Re: [soa-rm-ra] Views and viewpoints

["Jeffrey A. Estefan" <jeffrey.a.estefan@jpl.nasa.gov>]

Danny and RA Team,

The various architectural frameworks out there (i.e., DoDAF, TOGAF, RM-ODP, 
etc.) are not a good source of trying to gain an understanding of the 
distinction between views and viewpoints.  You are right, they do not 
consistently use the terminology.

This is why a formal standard like the ANSI/IEEE 1471-2000 is so important. 
Some of the frameworks actually pre-date the release of the 1471 Std and 
this adds to the confusion because not all frameworks have updated their 
respective references to be 1471 compliant.

Additional clarification on views and viewpoints is provided in Annex A of 
the 1471 and some example viewpoints are provided in the Annex B of the Std, 
available on our Kavi site at:
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/soa-rm-ra/download.php/17538/IEEE1471-2000.pdf

Remember, a view is what you see and a viewpoint is the perspective from 
where you're looking from.  In compliance with the current revision of the 
1471 Std, each view must correspond to one and only one viewpoint; however, 
a model(s) can be used in more than one view.

As we move forward, it's better that we not get hung up on the actual 
viewpoint names and worry about that later.  What we need to do is start by 
identifying the important elements that comprise our candidate viewpoints, 
i.e., stakeholders, stakeholder concerns, modeling techniques, etc..  Then 
we'll want to decide what models should be part of specific views that 
correspond to our baseline set of viewpoints.  Again, I think the actual 
names of the viewpoints can fall out later.

I've tried to provide additional guidance and example viewpoints in The 
Architecture Wiki page at:
http://wiki.oasis-open.org/soa-rm/TheArchitecture/ViewsAndViewpoints

If you or anybody else on the RA team have any additional questions, please 
drop me a line.  This is my field.

Regards...

 - Jeff