
4.4 B2Bi (collaborating business
processes)...................,.................................................
................17
4.5 Business Process Management
.......................................................................,.......
................,.....17
4.6 From a Business model to a Software niodel
.....,.......,.........................,.............,...........,......,.....1
8
22
SERVICE-ORIENTED
ARCHITECTURE
(SOA)
................,........."..........",.............................,......,.",
....
5.1
Definition..................................,............,....,.,..............
......,......................,........................................,.22
5.2 The Benefits of a Service-Oriented
Architecture......................,.....................,......................
.,....22
5.2.1 Better Return on
Investment.....................................................................
...............................23
5.2.2 Code Mobiiity
..........................................,......,.............................
.............,................................23
5.2.3 More
Security.......................................................................
.....................................................23
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5.2.4 Better 23
Testing/Fewer
Defects
...............................................................................
...................
5.2.5 Support 24
for Multiple
Client Types
...............................................................................
..........,..
5.2.6 Service 24
Assembly
...............................................................................
......................................
5.2.7 Better 24
Maintainability................................................................
................................................
5.2.8 More 24
Reuse..........................................................................
.....................................................
5.2.9 Better 24
Parallelism
in Development
...............................................................................
...........
5.2.10Better 25
Scalability....................................................................
...................................................
5.2.11 Higher 25
Availability
...............................................................................
......................................
5.3
Conclusion.....................................................................
.....................................................................25
fi MDA - MODEL DRIVEN
ARGHiTEGTURE...................................................................
................"......... 26
6.1
Definition..,..................................................................
............................................................,...........26
6.2 Goals
...,....,...,..............................,...................................
..........................................................,......,..26
6.3 Life Gycle
..,..,...................,..............................,........,.............
........................................................,....27
6.3.1
Overview.......................................................................
.............................................................27
6.3.2
Transformations................................................,...............
........................................................28
6.3.3 Participants, Tools and
Artifacts......................................................................
........................29
6.3.3.1
Participants...................................................................
........................................................29
6.3.3.2 Tools
.....................................:..........................,..............
.............................................30
6.3.3.3 Artifacts
...............................................................................
.............................................31
7 THE SILVER LEAP SOLUTION
.....................................".........................................
................................. 32
7.1 Objectives
....................,...,.....,.,.....,..,.....................................
....,......,........,....................................... 32
7.2
Solution........................,..............................................
,......,................~................................................33
7.3 Audience
..........................................,....................................
..........,................................................... 33
7.4 Addressing the
problems..........................,...,...,....................................
.......................................... 33
7.4.1
Complexity...........,.........................................................
............................................................33
7.4.2 BusinessIIT
alignment.......,..............................................................
........................................34
7.4.3 Changing Business
Needs....................................................,..",.................
.............................34
7.4.4 Quality
...............................................................................
.......................................................34
7.4.5 Technological
innovation.....................................................................
.................................,...34
7.4.6 Architectural
Integrity......................................................................
..........................................34
7.4.7 Application
Integration....................................................................
..........................................35
7.4.8 Reuse
...............................................................................
...........................................,...........35
7.4.9 MDA
limitations....................................................................
.....................................................35
7.4.10 36
integrated
Environment....................................................................
........................................
7.5 37
Process
Overview................................,.........,............................
..................................................,....
7.6 res
.............,...........................,......,...,...............,..........
..................................................,.........,..39
Featu
7.6.1 Tools Overview
...........,.....................................,......,..,...................
...........................................39
7.6.1.1 Business Modeling
Tools.......................................,.................................,
............................39
7.6.1.2 System Modeling & Implementation Tools
.....................................................,.....................40
7.6.1.3 Testing
Tools..........................................................................
..............................................40
7.6.1.4 Transformation Tools
...............................................................................
............................40
7.6.1.5 Repository Tools
...............................................................................
...................................41
7.6.1.6 Deployment Tools
.................................................,.............,...............
.................................41
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7.6.1.7 Management
Tools...........................................................,..............
.....................................41
7.6.2 Using he lnfegrafed Environment
..............................................................,..,.............
t ACES 42
7.6.2,1
BusinessModeling...............................................................
................................................42
7.6.2.1.1Guide the business analyst through business
modeling......................................42
7.6.2.1.2Enforce formalism for business
modeling.............................................,..............42
7.6.2.1.3Allow the business analyst to use efficiently
the business patterns..........,..........43
7.6.2.1.4Provide extensive wizards to assist the analysts
in translating business
models into system requirements and specifications
..........................................43
7.6.2:2 System
Analysis,
Design
and
Implementation.................................................................
,....43
7.6.2.2.1Guide the software analyst through the complex
steps of software
analysis and
design.........................................................................
....................43
7.6.2.2.2Allow the software analysts to use efficiently
the available analysis
patterns
...............................................................................
................................43
7.6.2.2.3Model the application
.........................................................,...,.................
..."......44
7.6.2.2.4Create and manage transformation
definitions....................................................44
7.6.2.2.5Execute model
transformations.............................................,..................
..........44
7.6.2.2.6Provide default transformation definitions
for the main middleware
platforms
...............................................................................
.............................44
7.6.2.2.7Design user
interfaces..............................................,..............,.......
.....................44
7.6.2.3 Management
...............................................................................
.........................................45
7.6.2.3.1Navigate the project at different levels
of abstraction.......................................,..45
7.6.2.3.2Manage
projects.......................................................................
...........................45
7.6.2.3.3Manage software assets
...............................................................................
......45
7.6.2.3.4Track changes and defects
...............................................................................
.45
7.6.2.4 Testing46
7.6.2.4.1Integrate testing into the process
..................,..,...,..,.........,................................46
7.6.2.5
Miscellaneous.................................................................,
.....................................................46
7.6.2.5.1Facilitate the integration of legacy and
enterprise systems ...............,...,......,...,..46
7.6.2.5.2Integrate with commonly used development
tools...............................................46
7.6.2.5.3Support for MDA Standards
...............................................................................
.46
7.6.3 Physical
architecture
...............................................................................
.................................
47
7.6.3.1 Deveiopment
Environment....................................................................
...............................47
7.6.3.1.1Overview
..........................,.....................,..............................
..............................47
7.6.3.2 Deployment
Environment...,................................................................
.................................48
7.6.3.2.1Application
Deployment.....................................................................
.................48
7.6.3.2.2Aces
Depioyment.....................................................................
...........................48
8
CONCLUSION..............,......................................................
........................................,................................49
APPENDIX A: BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING
.........,............................................................... 50
A.1 A primer on
OCL.,..,..........,.................................................,..........
..........,......................................... 50
A.2 Introduction to ASL - Action Semantics
Language.....................................................................
52
A.3 BPM Related Standards
...............................................................................
.................................... 53
A.4 Different views to describe a business
.............................................................................,.
.......... 54
A.5 From a business model to a system
model............,............,................................................
........ 5J
APPENDIX B: MODEL DRIVEN
ARCHITECTURE...................................,...........................,...
....... 60
B.1 MDA Related Standards
....................................................................,..........
.................................... BO
B.2 MDA Framework
.................................,.............,...............................
................................................. 63
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8.3 MDA Models
............................................,.....................,............
........................................................ 64
B.4 MDA Limitations
........,.....,.....................,.................,........................
................................................. 66
GLOSSARY................................,......................................
...............................................................................
. 68
REFERENCES.,...................................................................
.......,.................:....................................................
69
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1 ABSTRACT
1.1 Executive Summary
This paper presents Silver Leap's vision of the ACES Integrated Environment,
an
agile J2EE compliant Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solution for
enterprise application development.
The ACES Integrated Environment builds on industry trends such as ALM,
Business Process Management (BPM), Model Driven Architecture (MDA), SOA
(Service Oriented Architecture) and Agile development processes. The solution
integrates existing SilverLeap, SunONE and open source technologies with the
addition of new innovative easy to use features that are directly addressing
current software development community issues and problems.
With its expertise and current technologies in ARAD (Architected Rapid
Application Development) tools, SivIerLeap is in a unique position to allow
Sun to
deliver quickly and effectively a next generation software development
environment platform capable of retaining Sun's current software developer
base
and augmenting it at the expense of its competitors.
1.2 lCey Issues
What major problems is the AD community currently facing?
What are the major initiatives that are currently under way in the AD
community
to solve those problems?
What are BPM, MDA, SOA and agile processes and how can they be tightly
integrated into a simple yet complete ALM solution?
What would the solution look like in the context of Sun's current SunONE and
Orion strategies?
Why is Silver Leap the best fit for Sun to deliver this solution in a timely
and cost
effective manner?
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1.3 Audience
This white paper is targeted primarily at Sun's Software Development
Executives. The elements of the solution presented in this paper address
important strategic trends in the software development tool market.
Additionally,
section 7 delves a little deeper in technical details so Sun engineers can do
a
preliminary technical assessment of the proposed solution.
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2 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Current State of Application Development
As application software development complexity continues to grow exponentially
and with the increasing pressure on IT to deliver more business value quickly
and efficiently, it is becoming clear that the traditional software
development
methodologies, processes, techniques and tools can no longer keep up.
The now famous 1994 Standish Group Chaos study of Large Government and
Commercial systems indicated that
~ Only 16% of the projects were completed on time & under budget
~ 31 % were canceled
~ 53% of the projects exceeded their budget by more than 100%
~ Of the 16% completed project, only 61 % of specified features were
included
Since then, other more recent, but smaller studies on IT software development
projects have shown evidence that the trend is really not improving with time.
Some of the key problems behind those dismal numbers include:
~ Increasing complexity of applications and platforms
~ Mismatch between what is needed by business and what is actually
delivered by 1T
~ Fast changing business needs
~ Ensuring architectural integrity across large projects
L
m
~ Rapid pace of introduction of new technologies
Q
o ~ Finding and retaining qualified labor
N
~ Integrating legacy applications and databases
~ Reusing existing components in a different configuration
0
Multiple competing middleware systems
a
~ Adapting shrink-wrap products to the business (ERP, CRM...
~ Lack of real feedback during development
0
m
0
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2.Z ~1D Trends
A number of trends have surfaced fairly recently to address some of those
pressing problems:
ALM: Application Lifecycle Management is a one-stop-shop for application
development. An ALM solution integrates the necessary tools to address the
entire application lifecycle such as definition, design, development, testing,
deployment and management. It accelerates product delivery and increases ROI
by improving team productivity.
BPM: Business Process Management allows the business to easily define (or
model), modify and monitor the business processes so changing business needs
get addressed very quickly while diminishing the overhead of translating
business needs into an actual 1T implementation. Currently, BPM and system
development are fairly disjoint processes. Current BPM solutions assume
software systems already exist and rely on Enterprise Application Integration
(EAlIB2Bi) technologies to connect business processes to actual systems.
