Operational Views (OV) [Logical Views]

Introduction to OV-6a, OV-6b and OV-6c v1.2

OV Products discussed in previous sections model the static structure of the Architecture elements and their relationships. Many of the critical characteristics of an Architecture are only discovered when the dynamic behaviour of these elements is modelled to incorporate sequencing and timing aspects of the Architecture.

The dynamic behaviour referred to here concerns the timing and sequencing of events that capture operational behaviour of a business process or mission thread for example. Thus, this behaviour is related to the activities of OV-5. Behaviour modelling and documentation is essential to a successful Architecture description, because it is how the Architecture behaves that is crucial in many situations. Knowledge of the Operational Nodes, activities, and information exchanges is crucial; but knowing when, for example, a response should be expected after sending message X to Node Y can also be crucial to achieving successful operations.

Several modelling techniques may be used to refine and extend the Architecture’s OV to adequately describe the dynamic behaviour and timing performance characteristics of an Architecture, such as logical languages such as LDL, Harel Statecharts, petri- nets, IDEF3 diagrams, and UML statechart and sequence diagrams. OV-6 includes three such models. They are:

OV-6 Products portray some of the same Architecture data elements, but each also portrays some unique Architecture data elements.

OV-6b and OV-6c may be used separately or together, as necessary, to describe critical timing and sequencing behaviour in the OV. Both types of Products are used by a wide variety of different business process methodologies as well as Object-Oriented methodologies.

OV-6b and OV-6c describe Operational Activity or business process responses to sequences of events. Events may also be referred to as inputs, transactions, or triggers. Events can be internally or externally generated and can include such things as the receipt of a message, a timer going off, or conditional tests being satisfied. When an event occurs, the action to be taken may be subject to a rule or set of rules (conditions) as described in OV-6a.

In MODAF version 1.2, OV-6c has been extended to allow for orchestration of services (see also OV-5 in v1.2). An OV-6c product can now show the sequence of interactions between services that have been orchestrated for a purpose.



Relationships Between Key Data Objects (Simplified from M3)

Page version 1.2, dated 1st July 2008

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