Aligning IT with the changes using the Goal-Driven development for UML and MDA

Abstract

For the last few years, organisations have tried to develop their software systems with use case driven and object-oriented development processes. This practice brings some benefits by allowing them to concentrate their analysis and design efforts on the usage dimension of the system and on its architecture of domain objects. However, modeling a system only with use case driven UML specifications - without focusing in the GOALS that have to be supported by the system - and its domain objects does not allow to organizations good levels of reactivity in face of changes (1). Indeed, one of the main issues that we experienced about this lack of reactivity is that in use cases specifications, actor/system interactions are often tightly coupled (mixed) with business goals! In this situation, it is particularly difficult to reorganize use case descriptions in coherence when business rules evolve within these goals. On the other hand, implementing changes as a reaction to new requirements for time-to-market is still very much a challenge due to the orthogonality between functional and object-oriented representations of specifications and their absence of traceability toward the implementation layer. Within such traceability issues, business experts, analysts, designers and developers ressort to "spaghetti oriented" development that renders the evolution of their system hazardous. In consequence, their business systems are very slow to react to changes! In order to assist organizations for aligning IT with their changing business environment, a Goal-Driven Development Process should be considered to accompany the OMG's MDA (2). Using such a methodology, MDA users could enable their organisations in propagating changes they capture through their business processes till their IT applications, thus synchronizing IT with their changing business rules, as a result to better capitalize on their business knowledge, independently of technological changes. Business Reactivity: Agility offered by a business system that ensures to the corresponding organization swift and coherent adaptation to the changes of its environment. © JOT, 2005.