MDA: Model Driven Architecture is an attempt to raise the level of abstraction
of
system development in order to deal with increasing complexity. By working at
the higher levels of abstraction of models, developers can concentrate on
implementing business value, leaving the complexity of mapping the models to
platform specific implementations to automated transformation tools. These
tools
encapsulate knowledge of common architectural patterns, best practices and
technology mappings. MDA is strictly concerned with the modeling of software
systems. The responsibility of modeling business processes and rules is the
domain of BPM.
SOA: Service Oriented Architecture is a type of enterprise architecture. It
embodies the old concept of reuse but at a higher level. Component reuse at
lower levels has largely been unsuccessful in the industry. SOA attempts to
raise
the reusability at the level of business processes or domain level. Web
Services
is an embodiment of SOA using web technologies. It allows organizations to
package business functionality and make it available either internally or
externally for consumption through a set of well-defined and standard web
interfaces.
Agile Processes: Development methodologies like XP, Scrum and others are
becoming increasingly popular, allowing business and IT to work in a tighter
feedback loop to ensure business needs are being addressed properly and
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quickly. In some sense, agile processes try to merge the activities of
defining the
business processes and defining the supporting software systems to achieve
better synergy and efficiency.
2.3 Silver Leap's Solution
The ACES Integrated Environment is Silver Leap's solution to address the
current problems of the industry. It is an agile ALM suite of tools covering
the
entire application software development lifecycle. It raises the level of
abstraction
for developing applications by embracing the OMG's Model Driven Architecture
and seamlessly integrating Business Process Modeling concepts. Its RAD
technology allows the easy and rapid creation of applications and services,
fully
supporting iterative and agile development processes.
2.4 Overview of document
Section 3 describes briefly ALM and lists the typical ALM activities and
tools.
Section 4 discusses Business Modeling and it's role and impact on the software
development process.
Section 5 presents SOA and it°s importance as a platform for
reuse.
Section 6 presents the OMG's MDA initiative.
Section 7 discusses the details of Silver Leap's proposed ALM solution.
Section 8 is presents the conclusion of this paper.
Section 9 is a glossary of terms used in the paper.
Appendix A presents more details about Business Modeling.
Appendix B presents more details about MDA.
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3 APPLICATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
3.1 Definition
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) embodies all the activities required to
bring a software application or software system to life.
3.2 Activities
ALM activities usually boil down to the following:
Definition: state the problem and the functionality of the system that will
solve
the user's problems
Design: state how the system will implement the required functionality
Development: implement the system
Testing: verify that the system actually solves the user's problems
Deployment: make the system available to its users
nAanagement: coordinate all the activities
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3.3 Tools
Here is a list of typical tools that make up an ALM suite:
Activity Tools
Definition Software Requirements Manager
Design Software System Modeler
Development Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
~ LibrarieslFrameworks
Testing Testing tool (UnitllntegrationlSystem)
Profiler
Code analysis & metrics
Deployment Web/PortaIIDirectorylldentity Management
Servers
ApplicationllntegrationlMessage Queuing
Servers
Databases
Management Project lVianagement
Software Configuration Management
Software Asset Management
Defect & Change Tracking
3.4 Scope
As of today, most ALM solutions deal only with the software system lifecycle.
An
upstream activity such as Business Process Modeling that provides input into
the
definition of the software system is typically not included. However, looking
at the
MDA roadmap and at the upcoming technologies included in UML 2.0, it is clear
that BPM will become an integral part of an ALM solution in the future.
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4 BUSINESS MODELINt~
4.°I Definition
With ever-increasing competition for markets, jobs and scarce resources,
businesses today can only survive by constantly improving their quality,
efficiency and cost-effectiveness. One way of assuring this constant level of
excellence is by modeling the business.
Business modeling (BM), an activity of Business Process Management (BPM)
consists in documenting a business. Although there are numerous ways of doing
this, the motivations behind it are always the same:
~ To understand the key mechanisms of an existing business.
~ To try to improve existing business processes or create new ones.
~ To act as the basis for creating suitable information systems supporting
the business.
~ To facilitate the integration of the business with others or to facilitate
the
integration of sub-parts of the business.
To try to automate parts of the business.
~ To have the possibility to monitor the business by providing metrics.
An enormous market has emerged around BM supporting methodologies and
tools, mostly in Europe. Numerous methods have tried to abstract the concepts
of business modeling. For example, Eriksson and Penker [ERIK 2000j use the
following concepts to describe the business system:
~ Resources: the objects within the business
~ Processes: the activities perFormed within the business
~ Goals: the purpose of the business
~ Rules: statements that define or constrain some aspect of the business
We can find that all existing methodologies share similar concepts.
Based on years of empirical research, IT architects have been able to identify
a
reduced set of design elements, or design abstractions, to significantly
simplify
many aspects of design and the design process. This discovery is analogous to
the discovery of the Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) in computer
hardware design, which was recognized as a desirable alternative to Complex
Instruction Set Computing (CISC) in most situations. Reduced Abstraction Set
Computing (RASC) constitutes a high-level language that can be shared by both
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business and IT designers. These abstractions are Organization, Process and
Resource. Many methodologies use these abstractions successfully today as
Convergent Engineering and the respected Advanced Network System
Architecture (ANSA) (Iggulden, 1994) the predecessor and principal basis for
ISO Open Distributed Processing (ODP) standards. The following figure
illustrates these abstractions:
n,~t.,~
nage &
de OPRs
t_-
a
B dlrecr
6---._.-----1
4.1.1 Organization
Organizations manage processes, resources and other organizations. They
group people and other resources charged with carrying out specific business
processes.
4.1.2 resources
Resources are intelligent units of value, cost and action in an organization.
They
represent sources of business value, work and information used by other
abstractions.
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4.1.3 Business Processes
A business process is a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds
of input and
creates an output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong
emphasis on how
work is done within an organization, in contrast to a product's focus on what.
A process is
thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and place, with a
beginning, and
end, and clearly identified inputs and outputs. a structure for action [DAVF_N
1992].
It is a goal directed sequence of activities or tasks that are enabled by
resources.
4.1.4 Business rules
A business model contains business rules that define constraints, conditions
and
policies far how the business processes are to be performed. Business rules
affect all the other concepts; they can constrain the execution of a business
process, the behavior of a resource, and the means to achieve a specific goal.
Business rules can be defined as:
~ Declarations of policies or conditions that must be satisfied [OMG
Analysis and Design Reference Model 1992]
~ Units of business knowledge [Odel 1998]
Statement that defines or constrains some aspect of the business. It is
intended to assert business structure or to control or influence the
behavior of the business [GUIDE Business Rules Project 1995].
In order to be executable, a UML model needs to describe the static and
dynamic
nature of the problem. The static nature is described using class diagram and
OCt_. The dynamic nature is described using state chart diagrams and ASL. For
a primer on OCL and Action Semantics, see appendix A.1 and A.2.
As we will see later, there are ways to automate the creation of meaningful
Business Models using the previous abstractions.
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4.1.5 Using UML
Since its introduction in 1997, UML has quickly become the standard modeling
language for software development, especially for projects that use object
orientation. In its next release (2.0), UML will provide a fairly complete set
of
features to support business modeling. For a detailed description of the UML
2.0
features, we refer you to OMG's web site.
Having an object-oriented business model, which can be mapped easily to object
technology is a valuable simplification. Using object-oriented techniques, the
modeling concepts and the structure used in the business model can be the
same as those used in the analysis models for the information systems.
Furthermore, UML is a standard notation driven by the OMG and we consider it
to be fairly easy to learn and very well supported by a large amount of tools.
The main disadvantage of UML for this purpose is that it is not formal enough
in
the BM field to allow the automation of the different required steps. For
example,
business use cases and interaction diagrams (sequence) cannot be interpreted
directly by a processor (ex: a code generator).
4.1.6 The different vies ofi a business
Most methodologies share a "Multiple View" approach into modeling a business.
For example, the ARIS methodology uses the ARIS house analogy [DAVIS
2001], which consists of a 4.-views-model: Organizational, Data; Control and
Function. Other methodologies will use variants of these but we could
summarize
the views as follows:
The Vision view that contains the objectives. of the business
~ The Organizational view that lists the different resources of the business
~ The Process view that illustrates the activities and processes in the
business.
The Behavioral view that shows the behavior of the resources and
processes of the business.
For a detailed discussion of these views, see appendix A.4.
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4.2 Business Patterns
Many problems that recur when modeling businesses have been resolved
before. Business patterns, in the same way that Design patterns do but at a
different level, make it possible to capture and describe these business-
modeling
problems and their corresponding solutions so they can be reused. The
architect
Christopher Alexander defines a pattern in his book, The Tirneiess INay of
building [1979] as follows:
"Each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation beihn~een a
certain
context, a problem and a solution.
~ As an element in the world, each pattern is a relationship between a
certain context, a certain system of forces, which occurs repeatedly in
that context, and a certain spatial configuration, which allows these to
resolve themselves.
~ As an element of language, a pattern is an instruction, which shows how
this spatial configuration can be used, over and over again, to resolve
the given system of forces, wherever the context makes it relevant.
~ The pattern is, in short, at the same time a thing, which happens in the
world, and the rule which telis us how to create that thing, and when we
must create it. It is both a process and a thing; both a description of a
thing that is alive, and a description of the process which will generate
that thing."
To successfully apply a pattern, the area to which we want to apply it must be
fully understood. Business patterns are used to create understandable and
flexible business models that describe the structure and behavior of a
business.
Gamma [GAMMA, 1995] identifies 3 types of patterns as follows:
~ Functional: providing solutions to functional problems
Structural: providing solutions to structural issues such as how to
structure resources
~ Behavioral: applied fo dynamic descriptions such as how something
changes over time.
A lot of work has been done in the field of patterns. For example, Eriksson
and
Penker [ERIK 2000j present many business patterns in their book on Business
Modeling in 3 categories: Resource and Rule patterns, Goal patterns and
Process patterns. These patterns should be reused as much as possible in every
business modeling activity and a tool that would allow the automation of this
step
would be highly desirable.
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4.3 UUorkflovw
In many cases, business modeling consists in defining workflows of documents
in the business. This is a specialized case of business processes for which
many
tools exist on the market. It should be emphasized that creating a workflow is
a
subset of modeling a business process. A complete business modeling solution
allows the creation of such workflows.
4..4 B2Bi collaborating business processes)
A current trend for integrating businesses is to expose processes at the
service
level and use standard protocols to exchange data. Web services and Bizztalk
are very well known initiatives to address these problems.
