[Css-csts] CSTS Procedure Templates and Example - Explanation

[Peter Shames]

I heard that a decision was reached to use the System Architect UML 
tool at ESA.  The Sparx Co site says that System Architect supports UML 
XMI import and export, but says nothing that I can find about which XMI 
version, nor standards compliance.  While I believe that anyone should 
use the tools that they can afford or are familiar with, I also believe 
that interoperability and ease of exchanging models is essential.  And 
as a standards organization we need to be cognizant of this as an issue 
and accepted approach.  To that end I would like to see us adopt XMI as 
the required interchange format for any tools that are used.  I believe 
that we need to adopt a XMI version that is compatible with UML 1.4, 
and I believe that this is UNISYS XMI version 1.2.

At this point all of us at JPL are using Magic Draw, which is 
compatible with this spec.  I believe that ESA (Lindman), CNES 
(Jocteur-Monrozier), and JAXA (Yamada) also are using this UML tool 
suite and we have demonstrated that it is possible to exchange models 
as well as XML schema, and to do so across PC and Mac platforms .  I 
also believe that it is possible to import models expressed in this 
standard interchange format with other tools, such as Poseidon (PC, 
Mac, Linux compliant) and ArgoUML, but do not have an example at hand 
that validates this belief.

Can we agree on this approach for UML model interchange and can we do 
some quick tests to ensure that all of the tools that are going to be 
used correctly support this interchange format?  If any tools do not 
support this format correctly I believe that we will have to do some 
work to ensure that we can translate what the tool does produce into 
the correct format.  If this is not possible then some other choice of 
tools may need to be made so as to ensure interoperability and exchange 
of the UML models.

Thanks, Peter



On Apr 28, 2005, at 6:55 AM, Gert Villemos wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Some questions have been raised, concerning the change in layout of the
> procedure templates compared to the CCSDS Minutes and the reason for
> having two templates.
>
> The goal of the procedure template is to document the existing
> procedures in a harmonized way and to have a guided through all aspects
> that must be considered when defining a procedure. In the layout agreed
> at the CCSDS meeting we included a single chapter named 'Proposed
> Changes'. While creating the template and the examples we noticed that
> any change suggestion can affect any part of a procedure and will 
> indeed
> likely affect multiple parts (for example sequence of activities and
> operations used). It should therefore be ensured that all aspects of 
> the
> procedure are considered when proposing a change and it should be easy
> to compare any proposed change with the original procedure. Finally it
> can be expected that different persons/agencies will propose different
> changes, which will be difficult to capture in a single document.
>
> To solve these problems we agreed with Yves that we seperate the
> 'Proposed Changes' section into a seperate document. We then for each
> procedure have;
>
> * A procedure specification. Captures a 'existing' procedure, i.e. the
> behavior as currently specified.
> * Zero or more procedure change specifications. Each propose a change 
> to
> a procedure specification and is effectivly a replacement of the
> procedure.
>
> The two templates follows almost exactly the same layout, ensuring that
> all aspects of a procedure is considered when proposing a change. There
> is only a single procedure specification for any given procedure, but
> there may exist many procedure change specifications, each proposing an
> update to the procedure, defined by different persons/agencies. And
> these can with ease be compared to the original procedure and/or each
> other, as the sections within the templates maps one-to-one.
>
> The section 'UML Activity Diagram' was moved to after the 'Sequence of
> Activities' as the UML diagram illustrates the sequence of activities.
>
> The section 'Open Points' were left out by mistake and have now been
> added to the templates and examples and uploaded to the CSTC site.
>
> Best regards,
> Gert Villemos.
>
>
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_______________________________________________________

Peter Shames
Manager - JPL Information Systems Standards Program
InterPlanetary Network and Information Systems Directorate
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MS 301-265
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91109 USA

Telephone: +1 818 354-5740,  Fax: +1 818 393-1333

Internet:  Peter.Shames at jpl.nasa.gov
________________________________________________________
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive at where we started, and know the place for the first 
time"

                                                                         
                      T.S. Eliot