A Method for Consistent Modeling S. Shervin Ostadzadeh Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Science & Research Branch of Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Fereidoon Shams Aliee Computer Engineering Department Faculty of Electrical & Computer Eng., Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran S. Arash Ostadzadeh Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Abstract - Enterprise Architecture has been in center of attention in late 90s as a comprehensive and leading solution regarding the development and maintenance of information systems. An enterprise is considered a set of elaborate physical and logical processes in which information flow plays a crucial role. The term Enterprise Architecture encompasses a collection of different views within the enterprise which constitute a comprehensive overview when put together. Such an overview can not be organized regardless of incorporating a logical structure called Enterprise Architecture Framework. Among various proposed frameworks, the Zachman Framework (ZF) is one of the most prominent ways of conceptualization. The main problem faced in using ZF is the lack of coherent and consistent models for its cells. Several distinctive solutions have been proposed in order to eliminate the problem, however achieving no success in thoroughly covering all the cells in ZF. In this paper, we proposed an integrated language based on Model Driven Architecture (MDA) in order to obtain compatible models for all cells in ZF. The proposed method was examined in practice, revealing its advantages and the efficiency gained in comparison to previously studied techniques. Keywords: Zachman Framework, Enterprise Architecture Framework, Model Driven Architecture, Software Architecture. I. INTRODUCTION It goes without saying that nowadays utilizing information and communication technologies in enterprises is one of the most challenging tasks. Considering the fact that an opportunity can turn into a threat if misused, proper practice of the innovative technology in developing information systems can result in noticeable improvement of procedures within an enterprise. Changes are inevitable within enterprises as time proceeds, which accordingly bring up changes in relevant information systems. Managements are hesitant to adopt the regular changes due to the huge development and maintenance costs of information systems; as a result, outdated systems form a barrier toward the enterprise evolvement. Enterprise Architecture is the novel promising concept to address this problem, intended to unify an enterprise and the underlying information technology by employing a structured framework and methodology. The common way to comprehend procedures in an enterprise is to provide views of components within that enterprise, which is called architecture. Architecture, such as Data Architecture represents only a single view of an enterprise, but Enterprise Architecture refers to a collection of architectures which are assembled to form a comprehensive view of an enterprise. Organizing such great amounts of information requires a framework. Various enterprise architecture frameworks have been proposed; among them are Zachman Framework, FEAF, TEAF, and C4ISR. ZF is widely accepted as the main framework in EA [1,7]. Compared to other proposed frameworks, it has evident advantages to list: (1) using well-defined perspectives, (2) using comprehensive abstracts, (3) normality, and (4) extensive usage in practice [1]. They were the motivations for ZF adoption in our work, nevertheless; there are challenges to overcome, among them is the absence of an integrated language to model cells in the framework. ZF does not recommend any specific tool or model for a particular cell, i.e. there is no identifiable technique to address the cells in the Zachman matrix which itself resembles an obstacle. In order to elegantly define and implement the concepts of EA, ZF needs a consistent modeling approach to describe its cells. Validity, sufficiency, necessity, integrity, authenticity, fitness and suitability of models are achieved through such a modeling method [1]. We aim to resolve the problem by proposing an approach based on MDA in order to model all cells in ZF. The challenge we referred to is also addressed in other researches. A complete overview is given in [7]. Applying UML to ZF seems to be the best solution proposed up to now. Unfortunately, UML is not mature enough to support all aspects of an EA [2,8]; as a result, a lot of cells in ZF remain unmapped. Some other solutions practice the use of nonstandard symbols which leave the initial problem intact. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we introduce some basic concepts and principles. Next, we plot an MDA overview in section 3. We discuss our proposed approach in section 4, and present a case study in section 5. Section 6 contains a comparison between the proposed method and other methods. Finally, we make conclusions and suggest some comments for future works. II. BASIC CONCEPTS In this section we briefly introduce some basic concepts and principles. We believe these remarks can help readers to clearly understand what we mean by the concepts that are used in this article. of Zachman Framework Cells K. Elleithy (ed.), Advances and Innovations in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering, 375–380. © 2007 Springer. 375