4.5 Business Process Managerr~ent
The Business Process Management encompasses all Business Process
activities. Some of the most important activities include:
~ Modeling
~ Integratian
~ Orchestration
~ Monitoring
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4.6 From a Business model to a Software model
The most difficult part when starting from a business model to deduce the
functional requirements of a software system is to obtain precise information
from
a "not too formal" language. This task is normally done by highly skilled
analysts
that must produce what is called a Software Architecture.
Building a software architecture is not a trivial task. Krutchen describes a
4+1
view of a software architecture that is becoming a de facto standard in the
industry. His recommendation, the 4+7 View Mode! of Architecture, is
illustrated
in the following figure:
Logical Implementation
View ~ ff~'-"~~. ~ View
rJse Case
View
Deployment ~ '~-..~' ~ PrOCess
View View
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8usin~ss t.~~
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Process
8usioess
Results
_v_______._________________-___.-_-_______________-___~_____;___-
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Software Development
Process
Requirements
Analysis ~~ ~ System Test
i
Analysis
ArchiteCfuraf '~~~ /
design ~ tntqgratian Test
t)etailed Design
finplementatian
Unit Test
Traditionally, Business Modeling was done separately from other system
development steps. As shown in the previous diagram, it was very often a
prerequisite that a very stable Business Model existed before any system
development could get under way. Modern iterative AD processes tend to
integrate business modeling into the feedback loop in order to minimize risks
and
allow the developers to get the business user's feedback quickly and often.
So how is the information found in the business models transferred to the
software models? The following actions summarize (this is by no way a general
recipe) the roadmap to accomplish this [ERIK 2000]:
~ Identify the information systems that best support the operation of the
business. The process and the assembly fine diagrams in the business
model are used to identify activities that require services from an
information system. Typically, these activities are: information
storagelretrieval, processing, conversion, presentation, knowledge and
decision-making, communication and control.
~ Find functional requirements. Use cases can be considered as the
specification of the services the software system provides. The assembly
line diagram is used to identify the services a proce ss needs from
different systems. The following figure illustrates this:
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Customer
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~ Find non-functional requirements. These are deduced from textual
descriptions in the business model.
~ Act as a basis (the business model) far analysis and design of the
system. Much information can be deduced from the different process
views as for example, the classes and the collaboration between
different objects and the business rules.
All these tasks are not very straightforward. They require a great deal of
work, intuition and experience and are usually done by highly skilled
analysts. However, a lot of work has been done on the subject, numerous
methodologies exist and are well documented.
To automate these steps, a kind of formalism has to be defined in the
business model to facilitate the transformation to the software architecture.
Using UML as the language to define the business model and the software
architecture is a first step in the right direction and also what MDA
prescribes. But we should go further. An ontology [JENZ 2003] can be used
to establish the bridge between the world of natural language and the world
of machines. Essentially, the business model is expressed in a language
neutral knowledge base customized to the needs of the business. The
ontology provides a way to establish a common language so information can
be exchanged between the business model and the software architecture.
Because both types of models speak the same language, it is much easier
for automated tools to automate the transformations between these 2
models. In conclusion, "Ontology-driven software artifact generation and the
OMG's Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) are complementary approaches
that fit together perfectly well". [JENZ 2003]
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The Convergent Engineering approach [TAYLO, 1995] is another way of
bridging the business models and the software models. It is the cornerstone
of simplification and the key to resolving many of the pathologic problems
suffered by 1T organizations, it drastically simplifies both business and
software development by consolidating the aspects they have in common.
This approach prescribes the use of object-orientation to create models of
the business and the software systems that support it. However, in that
special case, some compromises have been done on the business model
sides restricting the level of complexity attainable in these models. This
restriction is essentially due to the tight mapping with information
structures.
As we have seen previously, the use of business patterns can help
"formalize" the business models but this use requires extensive knowledge
and experience.
For a discussion on BM standards, see appendix A.3.
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sr ,
SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCI-iITECTt9RE (SOAK
5.1 ~efiniti~n
With the introduction of Web Services over the last year or so, there has been
a
renewed interest in service-oriented architecture ~SOA) [STEVEIVS 2003]. SOA
is an architecture that has special properties. It is an architecture made up
of
components and interconnections that stress interoperability and location
transparency. The term service has been used for more than two decades. For
example, several leading transaction-monitoring software companies have used
the term "service" in the early 1990s. Many client-server development efforts
in
the 90s used the term °'service°' to indicate the ability to
make a remote method
call. Web Services has given the term service more prominence in the last few
months. Services and service-oriented architectures are really about designing
and building systems using heterogeneous network addressable software
components.
A service-oriented architecture is one that has a robust service layer. Most
companies have already built components with many of these properties. They
are some of the things to keep in mind when designing services or harvesting
existing components to be service-enabled. Services can be built using a large
number of technologies from application servers like .NET or J2E=E, middleware
solutions, or even adapters for database systems that enable access to data
via
Web services.
A service is behavior that is provided by a component for use by any other
component based only on the interface contract. It has a network-addressable
interface and may be dynamically discovered and used.
Web Services provide an implementation of SOA. They include HTTP as the
primary network protocol, SOAP/XML for the payload format, UDDI for service
registry, and WSDL to describe the service interfaces.
However, SOA does not require Web Services. SOA is a design and a way of
thinking about building software components.
5.2 The Benefits of a Service-Oriented Architecture
in SOA, developers create services in a service layer. These services have
published interfaces that support a distinct business domain. Organizations
that
focus their development effort around the creation of services will realize
many
benefits. The most common scenario for development organizations is to have
some experience with component-based development. The use of application
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servers such as J2EE or .NET for hosting applications is becoming more
common. If your organization is using component-based development practices
and application servers for business logic, then you are already service-
oriented.
By following the service-oriented mind set with even more rigor, combined with
the component-based approach to software development, your organization will
likely realize many benefits:
5.2.1 Better Return on investment
The creation of a robust service layer has the benefit of a better return on
the
investment made in the creation of software. Services map to distinct business
domains. For example, a company might create an inventory service that has all
of the methods necessary to manage the inventory for the company. By putting
the logic into a separate layer, the layer can exist well beyond the lifetime
of any
system it is composed into. For example, if your organization needs to create
a
credit card authorization service, there are basically two options. Developers
will
either develop the functionality as part of the application that needs it, or
they will
develop it as a separate component. If credit card authorization is developed
as a
separate component and used as a service, then it is likely to outlive the
original
application.
5.2.2 Code Mobility
Since location transparency is a property of a service-oriented architecture,
code
mobility becomes a reality. The lookup and dynamic binding to a service means
that the client does not care where the service is located. Therefore, an
organization has the flexibility to move services to different machines, or to
move
a service to an external provider.
5.2.3 More Security
The creation of a service layer by definition means that developers have
created
an additional network interface that can be used by multiple applications.
When
systems were built using monolithic or client-server methods, security was
normally handled on the front-end. Companies often did not even implement
database security because it is too hard to maintain multiple security lists.
Services on the other hand are used by multiple applications, so they have
their
own security mechanisms. An application will therefore have multi-level.
authentication at both the client Level and at the service level.
5.2.4 better TestinglFewer Defects
Services have published interfaces [1] that can be tested easily by developers
by
writing unit tests. Developers can use toots such as JUnit for creating test
suites.
These test suites can be run to validate the sersrice independently from any
application that uses the service. It is also a good. practice to run the unit
tests
during an automated build process. There is no reason for a QA tester to test
an
application if the unit tests did not complete successfully. More and better
testing
usually means fewer defects and a higher overall level of quality.
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5.2.5 Support for Multiple Client Types
As a benefit of a service-oriented architecture, companies may use multiple
clients and multiple client types to access a service. A PDA using J2ME may
access a service via HTTP, and a SWING client may access the same service
via RMI. Since the layers are spilt into client and service layers, different
client
types are easier to implement.
5.2.6 Service Assembly
The services that developers create will evolve into a catalog of reusable
services. Customers will come to understand this catalog as a set of reusable
assets that can be combined in ways not conceived by their originators.
Everyone will benefit from new applications being developed more quickly as a
result of this catalog of reusable services.
5.2.7 Better Maintainability
Software archeology [2] is the task of locating and correcting defects in
code. By
focusing on the service layer as the location for your business logic,
maintainability increases because developers can more easily locate and
correct
defects.
5.2.8 More Reuse
Code reuse has been the most talked about form of reuse over the last four
decades of software development. Unfortunately, it is hard to achieve due to
language and platform incompatibilities. Component or service reuse is much
easier to achieve. Run-time service reuse is as easy as finding a service in
the
directory, and binding to it. The developer does not have to worry about
compiler
versions, platforms, and other incompatibilities that: make code reuse
difficult.
a
5.2.9 Better Paralletlsm in Development
y
The benefit of multiple layers means that multiple developers can work on
those
layers independently. Developers should create interface contracts at the
start of
a
o a project and be able to create their parts independently of one another.
X
0 5.2.10 Better Scalability
0
One of the requirements of a service-oriented architecture is location
transparency. To achieve location transparency, applications lookup services
in a
J
directory and bind to them dynamically at run-time. This feature promotes
~ scalability since a load-balancer may forward requests to multiple service
instances without the knowledge of the service client.
0
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5.2.11 Higher Availability
Also because of location transparency, multiple servers may have multiple
instances of a service running on them. If a network segment or a machine goes
down, a dispatcher can redirect requests to another service without the
client's
knowledge.
5.3 Conclusion
A service layer takes little extra effort in the beginning of a project, but
the
benefits pay ofF in the long run. From higher quality to more reuse to better
scalability and availability, the benefits of implementing a service layer far
outweigh the cost and extra effort involved.
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6 MDA - MODEL DRIVEN ARCHITECTURE
s.1 Definition
MDA or Model Driven Archifecfure is a new way of writing specifications and
developing applications. It focuses first on the functionality and behavior of
a
distributed application or system, undistorted by idiosyncrasies of the
technology
or technologies in which it will be implemented. MDA divorces implementation
details from business functions.
In the context of increasing complexity and the continuing proliferation of
middleware "silver bullets" platforms and supporting technologies, MDA
proposes
an added level of abstraction providing software stability, investment
protection
and ROI. Platform independent models constitute a stake that remains fixed in
the ground while the infrastructure around it shifts over time.
The MDA unites OMG's well established modeling standards (see Appendix B.1 )
with middleware technology - past, present, and future. Rather than focusing
on
yet another "next best thing," MDA raises the bar and designs portability and
interoperability into the application at the model level.
6.2 Goals
MDA is designed to address those key problems. The three primary goals of
MDA are portability, interoperabifity and reusability through architectural
separation of concerns.
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6.3 Life Cycle
G.3.1 Overview
' Business
_..___..
