The Technical Architecture Modeling (TAM) project is a proposed open source project under the Modeling Project Container Project.

This proposal is in the Project Proposal Phase (as defined in the Eclipse Development Process) and is written to declare its intent and scope. We solicit additional participation and input from the Eclipse community. Please send all feedback to the Eclipse Proposals Forum.

Background

The technical architecture modeling (TAM) is a language for modeling and describing technical architecture. It is a combination of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Fundamental Modeling Concepts (FMC). TAM includes seven diagram types: 6 from UML and 1 from FMC. It uses subsets of UML Activity, State and Sequence diagrams to model behavioral aspects, Use Case Diagram to specify requirements, Package and Class Diagrams to model data structures and relations and FMC Block diagrams for compositional structures.

Scope

The following features are in scope for the TAM project:
Providing an Ecore meta model for FMC Block Diagrams.
Modeling of FMC Block Diagrams.
Modeling the TAM subset of UML Activity, State, Sequence, Use Case, Package and Class diagram based on Eclipse Papyrus.

Description

This project aims at providing a modeling tool for software architects and consultants in order to discuss and analyze system landscapes on the conceptual as well as on the design level. This project focuses mainly on the FMC Block diagram and integrates already existing diagram types from Papyrus UML to offer a holistic modeling support. In addition, it delivers an Ecore-based meta model for FMC Block diagrams. This in contrast to the already existing approach based on Microsoft Visio stencil sets (http://www.fmc-modeling.org/tam_stencils) which supports only purely graphical models. The TAM modeler will be based on Eclipse Graphiti and uses EMF/Ecore for the meta model.

Why Eclipse?

With Papyrus UML the MDT project already provides a modeling tool for UML. In order to complement this toolset by the ability to model system landscapes with compositional structure, the TAM project has been initiated. Since all technologies this project is based on are from the Eclipse environment (Graphiti, GEF, Draw2D, EMF) this is a nice fit. Furthermore, modeling TAM inside Eclipse IDE enables the use of other existing Eclipse plug-ins such as EGit, Mylyn, etc.

Relationship with other Eclipse Projects

The TAM sub-project will be built on top of the Eclipse Platform and will depend on the following Eclipse projects.
Papyrus UML Project includes required UML diagram types.
EMF Project is required for access to the TAM meta model.
Graphiti Project is the graphical framework for the TAM Modeler.

Initial Contribution

The initial code contribution will come from SAP where the TAM project was developed originally. The code includes the Ecore meta model as well as the Graphiti-based editor for Block diagrams. This version will be the basis for the coding contributed to Eclipse.

Legal Issues

There are no known legal issues with this project.

Committers

The following individuals are proposed as initial committers to the project:

Benjamin Schmeling,SAP, lead
Benjamin Schmeling is a committer on the *** project where he has made significant contributions over many years. S/he will be contribute to the *** functionality in this new project.
Anis Charfi, SAP, lead
Anis Charfi is a committer on the *** project where he has made significant contributions over many years. S/he will be contribute to the *** functionality in this new project.
Heiko Witteborg, SAP
Heiko Witteborg is a committer on the *** project where he has made significant contributions over many years. S/he will be contribute to the *** functionality in this new project.
Patrick Jahnke, SAP
Patrick Jahnke is a committer on the *** project where he has made significant contributions over many years. S/he will be contribute to the *** functionality in this new project.

We welcome additional committers and contributions.

Mentors

The following Architecture Council members will mentor this project:

Interested Parties

The following individuals, organisations, companies and projects have expressed interest in this project:

Project Scheduling

Changes to this Document

Date Change
23-January-2013 Document created