Popkin Software System Architect

12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212312345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345

1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345 3

1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345 3 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345 3 PRODUCT REVIEW 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345USINESS ROCESS RENDS 3 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212B P T 3

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123 October 30, 2002

Author: Paul Harmon Popkin Software Executive Editor Business Process Trends System Architect Version 9.0 Vendor: Popkin Software Executive Summary

11 Park Place Popkin’s System Architect Version 9.0, is a leading business process tool in three New York, NY 1000& categories: business architectures, process redesign, and software development. Tel. 212 571 3434 www.popkin.com In addition to good basic functionality as a business process modeling tool and as a European Office: software development tool, System Architect provides support for industry specific St Albans House development by providing templates (models), it supports the OMG’s XMI, making Portland Street diagrams completely portable, and it provides detailed support for a number of frameworks, Leamington Spa including the Zachman framework, and US government frameworks like FEAF, TEAF, Warwickshire CV32 5EZ UK and C4ISR. Popkin has also played a leadership role in the development of the BPMI’s Tel. 01926 450858 XML business process language

Founded: 1986 Version 9.0 represents a major breakthrough for an already superior product by adding Ownership: Private an open, scalable repository, which has previously been this tool's major limitation.

Employees: 95 This tool should be on the short list of any company considering using a software tool

Total company revenue: to support its business process change efforts. $11 million in 2001 The Business Process Market Total employees in R&D: 18

Senior Officers: Business Process Trends classifies vendors of tools and consulting services according Jan Popkin, Founder & CEO to the business process model shown in Figure 1. This classification is based on the Ronald Scherma, President & COO actual phases organizations go through when they change business processes. There Bob Eddins, CTO Kevin Donalds, CFO are tools and services that managers and developers can use during each of the four Chris Nugent, SVP, Sales & Marketing phases. Thus, in each of the phases we identify groups of tools and services that have similar functionality, without regard to the underlying technology employed. Key Technology Partnerships: Microsoft, IBM, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Telelogic, OMG, BPMI, The five categories we identify include: (1) strategy and business process architecture Telemanagement Forum, ARTS concerns, (2) the modeling and redesign or improvement of processes, (3) the improvement of human performance, (4) the automation of all or portions of a process, Price: $5,250 per single concurrent and (5) the measurement and management of processes. licence. Most software tools are used in one, or at most two, of these categories. Popkin’s System Architect is unusual in that it plays a leading role in three different areas. System Architect can be used to (1) organize process architectures (or frameworks). It can also be used (2) in the redesign or improvement of processes, and it can be used in (3) the automation of processes. Software Architect supports a wide variety of automation techniques, including workflow, BP XML languages, structured and database design and EAI and UML development.

The diverse uses and superior performance of System Architect in these three categories

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456 12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212312345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345Popkin Software:6 System Architect 9.0 PRODUCT REVIEW 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

Figure 1. Business Process Trends vendor classification is based on tools and services used in a typical business process change cycle. Green highlighted boxes indicate where System Architect can be used.

suggest that System Architect is especially useful for companies that want to standardize on a tool that can support multiple business process functions.

System Architect 9.0 System Architect is a modeling tool with editors, software generation utilities and a repository in which all information is stored. The tool has a common interface which is based on the standard features available in Windows 2000. The tool supports the Web, and HTML files can be generated so diagrams can be shared among developers and users. System Architect is available for Windows 98 and above. A PC with 400 MHz and 128 MB of RAM and 200 MB of hard disc space is recommended.

Figure 2 provides a general overview of the System Architect architecture.

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

Figure 2. An overview of Popkin’s System Architect, Version 9.

At the top of Figure 2 we show a representation of a framework. Using System Architect’s framework facility one can generate an interface that allows developers and users to organize all the documentation in the System Architect repository. Below that we picture five boxes which provide a general way of thinking about the types of modeling and editors available in System Architect. The tool supports a wide variety of diagrams and methodologies for business process modeling, for object oriented software design and development (UML), for database design and modification, for legacy systems software design and development (Structured Methods) and for XML design and development.

At the heart of the tool is a repository in which the information from all models is stored. In the past, System Architect's repository was proprietary, but with the release of Version 9.0, the repository is now based on SQL Server. This assures that System Architect can now scale to any size development effort. The repository itself is based on a metamodel that can be customized to support new or different notations that specific users may require. System Architect’s repository provides real-time, multi-use access so that a group of developers can all work on the same project simultaneously.

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

System architect provides a rich variety of ways to access the information stored in its diagrams and ultimately in its repository. They can be published as reports, browsed, accessed by interfaces or examined via matrices in the various ways shown in Figure 2. Version 9 supports the OMG’s XMI which assures that any UML or data diagram can be passed to any other modeling or UML tool that also supports XMI.