Business Requirements
I ~-_°__.....__ -__._-
_.__...___..___.__
I, System
_..__.... . -...._.___._
~\ System Requirementsy
I' .~~~Analysis"
___- ____._..._.
Low-level Design
M A ~._ ___._.._._..__.._
ro ess I ~~ Coding
i
i ---~--___-
I
_.__-
Testing
_... _ __
____..
I
Deployment
CIM
Business or
Domain Model '
! Use Cases
.,..__._- ._.._
PIM
i PSM
y
L_ _.._-...____........_...
-_ Code
Code .°_~
The MDA development lifecycle shown in the preceding figure does not look
different from the traditional life cycle. The fundamental difference is in
the
artifacts created by the process. All the models created in NIDA are formal
models, i.e. models that can be understood by computers. MDA models can be
broken down into the following three major categories:
~ Computational Independent Model (CIM) is a software independent
model used to describe a business systenn. A CIM may kie supported by
software, but the CIM itself remains independent of software.
~ Platform Independent Model {PIM) is a computational model but is
independent of the platform specific information of its derived PSMs.
Platform independence is a relative term. A model can be independent of
the OS, the implementation language, the middleware... Hence, PIMs
can be found at multiple levels and can take into account some technical
factors.
~ Platform Specific Model (PSM) is a computational model that depends
on the specification of a reference set of platform specific technologies.
PSMs are derived from PIMs and take additional technical factors
specific to the platform into consideration. In MDA, code is considered to
be a Platform Specific Model.
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Appendix B.3 discusses MDA models in more details.
Tools can use the information in the models to automate the production of the
next level artifact. MDA allows developers to develop a complete application
through the refinement of models at different abstraction layers. It is
important to
note than MDA supports agile processes quite well. The models are simply
evolved and refined in an iterative fashion. Because of code generation, the
feedback loop is shortened, providing very good feedback to the customers of
the application. Because models are now considered to be executable artifacts,
they become an integral part of any agile process. Indeed, we can see trends
such as agile modeling emerging in the industry.
6.3.2 Transformations
LANGUAGE ~,-1wTRANSFORMATION ~ LANGUAGE
i DEFINITION
is
written is is
in used written
by in
Model TRANSFORMATION Model
TOOL
Transformations are essential in the MDA development process. As shown in the
preceding diagram, transformations take one model as input and produce a
second model as its output. A transformation definition describing how a model
should be transformed is used to guide the tool when performing the
transformation. As long as both languages have been written in the same meta-
language, it is fairly easy to write a proper transformation definition.
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a ~ PIM to PIMs of different levels of abstractions
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~ PSM to PSMs of different level of abstractions, including code PSMs
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transformations
m
a from a Business Model (CIM level) to a PIM. It is strictly concerned with
m
transformations of computational models. Appendix B.2 presents a more
complete view of and how transformations fit into the MDA framework.
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6:3.3 Participants, Tools and Artifacts
Transformatlon\Definition
PIM Analyst Developer
_._ -__ . .. _....-_._ ___ ~__._- _.._..._._
1
Model ' - Transformation , ~ Transfom~ation I
Editon'Validator ! definition I ~..._....__........-_ Editor
- .._._._~__. ...J ' .r..........._i I\___ ._-_. _ _..
I
I
PIM r. _.. .......... _.~ TransformaUOn - ..__. .._..__, \ PSM
. __ , ~ Tool ._._.- _ _ , i,
PSM Creator
6.3.3.1 Participants
In MDA, the PIM Analyst is responsible for translating the business models
into
platform independent models of a system that meets the end-user requirements.
Once a PIM of the system is in place and the architecture and the
implementation platform is chosen, a Transformation Definition Devel~per will
define the mappings required to transform the PIM into a platform specific
model
m
Using transformation definitions, the PSM Creatars work with a transformation
tool refining the models until a fully executable system is produced.
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6.3.3.2 Tools
Transformation ~ ~ I
Definition Model I Transformation Code
Editor j Editor , Tool IDE
Interchange of Models (XMI, JML..) and Transformation Definitions
Transformation ~ Model ~ Model
Definition Validator Repository ~ Code Files
Repository
The preceding figure shows the different tools required by MDA:
Transformation Definition Editor: An editor far writing and editing
transformation rules
Transformation Definition Repository: The storage for transformation
definitions
Model Editor: An editor for creating, editing arid viewing the different MDA
models
Model Validator: A tool to ensure models contain all the necessary information
to make them suitable for transformation
Transformation Tooi: A tool that uses transfornnation definitions to convert a
model from one form to another.
Model Repository: The database for ali models
Dode IDE: The common functions provided by an InteractivE: Development
Environment such as debugging, compilation, and code editing
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6.3.3.3 Artifacts
__ _ , r - _I
Transformation ~~i, I Transformation
Defnition I,,,, ~ Definition
i ......_..~ ~_..~ _
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_-__../__.._~ ~.__...___..~
PiM I r i Transformation ~ ~~PSM Transformation ~ - ~I Code
Tool Tool
--_....-~~~ I\_... - __J _.____.- \...___. _____.___J ~~ _._...-.
At its most basic, the MDA artifacts are:
Transforra~ation ~efinitions: A transformation defnition consists of a
collection
of transformation rules, which are unambiguous specifications of the way that
one model can be used to create another model.
PIM: Platform Independent Models. A model is said to be a PIM when it
abstracts
out the particularities of a specified platform.
PSM: Platform Specific Models. A PSM introduces concepts that are specific to
a
given platform.
Code: Code can be considered to be the lowest level of PSM.
In reality, it is di~cult to draw the line between PIM and PSM. The only thing
we
can say about models is that one model is more or less platform specific that
another. In the context of MDA, we always transform a more platform
independent model to a model that is more platform specific. Thus the terms
PIM
and PSM are relative terms.
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7 THE SILVER LEAP SOLUTION
7.1 Objectives
This section describes the solution we intend to deliver to facilitate the
development of software systems. The high-level objectives of the solution are
the following:
~ Embrace current industry trends, such as MDA, SOA, BPM and agile
processes, which are addressing the most important problems in AD
today.
Facilitate the joint intervention of business owners and technologists
ensuring proper alignment of business and IT.
~ Simplify development by automating the maximum of required activities
and providing adaptive guidance for all skill levels.
Provide a single, uniform and integrated AD platform supporting the
entire lifecycle.
~ Facilitate teamwork, reinforcing communication and feedback at all
levels.
~ Follow standards and allow interoperability with any tool that adheres to
them (ex: XMI).
Some of the unique contributions the tool will bring include:
Bridge the gap between 8PM and System development.
~ Provide adaptive process guidance with an emphasis on helping AD
generalists deliver complete solutions.
~ Provide simple default MDA transformations that can be customized and
adapted instead of requiring a lot of upfront investment before being able
to use the tool effectively.
~ Support for agile modeling vs. traditional Big Design Up Front (BDUF).
~ Support test-driven development, integrating tests into the entire
lifecycle.
~ Communicate accurately and at all times the project status to the whole
team.
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7.2 Solution
The solution proposed by Silver Leap is the ACES lntegratecl Environment.
This Model and Develop environment consists of a suite of tools that guide the
user through an agile and lightweight GRAD like process. The process has the
particularity of being based on highly formalized models and providing a
substantial amount of guidance in order to allorrv the automation of the vast
majority of the activities. The environment is ideal for iterative agile
processes
such as XP, Scrum, the unified ARAD process (based on RUP) and others.
7.3 Audience
The ACES Integrated Environment is primarily targeted at corporate
developers involved in the development of large J2EE enterpri:>e applications.
Based on the current failure rates for projects of this type, we strongly
believe
that the current set of tools is simply insufficient to meet their real needs.
Certainly, it is quite evident that current tools require a very specialized
level of
knowledge that is increasingly difficult to find as applications and
frameworks get
more and more complex with time.
The tool is targeted first at software generali:;ts who can build complete
applications without being experts in everything. Specialists can then be used
to
refine and improve the solution as required. Because it supports the entire
development lifecycle, the tool addresses all AD disciplines.
7.4 Addressing the prolalems
7.4.1 Complexity
At the core of the ACES integrated Environment is an MDA engine. The MDA
engine raises the level of abstraction so engineers can deal with more complex
problems without being entangled in low-level details. The tool also provides
a
comprehensive set of wizards that guide the users through the different MDA
transformations. Default MDA transformations provide the basic functionality
to
produce a running system based on the user input models at the CIM and PIM
levels.
T.4.2 BusinessIIT alignment
The ACES Integrated Environment fully integrates business modeling into the
development process; it ensures developers build solutions that truly
originate
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from clearly identified business needs. The integration of automated
acceptance
testing practices and tools in the process helps ensure that what the
developers
build does indeed meet the user requirements. The tool also supports agile
project planning which puts emphasis on providing quick and real Feedback to
the
entire team.
7.4.3 Changing Business Needs
The ACES Integrated Environment is an MDA based Arclhitected Rapid
Application Development (GRAD) tool. The high level of automation and the
agility provided by practices such as TDD (Test Driven Development) make it
possible to create a highly responsive development organization.
7.4.4 Quality
By integrating testing activities during all the AD fifecycle, the AUES
Bntegrated
Environment provides a development environment where quality is not just an
afterthought. Cauality is built into the process and helps support agility.
Furthermore, the automation of most of the executable artifacts substantially
raises the level of quality.
7.4.5 Technological innovation
The pace of technological innovation very often causes the same applications
to
have to be redone every couple of years. The V'Jeb and mobile platforms are
good examples of some of the most recent technological innovations. Even
though business processes and logic are mostly technology independent, they
are often embedded tightly into technology dependent containers that can't be
reused easily. By merging BPM technology and MDA, the ACES Integrated
Environment ensures that the investment in systems will not be completely lost
as new technology rolls in. Investment in business models and platform
independent models can be reused easily over time.
7.4.6 Architecturallntegrity
Large projects often suffer from a lack of architectural integrity. Systems
architects using the ACES Integrated Environment can easily ensure
architectural integrity by influencing the design of the models at i:he
appropriate
levels. These high level models represent guidelines that engineers then
refine to
eventually produce a running system.
7.4.7 Application Integration
Systems rarely work in a vacuum; most rely on other external systems and
information. By incorporating SOA technologies into its offerirng, Silver heap
makes it easier for engineers to connect existing systems to other systems as
well as to expose and package the functionality of new systerrls as services.
These services can than be used by other systems or organizatians. Integration
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is also made easier by having the ability to assemble different pieces of
functionality at the model level.
7.4.8 Reuse
Over the years, even with the introduction of object-orientation, re-use at
the
level of code has proven to be rather elusive. The ACES Integrated Environment
supports reuse by facilitating the use and definition of web services. It also
provides multiple assistants and wizards to help engineers reuse platform
independent models and patterns (business, analysis and design).
