- UPDM 1.0 draft specification gets positive OMG vote

- Draft specification fully endorsed by both the US Department of Defense and UK Ministry of Defence

Washington DC, USA and Cheltenham, UK – 8th December 2008. Artisan® Software Tools, the world’s largest independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative modeling tools for complex, mission and safety-critical embedded systems and software, has announced that the Unified Profile for DoDAF/MODAF (UPDM) 1.0 draft specification has achieved a positive vote at the OMG to successfully clear the first hurdle in the OMG’s fast track standardization process.

“Both the DoDAF and MODAF architectural frameworks are hugely important in defense procurement and UPDM will become the standard means for describing them in Model based design tools,” said Matthew Hause, Chief Consulting Engineer at Artisan Software Tools and co-chair of the UPDM Group. “The creation of a standard UML/SysML Profile for them will generate enormous benefits for developers of Military systems in terms of consistency, quality, tool interoperability and cost savings.”

The UPDM 1.0 draft specification defines an industry standard UML/SysML representation for DoDAF 1.5 and MODAF 1.2 compliant enterprise architectures. It was submitted on schedule to the OMG at the end of September 2008. The content definition and preparation of the UPDM 1.0 draft specification has been lead by Artisan and No-Magic as co-chairs of the UPDM Group, and draws on Artisan’s extensive experience of customers using Artisan Studio® to define DoDAF/MODAF architectures. The draft specification is now closed for comment from OMG members and the public. These comments will be reviewed at the next OMG meeting in December 2008 and the draft specification voted on for approval. If approved, the specification would then enter the finalization phase with the goal of finalizing the standard in June 2009.

The UPDM 1.0 draft specification is fully endorsed by both the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the UK’s Ministry of Defence. In a joint statement of 19th September 2008 submitted by John Keefe of the UK MOD and Brian Wilczynski of the US DoD in support of the UPDM 1.0 draft specification it was stated in part: “The US DoD Deputy Chief Information Officer, and the Director, Systems and Software Engineering, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, have a vested interest in the establishment of a formal standard based upon the current DoD Architecture Framework, DoDAF v1.5. The respective staffs have met and assessed the submission of the unsolicited specification and have recommended full endorsement of the RFC (Request for Comment)….the DoD prefers the adoption of industry standards as opposed to developing Department-unique standards. For this reason, the OMG has been identified as a mission partner in reaching consensus on a Unified Modeling Language (UML) and optional SysML profile.”

The statement went on to say: “From a UK MOD perspective, the UK MOD fully endorses and supports the position stated by the US DoD. The UK MOD position has not changed, we remain committed to using open international standards, so the UPDM standard being proposed by the Tiger Team rather than the Beta2 spec, which correctly supports MODAF 1.2 and DoDAF 1.5, is essential and encourage the OMG to take their work forward.”

A full copy of the joint UK Ministry of Defence/US Department of Defense position statement on the Unified Profile for DoDAF/MODAF can be found in the documentation section at: www.updm.com/index

For further information visit: www.omg.org.

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About the UPDM Group

The membership of the UPDM Group comprises development tool vendors and defense industry contractors along with representatives of the key Government agency stakeholders - the DoD in the USA and the UK’s MOD. The initial members include: Adaptive, Artisan Software Tools, BAE Systems, DoD, Embeddedplus Engineering, Generic AB representing the Swedish Armed Forces, Lockheed Martin, Mitre, MOD, No Magic, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce and Visumpoint.

About Artisan Software Tools

Artisan® Software Tools is the world’s largest independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative modeling tools for complex, mission-critical systems and software. Artisan has delivered a stable, robust working environment to thousands of users across an extensive range of complex applications in demanding sectors including military, aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, telecommunications and electronics, and medical. Artisan’s standards-based tool suite, Artisan Studio®, provides comprehensive support for the leading industry standards, including OMG SysML, UML and Architectural Frameworks. Artisan’s VdsTM (V-Design System) provides a fully integrated, collaborative engineering framework for the trouble-free deployment and maintenance of best-in-class tools for mission and safety-critical systems and software development. Artisan’s tools deliver on the promise of an integrated collaborative development environment - allowing systems and software engineering teams to Work as OneTM - from concept through to delivery, maintenance and support. Founded in 1997 with extensive venture capital backing, Artisan is headquartered in the USA and UK with offices in Germany and Italy, supported by a global distributor network. For more information visit: www.ArtisanSoftwareTools.com