System for modeling architecture for business systems and methods thereof

• US 7,716,254 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2005
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Original Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Inventors: Sarkar, Santonu, Thonse, Srinivas, Kapadia, Riaz
• Primary Examiner(s): Stevens; Robert
• Application Number:
  US11/224,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20070061354A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,702 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 717/104
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and method for generating architecture for a business system is disclosed. The method comprises, in one embodiment, modeling a plurality of viewpoints adapted for describing the architecture of the business system in form of a collection of views and viewpoints and creating a software organization viewpoint adapted for providing architecture guidelines. An exemplary method further comprises creating a first plurality of notations for each of the plurality of viewpoints for describing the plurality of viewpoints and creating a second plurality of notations for capturing design rationale indicative of the first plurality of notations. Furthermore, an exemplary method comprises generating the architecture of the business system using at least one of the plurality of viewpoints or the software organization viewpoint, or at least the second plurality of notations, or combinations thereof.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for generating an architecture for a business system, comprising:

modeling a plurality of viewpoints adapted for describing the architecture of the business system as a collection of a plurality of diagrams, wherein at least one of the plurality of viewpoints is a software organization viewpoint adapted for providing a design framework for the architecture that describes how the business system is to be implemented by software developers;

wherein the software organization viewpoint comprises (a)-(b);

(a) at least one package diagram that comprises a decomposition of components of the business system into package units arranged in a layered stack, the package units representing specifically functional software; and

(b) at least one load-build configuration diagram that provides inputs for designing a load-build structure, wherein the at least one load-build configuration diagram links deployable units of the business system with the package units that comprise the deployable units;

storing a first plurality of notations for describing the plurality of diagrams;

storing a second plurality of notations for capturing design rationale indicative of the first plurality of notations;

establishing requirement-to-design traceability associating design rationale with at least one of the plurality of diagrams;

storing a third plurality of notations for quality of service attributes capturing quality of service requirements, wherein at least one of the quality of service attributes is associated with at least one of the first plurality of notations describing the plurality of diagrams;

establishing requirement-to-design traceability mapping a quality of service attribute to one or more of the plurality of diagrams; and

generating the architecture of the business system using at least the plurality of diagrams while maintaining requirement-to-design traceability for one or more of the plurality of viewpoints in the architecture of the business system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the business system comprises a plurality of sub systems, each having an association with the business system or other sub-systems.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising expressing a computational viewpoint through at least one of a context diagram or functional diagram or combinations thereof.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising expressing an information viewpoint through at least one of a domain analysis diagram, or entity organization diagram or entity lifecycle diagram or combinations thereof.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising expressing an engineering viewpoint through a logical diagram.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising expressing a technology viewpoint through at least one of an application diagram or deployment diagram or combinations thereof.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising generating at least one report pertaining to the architecture using a report generation module.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing modeling notations to generate a relationship among the plurality of viewpoints.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising generating the architecture via an user interface.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising describing at least one architecture related information of the business system using a meta-model.

11. Tangible machine readable media comprising memory or a hard disk containing computer executable instructions for implementing a computer implemented method for generating an architecture for a business system, the method comprising:

modeling a plurality of viewpoints adapted for describing the architecture of the business system as a collection of a plurality of diagrams, wherein at least one of the plurality of viewpoints is a software organization viewpoint adapted for providing a design framework for the architecture;

wherein the software organization viewpoint comprises (a)-(b);

(a) at least one package diagram that comprises a decomposition of components of the business system into package units arranged in a layered stack, the package units representing specifically functional software; and

(b) at least one load-build configuration diagram that provides inputs for designing a load-build structure, wherein at least one load-build configuration diagram links deployable units of the business system with the package units that comprise the deployable units;

storing a first plurality of notations for describing the plurality of diagrams;

storing a second plurality of notations for capturing design rationale indicative of the first plurality of notations;

establishing requirement-to-design traceability associating design rationale with one or more of the plurality of diagrams;

storing a third plurality of notations for quality of service attributes capturing quality of service requirements, wherein at least one of the quality of service attributes is associated with at least one of the first plurality of notations describing the plurality of diagrams;

establishing requirement-to-design traceability mapping a quality of service attribute to at least one of the plurality of diagrams; and

generating the architecture of the business system using at least the plurality of diagrams while maintaining requirement-to-design traceability for one or more of the plurality of viewpoints in the architecture of the business system.

