Sparx Systems Forum

Enterprise Architect => Suggestions and Requests => Topic started by: salayande on March 13, 2008, 07:20:14 am

Title: Information Architecture Blueprints
Post by: salayande on March 13, 2008, 07:20:14 am

I am suggesting Sparxsystem provide the capability below. This is normally used to develop a high level blueprint for an Enterprise Information Architecture. This is the format favoured by the Business sponsors who are not into UML.

Visio is the favourite tool for producing this blueprint at the moment. I would prefer to use EA.

Barker’s notation shows sub-types as boxes inside super-type boxes. This has the advantage of taking up much less room on the diagram, and it emphasizes the fact that an occurrence of a sub-type is an occurrence of the super-type. The super- and sub-types are not simply related to each other.

In Barker’s notation, sub-types are mutually exclusive, meaning that overlapping sub-types are not allowed. Subtypes are also complete, meaning that sub-types are supposed to account for all occurrences of a super-type, although in practice, this latter rule is often bent by adding the sub-type other . . . In Figure 4, person and organization are sub-types of party.

Title: Re: Information Architecture Blueprints
Post by: «Midnight» on March 13, 2008, 07:47:45 am

What an excellent idea Segun,

Though you've provided an excellent justification, this has additional benefits. It would be a gift that keeps on giving.

Making such a notation work would require some capability to (more formally, and with greater stability) recognize nesting of shapes within one another. More specifically this is not just the "nesting" relationship between classifiers.

If Sparx could give us that it would open up whole new areas that are painfully difficult at this time.

David

Title: Re: Information Architecture Blueprints
Post by: duster on June 13, 2008, 04:30:38 pm

Hi, does EA support any aspect of Barker's ER modelling notation?

Thanks

Title: Re: Information Architecture Blueprints
Post by: salayande on June 14, 2008, 04:59:48 am

It currently supports the James Martin/ Clive Finklestein's Information Engineering notation. It should be fairly easy to add Oracle CASE notation.

The notation originally requested for is the Oracle CASE and SSADM notation for sub-types/supertypes relationship between classes.

kind regards

Segun

Title: Re: Information Architecture Blueprints
Post by: duster on June 14, 2008, 08:35:15 am

Hi,

So even though it "should be fairly easy to add Oracle CASE notation" the sparx team have not added it to EA?

Thank you for the response.