Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
As we will see in the next chapter, the technology viewpoint then says
how conformance requirements are to be documented and what additional re-
quirements for conformance to implementable standards should apply. This
involves making reference to the conformance points defined here and provid-
ing statements about how tests are to be carried out at them.
The full list of steps will lead you to an initial version of the engineering
viewpoint specification, following a top-down approach. However, you may
also have requirements on artefacts in the engineering and technology view-
points that require a bottom-up approach. For instance, you may need to use
given COTS packages, legacy systems or sets of network channels existing in
your organization, or developed for it by third parties, and then include them
in your engineering specification.
5.7
Incorporating Current Technologies
When some of the ODP functions and their associated mechanisms are
embodied in a specific technology, they are refined to meet the additional
requirements originating from the target technology. We have seen that some
of the ODP functions, or their adaptations, are found in CORBA, Java or Web
Services technologies. These include, for example, naming, event notification,
trading, transaction and security support.
There are other situations in which the distribution infrastructure is pro-
vided by a third-party organization or company. This happens, for instance,
when cloud computing is used. The implications of the adoption of this tech-
nology are simply that our engineering specifications should be mapped to
the specifications of the transparency mechanisms and common functions im-
plemented and offered by the cloud provider. The details of how they are
provided are encapsulated within the cloud provider and so do not form part
of our design.
5.8
Relationship with Other Viewpoints
The engineering objects play a part in fulfilling the objectives established
in the enterprise viewpoint by supporting the interaction and management
of computational objects, which are represented in this viewpoint as Basic
Engineering Objects. In addition to this indirect coupling, the various engi-
neering objects will also be subject to generic rules and policies established
in the enterprise viewpoint, which control the configuration of the system as