12. A computer system comprising at least one processor, wherein the computer system is programmed with computer implemented instructions for generating and analyzing an architecture for a business system, the computer implemented instructions comprising:

a user interface module adapted for capturing input from at least one user of the business system;

a view and viewpoint module adapted for modeling a plurality of viewpoints, wherein the plurality of viewpoints are modeled as a collection of a plurality of diagrams adapted for describing the architecture of the business system;

a software organization module adapted for modeling a software organization viewpoint;

wherein the software organization viewpoint comprises (a)-(b);

(a) at least one package diagram that comprises a decomposition of components of the business system into package units arranged in a layered stack, the package units representing specifically functional software; and

(b) at least one load-build configuration diagram that provides inputs for designing a load-build structure, wherein the at least one load-build configuration diagram links deployable units of the business system with the package units that comprise the deployable units;

a first notation module adapted for creating a first plurality of notations for describing the plurality of diagrams;

a second notation module adapted for creating a second plurality of notations for capturing design rationale indicative of the first plurality of notations;

a viewpoint traceability module adapted for establishing requirement-to-design traceability associating design rationale with at least one of the plurality of diagrams;

a third notation module adapted for storing a third plurality of notations for quality of service attributes capturing quality of service requirements, wherein at least one of the quality of service attributes is associated with at least one of the first plurality of notations describing the plurality of diagrams;

a module adapted for establishing requirement-to-design traceability mapping a quality of service attribute to one or more of the plurality of diagrams; and

a storage module adapted for retrieving output from at least the view and viewpoint module to generate the architecture of the business system while maintaining requirement-to-design traceability for one or more of the plurality of viewpoints in the architecture of the business system.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the storage module is further adapted for storing the output from at least the view and viewpoint module.

14. The system as recited in claim 12, further comprising a pattern management module adapted for reusing the plurality of viewpoints from a previously implemented architecture.

15. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the viewpoint traceability module establishes traceability among requirements, the plurality of viewpoints, and the architecture of the business system.

16. The system as recited in claim 12, further comprising a report generation module adapted to generate an architecture document and a plurality of traceability analysis reports during implementation of the architecture.

17. A method of generating an architecture for a business system, the method comprising:

modeling a computational viewpoint of the business system as a computational diagram, wherein the computational diagram represents functional decomposition of the business system into a set of functional elements that interact as interfaces;

modeling an information viewpoint of the business system as an information diagram, wherein the information diagram represents kinds of information handled by the business system and constraints on use and interpretation of information;

modeling an engineering viewpoint of the business system as an engineering diagram, wherein the engineering diagram represents how the business system is implemented and infrastructure required to support system distribution;

modeling a technology viewpoint of the business system as a technology diagram, wherein the technology diagram represents software products and hardware components;

modeling a software organization viewpoint of the business system, wherein the software organization viewpoint represents how the business system will be implemented by software developers;

wherein the software organization viewpoint comprises (a)-(b);

(a) at least one package diagram that comprises a decomposition of components of the business system into package units arranged in a layered stack, the package units representing specifically functional software; and

(b) at least one load-build configuration diagram that provides inputs for designing a load-build structure, wherein the at least one load-build configuration diagram links deployable units of the business system with the package units that comprise the deployable units;

representing requirement-to-design traceability, wherein the requirement-to-design traceability comprises an association between a design rationale and at least one of any one or more of the diagrams;

representing viewpoint traceability by creating relationships among any one or more of the viewpoints and any one or more of the diagrams, wherein the viewpoint traceability maintains at least a relationship between an information element and a functional element using a Create-Read-Update-Delete relationship, and the relationship captures influence the functional element has on lifecycle of a business concept; and

generating, by a computer, an architectural description of the business system using the computational diagram, the information diagram, the engineering diagram, the technology diagram, and the software organization viewpoint, wherein the generating preserves the requirement-to-design traceability, and requirement-to-design traceability is achieved at least in part in the architectural description of the business system by maintaining the relationship between the information element and the functional element using the Create-Read-Update-Delete relationship as part of the view point traceability, and the relationship captures influence the functional element has on lifecycle of the business concept, whereby the architectural description is stored in a non-volatile storage medium.