Systems Integration.Outsourcing.Infrastructure.Server Technology.Consulting.
UNISYS BUSINESS BLUEPRINTS.
Model-driven Architecture and Enterprise Integration
A Western Australia Case Study
David M BridgelandChief Technology OfficerGlobal Transformation TeamUnisys
September 2003
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Breaking the rules?
Unisys Business BlueprintsCase Study: Western Australia Department of JusticeModel-driven architectureMDA and enterprise integration
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Background: a history of requirements melt
Freeze the requirements, then build it
Iterative processes
1980 1990 20001985 1995 2005
Multi-year construction plansLong gap between requirement freezing and delivered systemSlow feedback to system stakeholdersLittle responsiveness to changing conditionsHigh failure rateExpensive mistakes
Rational Unified Process
Extreme ProgrammingIterations (or versions) every 12 – 18 monthsRequirements frozen until the next iterationAdapts to slowly changing requirements
4 – 6 week iterationsMultiple iterations through elaboration and constructionRequirements gradually frozen through constructionEven more flexibilityBut complexity scares off some
2 week iterationsRequirements frozen for eight daysAdapts well to changing requirementsBut does not scale to larger efforts
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Our clients face agility challenges
Hard to get new products and services out the door quicklyOrganizational silos, redundant processes, and changing business process is extremely difficult and costlyContinued challenges integrating existing with emerging technology applicationsGovernance between IT and business is confusing and complicated.
• Gap exists between business requirements and technology delivery
60-80% of functionality is redundant and in silosDifficulty in seeing, much less getting, value out of IT investments
• 70% of IT spending on maintenance and redevelopment
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Introducing Business Blueprints
Business Blueprints are a set ofTools, methods and libraries of…
Organizational patterns, business processes components and technology implementation options…
That allow a client to build or modify business processes quickly and predictably…
Bringing the concept of blueprinting to the arena of high-volume, mission-critical systems…
Expressed in industry standard formats (BPEL, UML)
Traceability between business and technology models is the critical value
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Blueprint: all of the intellectual property of an application
Vision and Operations ModelCharacterization of organizational domain –including objectives, structure, organizational measures, and competitive framework
Business Process Model and PatternsCharacterization of the operational requirements and key business processes
Functional and Application ModelKey functions implemented as a set architectural models (UML) representing core services
Infrastructure ModelCharacterization of the deployment services and technologies to realize the objectives. Key functional services (web services) that are provided to all applications in the organization (Security, Network, Application Server, Data Services, Integration Services, Administration)
Business Architecture
Services Based Technical Architecture
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UML is not enough
BPEL, etc.
UML
“The UML is a standard language for writing software blueprints.”
Grady Booch et al, 1999.
But UML is missing some things:• Business processes• Business process simulation• Goals• Strategies• Trends• Business interaction• Organizational context• Organization structure• Locations
Alignment Chasm
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Traceability of models is key
• A business process changes: what use cases are affected?
• A use case changes: what classes are affected?
• A class changes: what components are affected?
• A component changes: what server clusters are affected?
• Or backwards, for reverse traceability
Traceability of Models is the Key !!
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What’s unique about Blueprints?
Representing the intellectual property as a set of models (UML + others)
Combining the intellectual property with the application
Maintaining the models with the app
Traceability
Reverse traceability
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Blueprints in action
Unisys has Business Blueprints currently in development, supporting mission-critical applications for:
Justice and Public SafetyHealth and Human ServicesIntegrated RegistryTax and RevenueLife Insurance and PensionProperty and CasualtyEnterprise PaymentsBanking and MortgageAirline Core SystemsSafe Commerce
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Western Australia Dept of Justice
Client: Western Australia Department of Justice
Responsibility: Criminal and civil justice in the state of Western Australia (1 million square miles, 2 million people)
Challenge: Replace 14 legacy systems that manage court administration:• Case management for civil and criminal jurisdictions
• Scheduling cases with judges and courtrooms
• Managing change in the schedules
• Tracking case outcomes
• Tracking financials, including fines and enforcement
Current status:• Civil court management deployed
• Legacy civil court management systems retired
• Criminal court management system in progress
Blueprint Initiatives
US $5 million
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Many courts at three different levels
Supreme Court
District Courts
Magistrate Courts
Every court is run differently
Different business processes also reflect differences in local legal cultures
Goal: run the courts on the same application
Variety in business processes
Var
iety
in b
usin
ess
proc
esse
s
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Why Blueprints?
Adapt to changes indemand by the public
Adapt to changes indemand by the public
Adapt to changes intechnology
Adapt to changes intechnology
Adapt to changes inbusiness
processes
Adapt to changes inbusiness
processes
Adapt to changes inlegislation
Adapt to changes inlegislation
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Blueprints enabled an MDA approach
UML models
.Net code More than 80% of the code is automatically generated from the models
The maintenance is done on the models, rather than the code
This model-driven architecture (MDA) approach directly supports agility and flexibility
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ICMS architecture
.Net Client.Net Client
ICMS Client Framework
ICMS Client Framework
ICMS business logic
ICMS business logic
.Net Server.Net Server
ICMS Server Framework
ICMS Server Framework Low bandwidth
connection
ICMS presentation
ICMS presentation
ICMS DesignICMS Design
Designed (in UML)
Auto-generated (VB.Net)
MDA generation
Developed (in VB.Net)
Supplied (by Microsoft)
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The architecture supported local variety and complexity
The UML differed from level to level
At a single level, the UML differed from court to court
The system was tailored for each court
The impact of the differences could be minimized
Supreme Court
District Courts
Magistrate Courts
Variety in business processes
Varie
ty in
bus
ines
s pr
oces
ses
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Late requirements changes emerged
When implementation was completing, the client discovered key functionality was missing. Examples were:
• Multi Jurisdictional Security
• Enhanced Wizards for Document Lodgment
• Enhancements to Case Management Workflow
Most new requirements led to UML model changes
New .Net code was generated; little hand generated code was written
Coding would take around 4 times longer without MDA, other activities (i.e. analysis etc) remain unchanged
77 weeks$3 millionWithout Blueprints (estd)26 weeks$1 million With Blueprints (actuals)
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MDA is real today
Benefits:
See early versions of the production system
Quickly see the results of changes
Flexibility for future changes
A consistent look and feel across your application
A consistent architecture style
The ability to make application-wide performance improvements
Achieve the benefits of vendor products without vendor lock-in
Support multiple platforms
Consistent integration among multiple systems
UML models that always match your application
An application architecture that is no more complex than it needs to be All of these benefits are achievable with other approaches; only MDA bring them together seamlessly.
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Enterprise application integration can be expensive
The technology is well understood, but …Much development and configuration timeIntellectual property reconstruction
• Business workflows• Use cases• Application logic• Constraints• Organizational relationships• Organizational structure• Strategies• Goals• Trends
Over and over again:• For each of the integrated apps• For each integration
WelfareManagement
SystemInboundImaging
Fair Hearings System
EligibilityDetermination
CountyAssistance
OutboundRecordArchival
ElectronicCase Folder
1997
19991979
1991
1985
1994
The cost is systems archaeology
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As MDA becomes widespread, EAI becomes easier
Up-to-date complete UML for applicationsArchaeology is unnecessarySemantics that should be the same, actually areSemantics that are different can be mappedUML can drive the EAI configuration
CommonStartsMDA-driven EAI25%10%StartsLegacy ToolingMostSomeA fewCOTS Support60%30%10%StartsMDA Penetration2009200720052003
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