MDA -- When a major software industry trend meets our toolset

Presentation MDA (Model Driven Architecture), defined and supported by the OMG (Object Management Group), defines an approach to IT system specification that separates the specification of system functionalities f rom the specification of the implementation of these functionalities on a particular technological platform. This approach places the emphasis on models, provides a higher level of abstraction during development, and enables significant decoupling between platform-independent models (PIMs) and platform-specific models (PSMs). Since its creation in 1989, SOFTEAM has been conducting research & development into model driven engineering, and has provided a tool supporting this approach since 1991. A specific technology named "hypergenericity", created in 1994 and applied to UML since 1996, has since evolved to integrate and enhance UML profile technology. UML profiles are now part of the OMG UML standard, and will be improved in the UML 2.0 standard. These improvements will be close to the UML profile improvements that SOFTEAM has been implementing in the Objecteering/UML CASE tool since 1994. Since this date, SOFTEAM has gained in experience, constantly providing an ever-improving toolset and range of consultancy services, designed to supply the customer with dedicated MDA approaches and implementations. Based on UML, UML profiles and the Objecteering/UML Profile Builder toolset, this technology is now mature and has been applied to more than one hundred projects over seven years. This white paper will present how MDA can be successfully supported by a proven toolset in a highly efficient way, based on the UML profile technology extended through advanced features such as model transformation techniques and traceability management. Certain pragmatic issues regarding how to establish an MDA approach will also be addressed. All these leading to true, fully deployable and reusable " MDA components " .