Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
fault in the system, making the communication meaningless before questions
about its relevance to the enterprise can be asked.
Finally we should note that paralleling this behavioural and observational
analysis, there is a chain of obligations relating to the testing process. Tests
can only be made mandatory if performed at conformance points, which must
have been declared as reference points in sucient detail to allow the tester
to locate them. Thus, if the access link to the HQ system was declared by the
implementer as a conformance point, this percolates through to other views,
thereby making it possible for corresponding model elements to be involved
in the conformance assessment. On the other hand, if a conformance point
is declared in the enterprise specification, there is an associated obligation to
identify conformance points in other viewpoints so that chains of reasoning,
like that as outlined previously, can be constructed for all the valid refinements
of that enterprise design.
8.5 Claiming Compliance or Conformance
When a detailed specification claims compliance with a broader framework,
it should include a statement asserting this compliance and making it clear
which terms and concepts are derived from the framework. The claim should
indicate exactly what revision of the framework is being referenced.
A claim that a product conforms with a specification is made as a part of
the product documentation. This claim will generally form part of the IXIT,
and should include the instructions for locating all conformance points defined
in the specification. The specifications and the IXIT together must always
provide all the information needed for carrying out tests and interpreting
their results.
In this topic we normally assume that a full set of viewpoint specications
is being produced. However, in some cases where products are being targeted
at some existing environment, the specification may detail only a subset of
the viewpoints so that it includes, for example, full specifications for just the
enterprise information and computational viewpoints. In such cases, links to
the missing detail must be made via the IXIT, and there will always need to
be at least a vestigial technology specification for this purpose.
