Viewpoint-based Flexible Information System Architectures

Information system architecture (ISA) specification as a part of
software engineering field has been an information systems research
topic since the 60's of the 20th century. There have been manifold
specification methodologies over the recent decades, developed newly
or adapted in order to target the domains of software modelling,
legacy systems, steel production, and automotive safety. Still, there
exist considerable issues constituting the need for a flexible ISA
development, e.g. incomplete methodology for requirements in
model-driven architectures, lacking qualitative methods for thorough
definition and usage of viewpoints.

Currently existing methods for information system architecture
specification usually de- vise the target architectures either
addressing only a part of software life-cycles or neglect- ing less
structured information. The method for flexible information system
architectures (FISA) specification uses the viewpoint concept for
mediating the domain expert and technical system levels. The
FISA-method defines construction and application reference models
based on the ANSI/IEEE Standard 1471-2000, viewpoints with model
transfor- mations based on OMG-Standard Model-Driven Architecture
(MDA), and four different approaches for ISA specification, thus
providing for flexibility both in construction and refactoring
procedures.

The development of FISA-method has been based on a thorough analysis
of the ISA specification method field and constructs a comprehensive
procedure and reference engi- neering models for flexible ISA
specification. The genericity of the conceived construction and
application procedure models of FISA allows for its usage not only in
research, but also in industry settings, as presented on illustrative
scenarios in steel manufacturing and automotive safety.