WHAT IS SOMF? SOMF is an agile and modern model-driven engineering methodology whose discipline-specific modeling language and best practices focus on software design and distinct architecture activities, employed during various stages of the software development life cycle. Moreover, architects, analysts, modelers, developers, and managers employ SOMF to tackle enterprise architecture, application architecture, service-oriented architecture (SOA), and cloud computing organizational challenges. The framework, authored by Michael Bell, provides a technology-independent notation that encourages a holistic view of enterprise software entities, treated as service-oriented assets, namely services.

WHY SOMF? If you are a software developer, software architect, business analyst, technical/systems analyst, software modeler, database modeler, project manager, or business stakeholder: Model first, build later! The term “model” pertains to building a small and virtual replica of a software product, an application, a software component, a system, an environment, or any other organizational asset; rather than allocating budgets and committing resources to constructing the “big” thing…

Consider this:

• Manager: Focus on the strategic and planning aspects of software development, before allocating budgets and committing resources to building production environments
• Architect, Modeler, Analyst: Model applications, systems, and their operating environments to verify software behavior, performance, and message processing capacity assumptions; before engaging in costly software construction projects
• Architect, Modeler, Analyst: Model production and testing environments to validate the continuity and stability of software integration, middleware configuration, and infrastructure capability; before acquiring off-the-shelf middleware or messaging produces
• Developer: Model software components’ functionality, capabilities, message exchange, and transactions; before committing time to source code writing
• Analyst: Model software products to verify their feasibility and contribution to the business, before allocating budgets for large software construction projects

Use SOMF to model your software assets and enterprise architecture operating environments!

QUICK SOMF CHARACTERISTICS.

• Usage: Easy to use. No prior knowledge of programming language or modeling platforms required
• Quick modeling activities, agile: Models and diagrams can be created in minutes
• Anthropomorphic: Intuitive modeling language that requires very short learning curve
• Target audience: Any business or IT professional
• Holistic: A user can model any technology, programming language, architecture platform, infrastructure, software assets, or environment
• Discipline specific: Each software development stage requires distinct diagrams
• Methodology driven: A powerful software development life cycle methodology drives SOMF modeling activities
• Flexible: A user can create customized diagrams or mix notations that correspond to a multiple life cycle states in one diagram
• Applicability: Enterprise architecture, application architecture, service-oriented architecture, cloud computing
• Patterns-oriented: A user can use more than 100 patterns and anti-patterns to speed up diagram building
• Organizational benefits: Accelerate time-to-market, encourage software asset consolidation and reuse, increase business and technical agility

CHIEF MODLING THEME: SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE. SOMF supports a service model whose holistic vision embodies any organizational software asset that is subject for modeling. In other words, as apparent in the image on the far right, the term “service” may represent any enterprise entity: software system, software application, software module, software component, software library, business process, repository, middleware product, or system software. Therefore, according to SOMF, the concept “everything is a service” fosters software reuse, asset consolidation, time-to-market acceleration, and organizational expenditure reduction. Ultimately, this universal approach to software modeling reduces design complexities and promotes architecture loose coupling.

SOMF DISCIPLINES AND MODELS. SOMF offers a 360º view of any software development life cycle, starting at the conceptualization phase, supporting design and architecture activities, and extending modeling best practices for service operations in a production environment. To achieve these underpinning milestones, six distinct software development disciplines offer corresponding models whose language notation guide practitioners in designing, architecting, and supporting a service ecosystem:

1. Service-Oriented Conceptualization Model
2. Service-Oriented Discovery and Analysis Model
3. Service-Oriented Business Integration Model
4. Service-Oriented Logical Design Model
5. Service-Oriented Software Architecture Model
6. Cloud Computing Toolbox Model

MODELING GENERATIONS. SOMF diagrams support three chief modeling generations, each of which shows a different time perspective of a software life cycle. These views help practitioners depict business and architectural decisions made at any time during the life span of a software product:

1. Used-to-Be. Design and architecture past state of a software product and its related environment that were deployed, configured, and operated in production
2. As-Is. Design and architecture current state of a software product and its corresponding environment that are being operated in production
3. To-Be: Design and architecture future state of a software product and its associated environment that will be deployed, configured, and operated in production
   

Download Enterprise Architect 9

to Create SOMF 2.1 Models