7.4.9 IUi~A limitations
The ACES Integrated Environment fully supports the MDA initiative and tries to
compensate for the limitations of this important trend. In particular, the
modeling
language used for MDA is incomplete. In the meantime, our solution will offer
a
language that offers the following qualities:
~ Expressive enough to specify the systems completely
~ Non application specific language
~ Provide higher level constructs
~ Suitable for n-tier development
~ Suitable for distributed applications
~ Seamlessness between models and applications
Support for managing large models
For a more extensive description of MDA limitations, consult Appendix 8.4.
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7.4.10 Integrated Environment
Although it is possible to pick and choose different best of breed development
tools to achieve a complete ALM solution, it is an extremely hard and
frustrating
task. Furthermore, there is rarely a good synergy amongst tools that were not
made to work together andlor just patched up to achieve marketing gains. The
current trend in AD is for vendors to offer a completely integrated solution.
These
tools usually work well together and offer a level of simplicity and
productivity that
is not attainable otherwise. The ACES Integrated Environment is a complete
suite of tools that encompasses the entire application development lifecycle.
It
provides tools for modeling the business and the application, transforming
models into code, building and deploying the application as well as managing
all
aspects of development.
All the tools provided in the ACES Integrated Environment are built on top of
Sun's NetBeans IDE Flatform. The NetBeans Java module is provided to offer
the necessary Java development facilities.
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7.5 Process Overview
The ACES Integrated Environment supports a model-driven <~nd refinement
based approach. Emphasis is put on the iterative aspects of a software
development, a very strong business-based focus and the reliance on tools to
enforce strict transformation rules.
The preceding figures shows how the proposed process differ'; from typically
used MDA/ARAD as well as RADltraditional type processes. The iterative
feedback loop has been extended to include the business modeling and
requirements management activities. The net effect of closing that loop is to
continuously allow feedback of ail the stakeholders to insure the team is not
only
building the software the right way but that they are also building the right
thing.
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To complete the ALM offering, the ACES Integrated Environment provides
integrated Configuration & Change Management as well as Project Management
tools (which are not shown in the figure).
At its core, the process is one of transformation and refinement. Starting
from the
business model at the highest, transformations that embody ar~chitectura! and
design decisions are applied to increasingly detailed models. At i:he lowest
level
we find a code model (code PSM) that can be compiled into an executable
system. Default sets of parameterized transformations are also provided to
facilitate the production of a complete n-tier application from a PIUI.
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7.6 Features
7.6.1 Toois Overview
~ ~ ~ Transformation~
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7.6.1.1 Business Modeling Tools
Business Modeler: used to assist the user through the business modeling steps.
Business Patterns Assistant: used by the Business Modeler to assist the
business analyst in applying known business patterns to a model. The users can
add new patterns in the pattern repository as they are discovered.
Ontology Based Language Designer: used by the business analysts and the
software architects to define a business-specific language that vuill be used
for
the creation of ail business models.
Business Mode! validator: used to validate that the business model respects
the well-formed rules required for the tool to be able to do the appropriate
transformations.
7.6.1.2 System Modeling & Implementation Tools
Requirements Manager: used to establish the system requirements based on
the business requirements.
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System Modeler: used to guide the software architect to build and refine
software models from Platform Independent Models down to Platform Specific
Models at different levels of abstraction. It is basically a UML modeling tool
supporting the development of static and dynamic models of the application.
Analysis Patterns Assistant: used by the System Modeler to assist the
software architect into applying analysis patterns to the software models. The
tool allows the users to add new patterns as they are discovered.
iJser Interface Designer: used to quickly develop the system's user interlace
at
different abstraction levels.
Design Patterns Assistant: used by the tool to assist the software programmer
into applying design patterns to the various PSMs. The tool allovvs the users
to
add new patterns as they are discovered.
System Model ilalidator: used to validate that the system model respects the
well-formed rules required for the tool to be able to do the appropriate
transformations.
Code IDE: provides support for code development activities such as debugging,
compilation, code editing, unit testing and deployment.
7.6.1.3 Testing Tools
Test Manager: provides control, management and reporting of all test
activities.
It supports functional test automation and traceability with system
i°equirements.
7.6.1.4. Transformation Tools
Transformation Definition Editor: This editor allows the user to specify what
transformation rules will be applied to go from one type of model to another.
The
transformations definitions are expressed using a language described in the
Query, Views and Transformations (QVT) Standard and are stored in the MOF
repository.
Transformation Tool: used to transform a model into another according to the
rules specified in a given transformation definition. A tuning wizard must
allow the
parameterization of the transformation process in order to apply particular
settings.
a
o Transformation llUizards: used with the transformation definition editor to
assist
N
in defining the different model transformations. The transformations wizards
are
available at different levels, from business models to system PIM;>, from PIMs
to
PSMs and from PSMs to code.
J
Default Transformation Definitions: a default set of transformation
definitions
~ that support the generation of web transactional N-tier architecture based
°' applications running on the J2EE platform.
a
0
U
7.6.1.5 Repository Tools
MOF Repository: used to store the information about the models and other
project artifacts.
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7.6.1.6 Deployment Tools
ACES J2EE Framework: the default J2EE transformations provided with the tool
target a framework that encapsulates the J2EE best practices and allow
generated applications to be more maintainable. Alternatively, transformations
can be done to go directly to the J2EE framework.
7.6.1.7 Management Tools
Project Navigator: is the primary interface integration point of the tool. It
manages the interventions of the various users by allowing them to dig into
the
models according to their expertise and level of understanding of i:he
project.
Project Manager: provides project managers with the abilifii to track and
manage project scope and assess and report on project progress.
Change Manager: provides defect and change tracking.
Asset Manager: provides version control and buiid management.
Administration Tool: allows the global administration of the tool settings.
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7.6.2 Using the ACES ~ntegrete~i Environment
The following section details how the different toots of the ACES Integrated
Environment can fulfill its objectives.
7.6.2.1 Business NVodeling
7.6.2.1.1 Guide the business analyst through business modeling
The steps required to model a business are numerous and difficult. The methods
and notations traditionally used are also diverse and more or less formal. The
Business Modeler will guide the business analysts through the business
modeling steps by guiding him or her through the different steps in the right
order
and using the appropriate notation. Wizards will let the user enter
information
iteratively.
The project navigator tool will allow the users to return to the modeling
activities
at various levels of abstraction and complexity depending on their level of
intervention.
The methodology chosen for modeling the business is object-orientation and the
notation used for this activity is UML. Activity diagrams are used for
business
processes (assembly lines), business use cases for system functionalities,
object
and class diagrams for business entities. The creation of business use cases
is
formalized to allow the platform to extract valuable information from them.
Those
diagrams essentially drive all subsequent activities.
7.6.2.1.2 Enforce formalism for business modeling
One of the key constraints that should be respected when doing business
modeling is the tight integration between business models and supporting
software models. We saw previously that this tight integration and the
constant
synchronization of both present many advantages. For this to happen, many
factors must be in place as described in the section "From business models to
software architecture". First, the notation used must preferably be the same
in
the two cases. Second, the set of modeling diagrams used must be restrained to
a set of "formal enough" diagrams. Third, all the artifacts must use a
language
that is configurable to the current problem but generic enough to be
interpreted
by processors (ex, transformation engines).
For the ACES Integrated Environment, UML is chosen as the default business
modeling notation. Second, we restrain the use of the UML diagrams to
Activity,
Object, Class, Statechart, Business Use Case and Package diagrams. The
diagrams are all stored into the MOF Repository. Different wizards guide the
elaboration of the models and the Business Model Validator allows the constant
verification of alt the produced artifacts.
The Ontology-based Language Definer allows the business analysts to define
their own language and use it thereafter for the business modeling activities.
All
the entities defined (be they text or resources) will be stored into the MOF
Repository and perfectly usable for the subsequent steps. Business analysts
can
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then use other standard BM notations (such as BPML) instead of UML. This
ability fulfills one of the key objectives of the solution.
7.6.2.1.3 Allow the business analyst to use efficiently the business patterns
Business patterns can bring tremendous value to a project if applied
correctly.
The ACES Integrated Environment supports the insertion of business patterns
from a catalog by simply selecting one and personalizing it. The Business
Paifems Assistant determines the applicability of the pattern. Wizards ask the
user to specify the information necessary to personalize the pattern to the
current
needs.
7.6.2.1.4 Provide extensive wizards to assist the analysts in translating
business models into
system requirements and specifications
The section °From a Business model to a Software model"
illustrates the
numerous steps that must be taken to achieve this conversion. Process diagrams
(assembly lines) are first used to determine what part of the business has to
be
automated. From there, the tool assists the business analysts in creating
business use cases. The resources defined in the class and object diagrams of
the business models are then used as the basis for the static diagrams needed
in
the system models. Patterns exist in Responsibility Driven Design [GRAHAM
1997] to effectively map together these kinds of elements. Appendix A.5
illustrates how this conversion can be made.
Entities that have not been identified during the business modeling activities
or
represent variations of these can be added to the system models. These newly
created resources must be added to the repository and as such, become
available among the other business resources. This crucial activity is done in
an
iterative manner and allows the progressive refinement of the software models
and business models while always keeping them synchronized.
7.6.2.2 System Analysis, ~esign and Implementatiora
7.6.2.2.1 Guide the software analyst through the complex steps of software
analysis and
design.
The tool enforces the process by guiding the developers through the necessary
steps and making sure that the appropriate artifacts are produced. The System
Model Validator verifies that system models respect the notation and standards
prescribed in order to maintain their "executability". Iteratively, the steps
based
wizard allows the users to complete the necessary activities in a visual and
user-
friendly fashion.
7.6.2.2.2 Allow the software analysts to use efficiently the available
analysis patterns
This functionality is the same as the one describing the business patterns
except
that it applies in the context of a system models instead of business models.
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7.6.2.2. Model the application
The System Modeler can create, modify and display the different system models.
UML is also the notation used for system models. The System Modeler provides
a way to show the different abstraction levels of the models and the
transformations rules that have been applied between them.
7.6.2.2.4 Create and manage transformation definitions
The ACES Integrated Environment provides tools that follow the concept of
model transformations. The transformations incorporate technical and
architectural decisions at different levels. For example, design patterns are
implemented via transformations. Using the Transformation Dei'inition Editor,
a
user can specify which transformation rules will be applied to go from one
type of
model to another. The transformations definitions are expressed using a
language described in the Query, Views and Transformations (C~VT) Standard
and are stored in the MOF Repository.
7.6.2.2.5 Execute model transformations
The ACES Integrated Environment provides a Transformation Tool that
automatically generates target models from source models according to the
rules
provided in transformation definitions. A tuning wizard is provided to allow
the
parameterization of the transformation process in order to apply particular
settings.