System Architect comes with documentation and on-line help. Popkin offers a wide variety of training courses and consulting to support companies learning to use the product. A multi-month schedule of training programs, including not only courses in the use of System Architect but also courses in UML, Data Modeling, and Structured Modeling are listed on the Popkin Web site: www.popkin.com In addition, several books have been published providing advice on the use of System Architect. A good example is the book, Systems Analysis and Design Methods,(5th Ed) that was written by Whitten, Bentley and Dittman (McGraw-Hill, 2001). It is used in college classrooms worldwide and ships with the System Architect Student Edition.

An evaluation version of System Architect can be downloaded from the Popkin Software Web site: www.popkin.com

System Architect 's Uses in Business Process Change 1. Business Process or Enterprise Architectures Organizations are increasingly relying on enterprise or organization-wide descriptions of processes and creating business and IT architectures to assure that their efforts can be standardized and integrated effectively. Similarly, many business process redesign and software development methodologies are organized as frameworks or architectures.

System Architect has introduced a framework modeling capability that allows users to create a matrix that shows how different models support different elements within a given framework or architecture. In effect, the framework modeling capability organizes a view of the models stored in the System Architect repository. Version 9 ships with a number of frameworks, including the Zachman Framework, the Rational Unified Process framework, Computer Science Corporation’s Catalyst Framework, as well as the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework (TEAF), and the US Department of Defense’s Architecture Framework (DODAF) which is used in the DoD’s C4ISR program.

Users can quickly develop frameworks of their own to organize their own architectures or to support their own chosen methodologies.

Organizations that have enterprise descriptions of business processes and associate applications and databases to key business processes will find System Architect’s framework utilities very useful. It is easy to imagine that a company could organize its entire collection of business processes and access them through a System Architect framework.

2. Business Process Redesign and Improvement

System Architect supports the analysis of existing (as-is) business processes and the creation of new or alternative (to-be) processes with a number of modeling capabilities. The heart of any business process redesign or improvement effort is the creation of a model of the process to be changed. System Architect provides several ways to create

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

organization and process models to describe existing processes and to illustrate possible to-be processes.

There is no standard business process notation. System Architect supports a reasonably clean notation called Elementary Business Process, as well as UML activity diagrams and IDEF3 Process Flow diagrams. Processes or activities on one diagram can be “opened” to reveal more detailed views of the activities that occur within a higher-level process. Using System Architect, one can diagram processes that include a mix of manual and automated activities. We found it easy and efficient to create business process maps.

It also supports the generation of a number of matrices, so that a developer can quickly develop charts to show, for example, what department or manager is responsible for which activities, or what cost assumptions are applied to which activities.

In addition to modeling, System Architect provides a simulation capability. After entering sufficient information about activities and flows, scenarios can be run to find out how the process will handle various loads. The simulation tool provides standard real-time graphs and histograms to record processing data, and also allows users to create tailored icons to show the accumulation of work where bottlenecks occur.

If the business process redesign team provides cost data, Activity Based Costing (ABC) studies can also be undertaken to compare the costs of alternative revisions.

Both simulation and the analysis of activity costs require a considerable effort on the part of any team that wants to undertake such studies, no matter what tool is used. Both are advanced features best used in special circumstances. When it is appropriate, however, it is nice to know that one can begin with the process models one has already built in System Architect, add additional data, and then run simulations or determine costs. By the same token, once processes have been redesigned, the simulation information is available for those who oversee the corporate business process architecture. In the future, possible changes can be simulated to determine if specific changes would result in desired improvements.

Those involved in Six Sigma improvement projects also need to diagram processes. One major defense contractor used System Architect to support its Six Sigma efforts. Similarly, there are a number of business process redesign consulting companies that use System Architect in their practice.

3. Process Automation (Software Development)

Once a business process redesign team has determined how a process is to be changed, it will typically need to automate some or all of the activities required by the process. In other words, the team will need to move from process analysis to the documentation of software requirements, the design and development of software applications and the creation of middleware or infrastructure systems to integrate the new applications with existing applications and interface the applications with human users. In most cases, new or modified applications will require new or modified database implementations.

UML Modeling. System Architect makes it easy to move from a process redesign to software automation. It supports the definition of software requirements and the development of applications and middleware with the entire range of UML models.

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

A software developer can convert a process diagram to a use case model, and then convert that to a class model or sequence model of an application to be developed. Later, the application can be defined as a set of components and assigned to platforms, all using appropriate UML models.

System Architect not only supports all of the basic UML models, but provides support for UML’s extensibility mechanisms, including stereotypes, tagged values and constraints. UML class models can be automatically mapped to and from relational data models.

Structured Modeling. In addition to supporting UML for object-oriented development, System Architect supports SSADM, Yourdon/DeMarco and Gane & Sarson — notations for those who want to do structure analysis and design or work with legacy models.

Database Development. System Architect is an integrated modeling tool that supports database development. All models built in System Architect are, in essence, built on top of a data dictionary that captures data elements, structure and domains. Independent models capture logical and physical data structures and existing data structures can be reverse engineered to generate diagrams. System Architect provides on-the-fly rules checking to assure developers adhere to referential integrity rules as they develop models. It also provides a tool, DB Synchronize, to assure that models and databases stay in sync. DB Synchronize can be used to compare and synchronize two databases, two models, a model and SQL or any combination.

