[ecoop-info] Plugin for writing ODP specifications using UML

[Antonio Vallecillo]

We are pleased to announce the release of the RM-ODP plugin for 
MagicDraw 15.5+, which is now available for download from 
http://www.jrromero.net/tools.html.

The MagicDraw UML4ODP plugin facilitates the development of ODP 
systems specifications, according to the guidelines and structuring 
rules provided by the RM-ODP and UML4ODP standards. It also enables 
the validation of all viewpoint models, checking that they fulfill 
the constraints prescribed by UML4ODP and RM-ODP. In this way, UML 
modelers can draw their ODP specifications and then check that they 
conform to the standard (both individual viewpoint models and the 
complete ODP specification model). Errors and warnings found in the 
models during the validation process are clearly reported to the 
user, showing the precise elements where conflicts are found.

With this tool we provide full support for UML4ODP specifications, 
making easier their development and maintenance.

We currently provide two different flavors for the plugin:
- Basic edition, which provides the editing capabilities for
   writing ODP specifications using UML.
- Full edition, which  includes both the editing and the
   validation capabilities.

To download the plugin, please visit 
http://www.jrromero.net/tools.html, where you will also find the 
plugin documentation, the user manual, an on-line demo and some 
examples. This plugin can also be downloaded from the official 
MagicDraw's website, as well as from the MagicDraw's Resource Manager 
(for MD 16+).

A brief description of the RM-ODP and UML4ODP is included below. For 
further information about RM-ODP and its related ISO/IEC standards 
and ITU-T recommendations, please  visit www.rm-odp.net.

If you have any queries or require further information about this 
tool, please feel free to contact us. Any feedback or suggestion that 
can help us improve the tool and make it more useful to UML and ODP 
modelers will be warmly welcome!

With best regards,
Jose R. Romero, Juan I. Jaen and Antonio Vallecillo.
Atenea Reasearch group
http://atenea.lcc.uma.es/

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 >> Some Info about RM-ODP and UML4ODP

The Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) is a 
joint effort by ISO/IEC and ITU-T, which provides a co-ordinating 
framework for the standardization of open distributed processing 
(ODP) which supports distribution, interworking, platform and 
technology independence, and portability, together with an Enterprise 
Architectural Framework for the specification of ODP systems.

The fact that ODP languages are notation-independent motivated 
ISO/IEC and ITU-T to start a joint project in 2004, known as UML4ODP 
(ITU-T Rec. X.906 | ISO/IEC 19793: Information technology - Open 
distributed processing - Use of UML for ODP system specifications), 
to provide these languages with a concrete syntax.

UML4ODP defines a set of UML profiles, one for each viewpoint 
language and one to express the correspondences between viewpoints, 
and an approach for structuring them according to the RM-ODP 
principles. The purpose of UML4ODP is to allow ODP modelers to use 
the UML notation for expressing their ODP specifications in a 
standard graphical way; to allow UML modelers to use the RM-ODP 
concepts and mechanisms to structure their large UML system 
specifications according to a mature and standard proposal; and to 
allow UML tools to be used to process viewpoint specifications, thus 
facilitating the software design process and the enterprise 
architecture specification of large software systems.

Further information about RM-ODP can be found at www.rm-odp.net