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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: MODELING How UML makes a DevOps-driven digital transformation possible Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect modeling platform aims to change development

BY ALEXANDRA WEBER MORALES shared repository allows team members What’s the best way to build complex, to contribute to the DevOps process software-intensive systems? A powerful from anywhere in the world. Enterprise approach, according to the Australian Architect has been designed from the software vendor Sparx Systems, places ground up to improve communication, visual modeling tools at the hub of a enhance collaboration, and facilitate DevOps-style operation. The company’s information exchange between all stake- flagship modeling platform, Enterprise holders and team members. Enterprise Architect, was commercially released in Architect also provides tools for resource 2000 and continues to rise to the chal- allocation, task tracking, project man- lenge of faster software delivery. agement and team communication, to We spoke to Geoffrey Sparks, CEO ensure everyone can contribute to and and founder of Sparx Systems in measure the success of a project. Creswick, Australia, about how UML- How prevalent is UML in organizations based graphical modeling tools assist in that have a successful DevOps culture? enterprise digital transformation. How does UML assist in automating ‘UML is the established standard aspects of the delivery pipeline? SD Times: What is the Sparx approach for software modeling—anyone UML is the established standard for soft- to DevOps? What problems do you sketching a simple use case is ware modeling—anyone sketching a sim- hope to solve? modeling in UML.’ ple use case is modeling in UML. A sub- —Geoffrey Sparks Sparks: Digital transformation at the stantial body of online research provides enterprise level can only be achieved DevOps, project-delivery cycles lacked testimony to the value of UML on soft- when it is underpinned by a solid plat- transparency and the progress visibility ware quality. Within those organizations form to deliver and support new applica- the managers had was gathered from that are undergoing digital transforma- tions, services and technologies. Through assumptions rather than from objective tion to improve operational efficiencies transparent collaboration, Enterprise data. Within the integrated Enterprise (many of whom are Sparx Systems cus- Architect encourages increased produc- Architect project workspace, artifacts tomers), there is a prevalence of UML tivity between development (Dev) and can be viewed and updated with ver- tools deployed to manage application IT operations (Ops) by eliminating func- sion control, code review, and Continu- delivery, a process which relies implicitly tional silos. ous Integration tools. This is the level of on code quality assurance. Enterprise Architect has been built functionality that defines Enterprise Within the digital transformation as a team-based visual modeling plat- Architect as a leading DevOps solution. imperative, there is a natural tension form, an approach that continues for What are the advantages of a single that exists in the flux between legacy sys- groups of people working on the same repository? tems, which are “keeping the lights on,” projects, sharing information, ideas and Using a single platform helps to elimi- and integration of new technologies. models. We like to say Enterprise nate problems that arise from using a Visualizing the software legacy, taking Architect was enabling DevOps before complicated DevOps tool chain. Every- control of software development for the term was coined. thing you need is available at your finger- evolving systems structure, navigating Collaboration lies at the heart of the tips, with the added advantage of trace- through complex systems, and selective Sparx Systems support for DevOps, ability, integrated communication tools, exposure of detail can all be achieved which in turn, improves the software model-driven design, and powerful visu- using UML. The adoption of standards- development life cycle through alization tools to improve understanding. based UML tools is a major step toward automation and best practices. Prior to The addition of cloud technologies and a continued on page 30 >

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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: MODELING UML drives DevOps digital transformations < continued from page 29 modeling allows the Dev team to then implement Test-Driven Design. technical debt reduction and associated plan the next steps for the project itera- Because the project can be managed quality improvement, as they provide tion without touching the current work- within Enterprise Architect’s extensive the templates and frameworks to reduce ing model. Different design scenarios project-management features (like risk and increase efficiency, while sup- can be planned out, signed off by the Gantt charts, resource allocations, Kan- porting collaboration between stake- stakeholders, and then promoted into ban, workflow engine, etc), “last mile” holders across the enterprise. the current working model. problems, like dependent parts of the How does Enterprise Architect assist How is requirements definition and man- system not being ready on time, with code generation, version control, agement a key to effective (and speedy) become evident early in development. code review and Continuous Integra- DevOps in software-defined businesses? For process development, Enterprise tion (among other activities)? Effective gathering of requirements and Architect offers simulation, so users can Enterprise Architect includes a number their accuracy can dictate the future suc- explore and identify optimal “what if” of design tools to create models of soft- cess of any software development proj- scenarios prior to real-world implemen- ware, automated code generation, ect. Enterprise Architect has the capabil- tation, saving them time and money. reverse-engineering of source code, ity to source requirements in a variety of Finally, Enterprise Architect is an binaries and schemas, and tools to syn- forms, native to the methods of each end-to-end tool where everything from chronize source code with the design stakeholder’s role. the initial mind-maps and strategic models representing the software system. Enterprise Architect hosts complete decisions can be traced to delivery, The programming code can be viewed traceability, from strategic modeling to through requirements, use cases, and edited directly in the integrated code implementation, architectural definition, process diagrams, down to the deliver- editors within Enterprise Architect, deployment and maintenance. Cloud- ables, code, business rules, etc. You can which provide intelligent code comple- based repositories, discussions, impact- use the project itself to make sure you tion and other features to aid in coding. analysis tools, auditing, reporting and a are delivering what has been asked for. Another compelling aspect of the host of other capabilities make Enter- Tools like the Traceability Matrix and environment is the ability to trace the prise Architect the ideal platform for Gap Analysis tools make it very easy to implementation Classes back to design storing and working with requirements. spot holes in requirements and the elements and architecture, and then In addition, the Specification Man- downstream activities that will be back to the requirements and con- ager is a document-like interface that deployed to realize these requirements. straints and other specifications, and provides an easy and familiar environ- It also shows if extra functionality has ultimately back to stakeholders and ment for creating and editing require- been introduced to the project that was their goals and visions. ments without needing to use diagram- never asked for in the first place, with the From an engineering and quality per- ming or visual tools. This is particularly goal of reducing scope creep. spective, the most compelling advantage beneficial for the provision of inputs Can iterative design and development of this approach is that the UML models gathered from non-technical yet essen- at the project level end up transform- and therefore the architecture and tial elements of the enterprise. ing a company? design are synchronized with the pro- What sort of software delivery pipeline Definitely. From its inception, Enter- gramming code. An unbroken traceable productivity metrics can be derived prise Architect has been designed to path can be created from the goals, busi- from artifacts contained in Enterprise used as a “master plan” for enterprise ness drivers and the stakeholder’s Architect? Can a “last mile” deploy- continuous improvement. Once the requirements, right through to methods ment problem be anticipated in UML enterprise has been modeled based on in the programming code. design upfront? the collection of requirements, further Enterprise Architect’s Visual Execu- As a team-based modeling tool, Enter- refinement may include simulation, test- tion Analysis tool set vastly improves prise Architect has a lot of features built ing, scenario analysis and much more. the accuracy of Continuous Integration in that facilitate correct software/process Furthermore, a subset of the enterprise, by allowing the developer to debug and at the time of deployment: such as a single business process, can also profile the running code in comparison Automatic Test Generation from the be captured, modeled, analyzed and with the model. Automated reports and model provides a set of test scripts, test improved upon... possibly even automat- model generation, based on code sets, test cuts and test steps for testers ed into software. Once the repository is sequences and code timing, afford a to use to test the system through the developed, this can be used to manage greater understanding how the code is conceptual passes before being the generational evolution of any busi- operating in real time. Time Aware deployed, effectively allowing a user to ness unit. z