7.6.2.2.6 Provide default transformation definitions for the main middleware
platforms
We have seen in the previous sectians that MDA mandates the use of PIM and
PSMs to make the link between a conceptual model and a specific
implementation. We consider that the ability to create these transformations
(which could become a tremendous undertaking) is not enough to provide a
really interesting solution to software designers. Using the best practices
and
standards as much as possible, the ACES Integrated Environment provides
default transformations for the J2EE platform. These transformations can be
used as is or customized by the architects to suit their specific needs. The
customization can be done using the Transformation Definitions Editor and/or
the
Transformation Wizards.
7.6.2.2.7 Design user interfaces
The design of user interfaces is a delicate part of any software project. They
are
often different from project to project and the automation of their production
is
always difficult. When designing user interfaces, many different aspects like
ergonomics, technology projection (Web, desktop, WML, etc.) and efficiency are
intermixed. They are seldom included in the modeling phase but are instead
taken as a side project.
The User Interface Designer provides a platform independent user interface
designer. It allows the user to create quickly a model of the user interface.
A
number of transformation definitions are provided to support the generation of
the
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The ACES Integrated Environment
user interfaces on different platforms. Default transformation definitions can
easily be extended and modified to support a customized look and feel.
The User Interface Designer allows the visual design of various and complex
user interfaces and the user interfaces are represented as an integral part of
the
model.
7.6.2.3 Management
7.6.2.3.1 Navigate the project at different levels of abstraction
Development of an application using the ACES Infegrated Environment consists
essentially of creating models and applying transformations. The Project
Navigator allows the user to navigate through the different abstraction
layers. It
shows the refinement structure of the models and the transformations that are
applied between them. All the other tools can be called from the navigator.
7.6.2.3.2 Manage projects
The ACES Integrated Environment provides a configurable project management
facility supporting iterative processes.
The main project management functions include:
Release and iteration planning (Tasks, Tirrde & Resources)
~ Project Tracking
~ Project Dashboard (Status Reporting) featuring direct hooks to the Test
Manager for traceability
The tool provides configurations for agile processes like XP and Scrum as well
as a RUP ARAD configuration.
7.6.2.3.3 Manage software assets
The Asset Managersupports versioning of all development artifacts.
7.6.2.3.4 Track changes and defects
The Change Manager manages change requests and bugs.
7.6.2.4 Testing
7.6.2.4.1 Integrate testing into the process
Testing has always been a critical piece of the software development lifecycle
but
is even more critical for practitioners of iterative and agile processes. The
ACES
Integrated Environment ups the ante by supporting the concept of Test Driven
Development. In TDD, automated tests drive the development at all levels
(system or acceptance, integration and unit). Tests are written before any
modification is made to the system.
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The Tesf Manager provides support for managing all tests and for reporting
test
results. Unit testing is provided by the inclusion of the JUnit framework.
Acceptance testing is provided via the Fit framework. Whenever possible, the
environment provides the design and automatic generation of tests. For
example,
unit tests can be generated from OCL constraints defined in UML models.
x.6.2.5 Miscellaneous
7.6.2.5.1 Facilitate the integration of legacy and enterprise systems
The ACES Integrated Environment provides the necessary transformation
definitions to facilitate the creation of a Services layer according to the
SOA
(Service Oriented Architecture). As described previously, this architecture
focuses on the creation of decoupled services accessible and discoverable over
a network. These services are mostly implemented as web services that the
transformations must support.
7.6.2.5.2 Integrate with commonly used development tools
Realizing the value of some of the contributions of the open source community,
The ACES Integrated Environment takes an extra step to integrate them into a
coherent and efficient whole. Some of the tools integrated in the suite
include:
NetBeans, MDR, CVS, Ant, Struts, JUnit and Cactus.
1.6.2.5.3 Support for MDp Standards
The ACES Integrated Environment is an environment built on open standards,
allowing other tools to be inserted in the process as needed.
The underlying repository that stores all project artifacts is based on OMG's
MOF
specification and supports XMI importlexport. UML, the moat widely used
modeling language is used for ail modeling activities in the environment.
Appendix B lists the MDA related standards that is supported.
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The ACES Integrated Environment
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7.6.3 Physical architecture
7.6.3.1 Development Environment
.._ .._ - ACES Tools _... __.. - \ i 3rd Party
I Tools
..... - ~ ._. _
_...._- -.._ ~..._.__ _........____-_. --.._.
ACES Extensions ~ -__. _- _ ~ ACES Open API
ACES Extension ' 1 ' \ ~ MOF - ~ ---.
ACES Tools NetBeans
NetBeans i ~~'~. Repository MDR~....,-MC7~~.JMI.I.~I
Presentation Module ~ '.. Presentation Module '~.,. I Interface ~--
NetBeans Open API
.._-_. ___-_......_._ NetBeansPlatform -. _..._.._....... .__.-_
......_.._~10FReposrtory-MDR
... _ __... _-_ __ .___-_.. _ _ _ __ ..._ _ __ _-__. .__....
7.6.3.1.1 Overview
The ACES Integrated Environment is based on Sun's Open Source NefBeans
Plafform, Sun's open IDE toolkit written in Java. It can be used to deliver
useful
developer tools by providing basic core services and infrastrt,lcture such as
windowing, actions and file management. In the context of ACES, the NetBeans
Platform provides the primary integration point for aIB the ACES tools.
The ACES NetBeans Presentation Module is the NetBeans presentation layer of
the ACES tools, integrating the user interfaces of aBl the ACE~P tools into
the
NetBeans Platform through the NetBeans Open API. The NetBeans Platform
provides the NetBeans Open APl to allow developers to add functionality to the
base version of the platform by providing custom modules.
The ACES Open API abstracts the functionality of all the ACES tools. This API
is
used by the ACES NetBeans Presentation Module to connect the presentation
layer to the ACES functionality. This API is also used by ACES extensions to
extend or supplement existing ACES functionality. ,An ACES ExterJSion NefBeans
Presentation Module must be provided to expose the user interface of ACES
Extensions if needed.
Sun's Metadafa Repository or MDR is an implementation of a MC>F repository. It
is used to store all the models and other information used by the ACES
Integrated Platform.
Access to the MOF repository is provided via a number of possible interfaces:
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~ MDR: the MDR API defines a generic API (except the standard API
defined in JMI) for metadata repositories. This API is an extension to
JMI API (adding API for events, facility, etc.)
~ MOF: Library containing generated JMI interfaces for MOF 1.4.
~ JMi: the JMI API contains JMI reflective interfaces specilFied by JSR-40
(JMI).
XM6: The MDR provides a library containing generic JN1I utilities that
operate on JMI reflective interfaces. These include implementation of
an XMI reader and XMI writer.
Most ACES tools interact with the repository through JMI. However, 3rd Party
Tools that support XMI can easily exchange artifacts with the different ACES
Tools. 3'd Parly Toots providing a more advanced plug-in architecture can
easily
be integrated to ACES by connecting through the ACES Open API in a way
similar to the ACES Extensions.
7.6.3.2 Deployment Environment
7.6.3.2.1 Application Deployment
The ACES integrated Environment produces J2EE based applications.
The preferred deployment environment for applications generated by this tool
is
the SunONE family of middleware servers (web, portal, application). But
support
is provided for all J2EE compliant middleware.
Persistence services are available using any JDBC compliant database. MySQL
is provided as the default database.
Common N-Tier application patterns and best practices are encapsulated in the
ACES J2EE framework. Applications generated with the default l:ransformations
wii9 make use of this framework.
All configuration-compiler-deployment issues are managed with ANT. This open-
source technology is the de-facto standard for Java based deployments. The
tool
automates the creation of the necessary configuration files.
7.6.3.2.2 Aces Deployment
ACES is a Java 2 application based on NetBeans. It requires a 1.3 I;or higher)
JRE and
JDK. It can run on L,inux, Solaris and 'Windows.
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The ACES Infegrated Environment suite of tools wilt represent a major
milestone
in the application development industry with its very high level of
integration of
the various steps and artifacts necessary to successfully achieve business
modeling and supporting software development. It is highly MDA based but
provides more functionality in the Business Modeling field and compensates for
the current weaknesses of MDA.
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Appendix A: Business Process Modeling
A.'! A primer on OCt_
The Object Constraint Language (OCL) is a language that enables one to
describe expressions and constraints on object-oriented models and other
object
modeling artefacts. An expression is an indication or specification of a
value. A
constraint is a restriction on one or more values of (part of) an object-
oriented
model or system. Various constraint languages; have been used in object-
oriented modeling methods (Syntropy, Catalysis, and BUN), and programming
languages (Eiffel). The OCL is a standard query language, part of the Unified
Modeling Language (UML), the Object Management Group (OMG) standard for
object-oriented analysis and design.
There are four types of constraints:
An invariant is a constraint that states a condition that must always be met
by all
instances of the class, type, or interface. An invariant is described using an
expression that evaluates to true if the invariant is met. Invariants must be
true all
the time.
A precondition to an operation is a restriction that must be true at the
moment
that the operation is going to be executed. The obligations are specified by
post-
conditions.
A post-condition to an operation is a restriction that must be true at the
moment
that the operation has just ended its execution.
A guard is a constraint that must be true before a atate transition fires.
D
N
Context of a constraint
a Constraints are restrictions on a model or system, they are always coupled
to the
M
items used in that model, usually a series of UML diagrams. Actually, the OCL
can be used in any model as long as it supports the basic notions of class and
instance, attributes, associations and operations.
0
0
Each constraint is linked to one item from the model. This item is called the
context of the constraint. A special keyword self refers to the object that is
the
CU
context of the constraint. if the constraint is an invariant, the context is a
class. If
the constraint is a pre- or post-condition, the context is an operation of a
class. If
the constraint is a guard, the context is the state from wY~ich the transition
fires.
Note that in all cases, the keyword self refers to the instance of that class
for
which the constraint is being evaluated, e.g. the class that defines the
operation,
or the class for which the state chart is specified.
Invariants on attributes
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The simplest constraint is an invariant on an attribute. Suppose our model
contains a Customer class with an attribute age, the following constraint
restricts
the value of the attribute:
context Customer inv: age >= 78
Invariants on associations
One may also put constraints on associated objects. Suppose our model
contains the Customer class. This class has an association to the Salesperson
class, with role name salesrep and multiplicity of 1. The following constraint
restricts the value of the attribute knowledge level of the associated
instance of
Salesperson:
context Customer inv: salesrep.knowledgelevel >= 5
Collections of objects
In most of the cases the multiplicity of an association is not 1, but more
than 1.
Evaluating a constraint in these cases will result in a collection of
instances of the
associated class. Constraints can be put on either the collection itself, e.g.
limiting the size, or on the elements of the collection. Suppose in our model
the
association between Salesperson and Customer has role name clients and
multiplicity 1..~ on the side of the Customer class, then we might restrict
this
relationship by the following constraint.
context Salesperson inv: clients->size() <= 100 and clients->forAll(c:
Customer O
cage >= 40)
Pre- and post conditions
In pre and post-conditions the parameters of the operation may be used.