The primary databases supported by System Architect include DB2 UDB (Windows, OS390), Oracle, SQL Server, and AS400. In addition, Systems Architect also provides support for Access, InterBase, ODBC, Paradox, Dbase, Progress, Ingress, SQL Anywhere, Informix and Sybase

Code Generation. System Architect can generate C++, Java, HTML, Visual Basic or Pascal code from its various UML models. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is included with the tool to allow developers to customize macros to better handle repetitive tasks.

System Architect's XML interface enables integration with code generation tools like Codagen, Object Frontier and Jee Wiz. It can also support Magic and P/Builder. System Architect can be integrated with DOORS, a popular software requirements management product from Telelogic, and source Integrity version control system from MKS.

Popkin also facilitates the reuse of models through a program called the Popkin Model Agency. In effect, a company can acquire models developed by another company that are 60-80% complete. This program has a limited number of offerings, most in banking, telecom, health and retail, but if a user happens to be working in one of these areas, it is worth determining if similar work has already been done by another and can be reused.

XML Development. XML Architect is an industrial-strength graphical XML schema editor. It allows developers to create, manage and deploy XML documents. The XML documents can be stored in the System Architect data dictionary. XML code can be displayed as a graphical, hierarchical model. An editor constantly evaluates XML code and prevents the creation of invalid XML code.

Companies exploring the development of business processes that can be distributed

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

via Web Services, have been working to develop XML-based business process languages. The leading independent consortium working in this area is the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI). Popkin has been a major supporter of this effort, has included support for BPML 1.0 in its latest release, and is active in the effort to create a standardized business process notation for use with BPML. At the same time, System Architect supports BizTalk, Microsoft’s business process initiative.

Output and Publishing. System Architect includes a native HTML generator which allows developers to create Internet interfaces for applications and to publish and share models, schema and reports during the development process.

Product Strengths and Weaknesses Popkin’s decision to move its repository from a proprietary model to SQL Server represents a major improvement in Software Architect’s power and flexibility. It overcomes the principle objection we have heard raised about System Architect in the past, and guarantees that System Architect can support the types of scalable and distributed applications that companies will increasingly want to build.

System Architect supports a wide variety of approaches to software development. A developer could easily become overwhelmed with the choices he or she face. The addition of the framework interface for the tool is a major strength. A framework allows developers to organize System Architect's resources for their own specific approach.

Popkin has already added utilities to support the group development of models and software applications. We suspect that they will want to add more support for team development in the future to correspond with the additional flexibility of their repository.

Similarly, Popkin’s addition of support for XMI has made it into one of the more powerful and flexible UML modeling tools. The OMG is beginning a transition to the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). This will require that tools isolate abstract and platform specific models and incorporate code generation profiles. We anticipate that Popkin will want to add MDA support as this trend accelerates. Company Strength Popkin was founded in 1986. Early on, Popkin’s System Architect would have been characterized as a CASE tool. In the Nineties it would have been characterized as an analysis and design or as an object-oriented modeling tool. Currently, System Architect is usually classified as an enterprise modeling tool. It could just as well be classified as a process modeling tool, a systems modeling tool, a data modeling tool, or an XML or a simulation tool. In fact, it is all of these and benefits from its rich heritage. The company has sold some 35, 000 licenses and System Architect is one of the best known process modeling and software automation tools. The company has distributors throughout the world, and earned a gross income of approximately $11 million in 2001. It is currently growing at approximately 20%, in a year when many companies are struggling to break even. Popkin is established and stable and can provide a stable long-term partner for any company’s business process change effort.

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456

123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123

Competitive Position The market for business process change is very complex and fragmented. Our basic list of vendors includes some 150 companies. Most are small and specialized and support modeling and lack advanced features like simulation. There are a half-dozen leading vendors in the business modeling space and Popkin is among them. Similarly, there are a half-dozen leading vendors in the process automation/software development space who drive software development from models, and Popkin’s System Architect is a leader in this area. There are only a few vendors who have entered into the enterprise architecture modeling space. Popkin is a leader in this space. There are very few tools that can claim to be leaders in all three of these key business process areas, and Popkin is among them. Thus, Popkin’s System Architect is well-positioned to emerge as one of a very few, powerful, general purpose business process tools that we believe will dominate this field in the latter half of this decade.

There will be a shakeout in the business process market in the course of this decade and Popkin is one of the companies that will assuredly survive.

Summary A variety of analysts have considered different aspects of the business process market, and each have projected rapid growth throughout the remainder of this decade. Changes of all kinds, especially the adoption of customer response management and supply chain management systems, will continue to drive business process redesign for the next several years. The complexities involved in this change will favor vendors that can support architecture, process modeling, and process automation. System Architect is well positioned to support all three. Given the tendency to select tools that can support and integrate multiple tasks, we are confident that Popkin’s System Architect is well- positioned to prosper in the coming decade.

Any company considering a major business process change effort ought to place System Architect on their short list and examine this product.