 |
 |
Net-centric operations
Mitigate risk. Manage complexity. Ensure quality & compliance. IBM Rational solutions for net-centric operations help meet these imperatives with an integrated approach to software & systems development. |
|
Navigate contractor and agency collaboration complexities. Construct mission critical combat systems. Understand program dependencies while managing change. Adhere to compliance mandates.
The defense community's transformation from "stovepipe" systems to modern solutions that embrace joint force operations and integrated capabilities requires unprecedented focus on stakeholder collaboration and unlocking the promise of resilient, plug and play architectures. The challenges born out of the complexity and scope of net-centricity - the US Air Force alone has 22,000 command-and-control systems -- require adopting "system of systems" solutions. Systems engineering practice helps us evolve from platform-centric to capabilities based design and development commensurate with today's distributed environment.
IBM Rational solutions for Net Centric Operations help meet these imperatives with an integrated approach to software & systems development. By aligning mission drivers with development and operations teams, agency and contractor program success can be accelerated by:
- Realizing value by operationalizing DoDAF views
- Ensuring traceability through net-centric system development,
- Understanding dependencies to enable joint program management success.
IBM Rational Unified Process for Systems Engineering (RUP-SE) provides an iterative, use-case driven, and architecture-centric process foundation for defense systems development. RUP-SE transforms needs and requirements into a set of system products and process descriptions, then it generates information for decision makers, and provides unambiguous input to the next level of development or acquisition. It also includes process guidance for domain-specific systems engineering concerns such as security, ease of training, and logistics support. RUP SE provides the artifacts and the workflows for evolving their detailed specification. It supports these guiding principles of effective systems development:
Decompose systems, not requirements.
Design at one level derives requirements for the next level. Ensure that use cases are elaborate completely and capture system behavior. Enable both separation and integration of concerns.
Address the black-box and white-box perspectives. Systems and components collaborate; so should development teams.
In order to build successful applications, systems and software teams must work together in synergy. Specifications flow up and down the architecture.
Requirements at one level of abstraction should be used at the next level of abstraction. Base the lifecycle on removing risk and adding value.
Utilize the Rational Unified Process to address the systems of systems concerns. Development organization should reflect product architecture.
Build architecture and hence your applications will align with the organization.
Third Party Distributed Development is the norm for defense net centric systems. Process guidelines, maintaining workflow and enabling parallel development are mission critical to program success. Visual modeling tools help you effectively create and collaborate about designs, code and other assets, while change management tools support the development of those assets across many different locations. IBM Rational ClearCase MultiSite, a core change management solution for distributed teams, is deployed across many large programs to manage models, code and other software artifacts with multiple subcontractors, working in both classified and unclassified environments. This environment, complemented by Rational's integrated project and portfolio management capabilities mitigates program risk.
The entire platform is leveraging open standards such as Eclipse, UML 2.0 and SysML. Eclipse is an award-winning, open source platform for the construction of powerful software development tools and rich desktop applications. Eclipse is both an open source software development project-with over 100 active vendor participants-and a rich foundation for providing shared services across tooling environments. The Unified Modeling Language is the industry-standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems. It simplifies the complex process of software design, making a "blueprint" for construction.
This four-part article series examines the economics behind software development by summarizing the key approaches to improving the process and the patterns of success for transitioning project teams to new techniques, methods, and processes.
|