Furthermore, there is a special keyword result that denotes the return value
of
the operation. It can be used in the post condition only. As an example we
have
added an operation sell to the Salesperson class.
context Salesperson:aell( item: Thing ): Real pre: self.sellableitems-
>includes(
item ) post: not self.sellabieltems->includes( item ) and result = item.price
a
Broken constraints
m Note that evaluating a constraint does not change any values in the system.
A
constraint states, "this should be so", If for a certain object the constraint
is not
o true (in other words, it is broken), the only thing we can conclude is that
the
N
object is not correct; it does not conform to our specification. Whether this
is a
fatal error or a minor mistake, and what should be done ta~ correct the
situation is
not expressed in the OCL.
Q
m
s
0
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A.2 Introduction to ASL .~ Action Semantics Language.
The aim of the language is to provide an unambiguous, concise and readable
definition of the processing to be carried out by an object-oriented system.
The
ASL definition is independent of any particular implementation. The ASL
language provides the following:
~ Sequential Logic
~ Access to the data described by the Class Diagram
~ Access to the data supplied by signals initiating actions
~ The ability to generate signals
~ Access to timers
~ Access to synchronous operations provided by classes and objects
~ Access to operations provided by other domains
~ Tests and Transformations
ASL is organized into "segments" each of which is a sequential set of ASL
statements with a local data scope. In xUML, ASL segments can be used to
define:
~ The processing to be carried out on entry iio a state
~ The processing to be carried out by a method behind an operation
~ The start-up sequence for a system either for test or for target system
purposes
~ The processing to be carried out by test methods for simulation purposes
~ The processing to be executed in bridges providing the mapping
between domains
The execution rules for a segment are as follows:
~ Execution commences at the first ASL statement in segments and
proceeds sequentially through the succeeding lines as directed by the
logic structures
~ Execution of the segment terminates when the Last ASL statement is
completed
~ The only external data available to the ASI_ segment is:
~ Signal data supplied with the signal or operation call that caused
execution of the ASL segment
~ Attributes of classes as defined in the Class Diagram
~ There are no "global" data other them those detailed in the Class
Diagram
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sl~VCt' ~.~~I~c~~3
-',-ctno~n~_s
~ Local variables created within the segment go out of scope when
execution of the segment ends
Critics of AS state that it is not abstract enough to be used successfully as
a
general purpose MDA action language. Some of its weaknesses may come from
the fact that Executable UML, which introduced A;3, was mostly addressing MDA
concerns in the limited context of real-time embedded systems.
Mapping betweerH Model and Implementation
The xUML model is stored into a repository. And the data inside the repository
is
analyzed with a tool for completeness and correctness. The constraints defined
into the Class Diagram are written to an XML file. The segments (defined
inside
the State Machine using the State Chart Diagram) are also written to an XML
file.
The model compiler then combines these file, to generate the plat-form
dependant code. During this process many aspect of the solution can be
selected to generate the pertaining code depending on the requirements of the
system and/or the environment.
A.3 BPM Related Standards
BPML: The Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) is a met,-language
for the modeling of business processes, just as XML is a met,-language for the
modeling of business data. BPML provides an abstracted execution model for
collaborative & transactional business processes basecl on the concept of a
transactional finite-state machine.
BPEL4WS: A business process and choreography API 'that was co -authored
by lBM, Microsoft and BEA. It has been formally submitted to the new OASIS
Technical Committee at its first meeting on 16 May 2003. The new OASIS Web
Services Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL) Technical
Committee will continue work on the Business Process Execution Language for
Web Services (BPEL4WS) specification.
EbXML: The Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, sponsored
m by UNICEFACT and OASIS, is a modular suite of specifications that enables
enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business
over
o the Internet. Using ebXML; companies now have a standard method to exchange
N
business messages, conduct trading relationships, communicate data in common
terms and define and register business processes.
BPMN: The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) specification provides
a graphical notation for expressing business processes in a Business Process
Diagram (BPD). The BPMN specification also provides a binding befinreen the
notation's graphical elements and the constructs of block-structured process
execution languages, including BPML and BPEL4WS. The first draft of BPMN
was made available to the public on November 13, 2002.
BPQL: The Business Process Query Language defines a standard interface to
the forthcoming Business Process Management Systems (BPMS). It allows
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a;t ,,> ..
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system administrators to manage the BPMS and business analysts to query the
instances of business processes it executes.
/a.4 Different views to describe a business
X4.4.1 Business Vision view
The business vision view depicts the company's goals. It is an image of where
the company is headed and sets up the overall strategy for the business. It
acts
as a guide for modeling the other views. According to Goeffrey Darnton [DARN
1997], there are important factors to consider when creating the Business
Vision
view. These are as follows:
~ Company mission
~ Objectives
~ Strengths
~ Weaknesses
~ Opportunities: areas of potential growth for the business
~ Threats: external conditions that might neciatively affect the business
~ Critical factors: elements that are required for the business to succeed
~ Strategies: action plans to achieve the objE:ctives
~ Core competencies
~ Roles: the specific functions of the people working in the business
~ Organization units: groups into which the business is divided
~ Key processes
a
a
Usually, a member of the upper management, such as the CEO, is responsible
for creating this view. Many techniques exist to create this view but what is
important is that this information exists in order to keep the vision of the
business
Q
o in front of all the other modeling activities. We will see later that the
goals
expressed in the vision view will be used in the process modeling to express
the
x
fact that a process is used to satisfy one or more of the company's goals. In
conclusion, what is important is that the goals or objectives of the business
be
expressed in a way granular enough to be allocated to single business
a processes.
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8 .4.4.2 Business Process view
The Business Process view is at the center of business modeling. The processes
show the activities that must be undertaken to achieve an explicit goal, along
with
their relationships with the resources participating in the process. The
result of
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this modeling phase is a number of process diagrams that describe at least the
core processes of the company. Core processes are normally customer-oriented
and horizontal to the traditional organization of the company. The Business
Process view is described with a UML activity diagram.
Processes are modeled first by concentrating on and completely modeling the
core processes of the business and then moving on to the support processes. A
business usually does not have more that five to ten core processes but may
have many more support processes.
Process modeling creates an accurate documentation of the way in which the
work is performed, perhaps in order to develop better information systems. It
is
also used to improve or innovate processes.
Another area of interest related to the process modeling is the process
management that allows the tuning, evolution and support of the business
processes.
In UML, a business process is represented in an activity diagram. A process is
an activity stereotyped to process. The following figure shows a generic
process
diagram:
people goal
Process
goal:
People-ObjQuantitative
Goal
control achieve
Information
InpuLObj1 Process
Physical
Output Obj
PRO(:ESS --
physical
Input Ob~2
supply supply
a
physical information
Physical-Obj Information_Obj
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Resource objects and goal objects that are involved in the process are placed
around the process. These objects are:
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Ol
~ Goal objects: as previously defined.
~ Input objects: objects that are either consumed or refined in the process
J
~ Output objects: objects that are produced Iby the process.
~ Supplying objects: resources that are participating in the process but are
not refined or consumed.
U
~ Controlling objects: resources that control or run the process.
The next figure shows a simple example of a business process:
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.'<:T f(;it.,.
A variation of the activity diagram used by Eriksson-F'enker method is the
Assembly Line Diagram in which the assembly lines are used to represent
objects in an information system. The next figure illustrates this:
-prncess-
subscribing
customer
regislratlon
i i i
a set of references~~11II ~' _ = o
typicaliyldentifies l M ~ ~ - n
a use case In the IIF~~ I% ~~ a g
intormatlansysiem -.
-assemb ly Ilne-
PricingModel
In this diagram, we see that a set of references become a use case that the
information system has to provide. This is very important because it maps the
business process to use cases that describe the functional requirements of an
information system. It can also help identify the proper actors if the use
case -
the roles played by the process that uses the <~ssembly lines. Assembly line
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a
diagrams provide the connection between business modeling and software
system requiremennts modeling with use cases. A common question when
modeling use cases in a software system is: how do I know I have defined the
right use cases in 'terms of the business? The assembly lone diagram is a good
technique to answer this.
By deriving all requirements of the support systema from the processes, with
the
assembly line diagrams and the process properties, it is also possible to
verify
them. Moreover, tire processes themselves result from goal modeling, which
means that the system requirements can be validated against the overall
business goals! By working with goals, processes, and the assembly line
diagram, it is possible to verify and validate both functional and
nonfunctional
system requirements.
A.4.3 ~rganizationa! view
The OrganizationaI/Structure view shows the structures of the resources, the
products, or the services and the information in the business, including the
traditional organization of the company (divisions, departments, sections,
etc.).
This view is considered supplemental to the Proceas view, depicting
information
that can't be shown in the process diagram but that is vital to the operation
of the
company. The UML diagrams used to document this view are class and object
diagrams. These diagrams are very important and should allow the
identification
of the static structure of an information system.
A.4.4 Behavior view
The Behavior view illustrates both the individual behavior of resources in the
business as well as the interaction between several different resources and
processes. The behavior of the resource objects is governed by the Process
view, which shows the overall main control flow of the work performed. The
Business Behavior view looks into each of the involved objects in more detail:
their state, their behavior in each state, and possible state transitions. The
a
Behavior view also shows the interaction among different processes, such as
how they are synchronized. The UML diagrams used in this view are the
Statechart diagram, the Sequence and Collaboration diagrams, and the Process
M diagrams. An example of this is shown in the follov~ing figure:
0
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prganixation X i prganixatioa Y ~ Organizatian Z
-process ~~~~_~ _ rocess-
A1 /-T ~~ p A2 ~~'/'~ pr Bi s9
-process- .process- -ProCass
A3a >'...~ Oblecd:CIassX ~-.__ ~ A3b ~-_._.. ~ OblecNCassY (..______~ B2
-prpcess-
B3
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~~~~~~ ~t
A.5 from a business model to s system model
The following diagrams illustrates the conversion from a business object that
has
responsibilities to a UML class with operations, attributes and rules:
~Sou~ce: OPEN Tool6oz>-
'~,, Fig. 2.3
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Appendix B: Model Driven Architecture
B.1 MDA Related Standards
MDA is one of the emerging standards controlls~d by the Object Management
Group (OMG), an open membership, not-for-profit consori:ium that produces and
maintains computer industry specifications for into=roperable enterprise
applications. Some other MDA related standards include:
Standard Description
UML (OMG) Unified Modeling Language
MOF (OMG) Meta Object Facility
JMI (Sun) Java Metadata Interface
XMI (OMG) XML Model interchange
OVT (OMG) Ouery, Views and Transformations
Standard.
OCL (OMG) Object Constraint Language
CWM (OMG) Common Warehouse Met;~model
B.1.1 UML
OMG's UML is the key enabling technology for the Model Driven Architecture:
every application using the MDA is based on a nc>rmative, platform-independent
UML model. UML has been defined as a MOF metamodel.
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8.1.2 M~F
B.1.3 JMI
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iu
The MOF is the OMG's Meta-Object Facility standard. It is a language for
defining other languages (meta-information). For example, programming
language types, database schemas, UML models, etc
The OMG defines a 4 level metamodel architecture::
Meta M~F Examples
Level TERMS
M3 Meta-Metamodel MOF Class
M2 Meta-Metadata or UML Class
Metamodel
M1 Metadata or Model UML
BankAccount
Class
MO Data Joe Smiths
BankAccount
Given the well-defined and limited goal of MOF~, the C,MG selected a small
subset of UML to define MOF and uses standard UML notation.
MOF is a foundation technology for MDA because it offers a common way of
describing models. MOF makes it easier to develop and specify the necessary
rules to map the abstract models all the way to the implementation models.
The Java Metadata Interface is a native Java interface four retrieving
information
about M1 models from a MOF repository. Ilt is described in the Sun
Microsystems' Java Metadata Interface Specification.
8.1.4 XM9
XMI defines an XMIL-based interchange format for UML metamodels and models
a
(since a metamodel is just a special case of a model), by standardizing XML
x
= document formats and DTDs. In so doing, it also defines a mapping from UML
to
XML.
0
XMI's goal is to facilitate the exchange of model information between
different
Q
MDA tools and technologies.
8.1.5 C~VT
s
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0
This standard addresses the way transformations are achieved between models
whose languages are defined using the MOF. It consists of:
~ A language for creating views on model
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Tv r~P:r
~ A language for querying model
~ A language for writing transformation definitions
B.1.6 OCL
The Object Constraint Language (OCL) is part of the UML and can be used to
specify
ail kinds of constraints, pre- and post-conditions, guards etc. over the
objects in the
different models.
B.1.7 CWM
CWM is a language or framework for specifying the external presentation of
metadata for purposes of interchange. CWM is implemented as a MOF
metamodel (M2). CWM is used essentially for constructing Data Warehouse &
Business Intelligence models.
It provides
~ A standard language for defining structure and semantics of metadata in
a formal way (UMUOCL)
~ A standard interchange mechanism for sharing metadata defined in the
standard language (XMUXMI)
~ A standard specification (interface) for access to, and discovery of, the
metadata defined in the standard language (IDL)
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r: _,inx~
=~~ ~ ;~~~M-~~~~r~ ~~~ ~ ~~ri~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~
B.2 f111~A Framework
__.__..._.. -~ N1ETALANGUAGE:.__..._.... .._..-_..._
.-..__._._ (~ __..
MOF __..___..._
_ .
~_ _ _ __
___
extends
r I
I, ~~TRANSFORMATION i
I
,,
__. DEFINITION
'
___ i ~ _____._-
.. METALANGUAGE:
a
OVT i
written
in .._
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is is is
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written written ~ written
l -J~ I in
i, in ~ ,.._.. _..~__.__._..._.
r.. 1_...___ ..
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LANGUAGE' --~ T~NSFORMATION
AN
G
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~' DEFINITION:GUA DEFINITION: ~N
w E. - P
~ -W ~~
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UML UML PIM- , UML UML PSM-CODE Java
UML PSM ~ Java I
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is _ -.___ __._. _
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_~ _.____ _. _.._.__. .__._ ..__7.__._.
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TRANSFORMATION~ TRANSFORMATION
. _ I ._._- .~ ~
PIM -~. PSM -_ ~ OODE
-.-_
". TOOL ~ ~ TOOL _......
i
'_ ____... ,__ .._.. ',______-...__.........__~ -______
__._- ~ .__...:
The preceding figure presents a picture of the complete MDA framework. It
shows how a Process Independent Model is transformed using a transformation
tool into a Process Specific Model and then into actual code. The framework
introduces the idea of transformation definitions that are used by the
transformation tool during the transformation process. The transformation
definitions are themselves defined using a transformation definition language
that
is an extension of the MO~ meta-language.
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B.3 MDA, Models
B.3.1 Model Definitions
The preceding figure depicts a taxonomy of different po:aibfe kinds of models
used in software development.
~ Businessl~omain models are Computational Independent Models
(CIM) and describe aspects of the busine~~s, irrespective of where those
aspects are slated to be automated.
~ System models describe aspects of a computer system that automates
elements of the business.
~ Logical models describes the logic of a system via behavioral and static
models
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~~~~;~~~~~~~~~s.-:~u~
~ Physical models describes physical artif;~cts used during development
and runtime
~ Requirements models are also Computai:ion Independent Models. They
describe the logical system rather than the business but in a computation
independent fashion
~ Computations! models describe the loelical system as well but take
technical factors into account. These models provide the information
necessary for generators
~ A Computational Independent Model (C:IM) is a software independent
model used to describe a business systerr~. A CIMi may be supported by
software, but the CIM itself remains independent o~P software
~ A Platform' Independent Mode! (PIM) is also a computational model but
is independent of the platform specific information of its derived PSM.
Platform independence is a relative term. A model can be independent of
the OS, the implementation language, the middleware... Hence, PIMs
can be found at multiple levels and can taN;e into account some technical
factors.
~ A Platform Specific Model (PSM) is a computaticnal model depends on
the specifcation of a reference set of platform specific technologies.
PSMs are derived from PIMs and take; additional technical factors
specific to the platform into consideration. In MDA, code is considered to
be a Platform Specific Model.
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~~yea~a~a~mau"a;~..a~;~aax=.r-:~~~.:s~~;~:.~.~c~ar.~:~~s"a~rs~e;~a~~z.
B.4 MDA Limitations
B.4.1 Business Modeling
MDA does not explicitly address the complete development lifecycle of business
systems since it does not provide a formal model 'for business and
requirements
modeling. We believe this is a substantial limitation because of the iterative
nature of software development where the feedback loop actually involves
interaction all the way up to the business model, not just up to analysis.
Although there is a move in UML 2.0 to start supporting such models, MDA tools
are just beginning to incorporate business and requirements models into the
development lifecycle.
8.4.2 Complex Formal Models
Although the guiding principles behind the MDA are very simple, implementing
MDA is currently a very difficult proposition. The models at the core of the
abstraction mechanism of MDA must be formal and complete in order to allow
tools to be able to generate complete applications. While the models do raise
the
level of abstraction, the level of formalism MDA requires can potentially
offset the
advantages.
If this complexity is not addressed and shielded from thc: end user, this
could
delay substantially and potentially kill the adoption of the technology,
causing
MDA to suffer the same fate as the early CASE tools of a few years ago. We
believe a good MDA tool should pro~dide extensive; facilities to shield users
from
the complexity of creating those formal models.
B.4.3 ~pen-ended Tools
Existing UML modeling tools on the markets are ill conceived to support the
rigor
necessary to produce the formal models required by MDA. It is possible with
those tools to create models that contain inconsistencies or do not completely
define the relationships of the system entities. TPiis was fine when the
models
where used informally, but simply cannot work in the MDA context. MDA tools
need the formality in order to be able to automate the generation of
executable
code. .
B.4.4 Evolving Standards
We are still in the infancy of MDA, standards are still evolving and being
challenged by different alternatives. It will be nE:cessary for MDA vendors to
shield the community from changes in those standards as much as possible.
8.4.5 Incomplete Support of Dynamic Models
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The weak area in MDA is in the behavioral or dynamic part. UML includes many
different diagrams to model dynamics, but their definition is not formal and
complete enough 'to enable the generation of a PSM. Some work has been done
on Executable UML using state machines, but this is mostly the realm of
embedded software development.
Another initiative, t:he Action Semantics (AS) defines a fairly low level
language
that is situated at the same level of a PSM. Therefore, using Executable UML
has little advantage over writing the dynamics of the system in the PSM
itself.
Furthermore, AS has not been standardized by the OMG.
B.4.6 lJser interface NI~deling
Other than at an architectural level, MDA does noi': address the actual
development of a system's user interface. Some MDA tools currently generate
some generic user interfaces based on some well-known UI patterns, but they
produce unsophisticated interfaces, which are largely insufficient in most
cases.
We believe the integration of a user interface modeling and layout tool is
absolutely essential in providing a viable MDA ;solution that spans the entire
lifecycle. Failure to do so will severely limit the acceptance of MDA for
domains
outside the embedded systems world.
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.r.. ,., .~
G~~SSI4~Y
GRAD: Architected Rapid Application
BM: Business Modeling
BPM: Business Process Management
CWM: Common Warehouse Metamodel
JMI: Java Metadata Interface
MDA: Model Driven Architecture
MOF: Meta Object Facility
PIM: Platform Independent Modei
PSM: Platform Specific Model
QVT: Query, Views and Transfiormations Standard.
RAD: Rapid Application Development
RUP: Rational Unlined Process
UML: Unified Modeling Language
XM1: XML Model Interchange
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..r ~ .. ~,"~ ~~
REFE~E~CE$
[DARN 1997] G. Darnton, Business Process Analysis, Addison-Wesley, 1997.
[DAVEN 1992] T.Davenport, Process Innovation: FZeengineering Work through
Information Technology, Cambridge, 1992 .
[DAVIS 2001] R.Davis, Business Process Modeling with AIRIS, Springer, 2001.
[ERIK 2000] H.E. Eriksson and M. Penker, Business Modeling with UML:
Business Patterns at Work, John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
[FOW 2002] M. Fowler, Analysis Patterns, reusable object models, Addison-
Wesley, 2002.
[FRANK 2003] D. S. Frankel, Model Driven Architecture: Applying MDA to
Enterprise Computing, John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
[GAMMA 1995] Gamma, Erich, Helms, Vlissides, Johnson, Design Patterns,
Addison-Wesley, 1995.
[GRAHAM 1997] I. Graham, The OPBN Process Specification, Addison-Wesiey,
1997.
[HUB 2002] R. Hubert, Convergent Architecfure: Building Model-Driven J2EE
Systems with UML, John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
[JENZ 2003] D. Jenz, Simplifying the Software Development Value Chain
Through Ontology-Driven Software Artifact Generation, 2003.
[MELLOR 2002] S. Mellor and M. Balcer, Executable UML: A foundation for
Model-Driven Architectures, Addison-Wesley, 2002'.
[STEVENS 2003] M. Stevens, Service-Oriented Architecture Introduction,
Developer.com, 2003.
[TAYLO 1995] D. e4. Taylor, Business Engineering with Object Technology, John
Wiley & Sons, 1995.
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