UAF View Specifications

In the UAF Grid (v1.2), View Specifications are comprised of viewpoints, which are the rows in the grid, and aspects which are the columns in the grid.

Viewpoints (Rows in the UAF Grid):

- Architecture Management (Am): Focuses on the metadata and views required to develop and manage the architecture.

- Strategic (St): Describes the capability management process, including taxonomy, composition, dependencies, and evolution.

- Operational (Op): Illustrates the logical architecture of the enterprise, detailing requirements, behavior, structure, and exchanges.

- Services (Sv): Describes services needed to support operational domains and their design.

- Personnel (Ps): Defines organizational resource types, their taxonomy, connections, and evolution.

- Resources (Rs): Captures solution architecture including organizational, software, artifacts, and natural resources.

- Security (Sc): Defines security assets, constraints, and their locations.

- Projects (Pj): Describes projects, milestones, capabilities, organizations, and dependencies.

- Standards (Sd): Includes technical and non-technical standards, such as operational doctrine and industry process standards.

- Actual Resources (Ar): Analyzes actual resource configurations, expected or achieved.

Aspects (Columns in the UAF Grid):

- Motivation (Mv): Captures motivational elements like challenges, opportunities, and concerns related to enterprise transformation.

- Taxonomy (Tx): Presents elements as a specialization hierarchy with text definitions.

- Structure (Sr): Describes the breakdown of structural elements into their parts.

- Connectivity (Cn): Details connections, relationships, and interactions between elements.

- Processes (Pr): Captures activity-based behavior and flows.

- States (St): Graphically represents the states of elements and their responses to events and actions.

- Sequences (Sq): Provides a time-ordered examination of exchanges between elements.

- Information (If): Addresses the information perspective on operational, service, and resource architectures.

- Constraints (Ct): Defines performance requirements and rules governing behavior and structure.

- Roadmap (Rm): Details how elements change over time.

- Traceability (Tr): Maps relationships between elements across different viewpoints and domains.

Guide to Using UAF Grid:

- Identify Stakeholders and Concerns: Determine the key stakeholders for your architecture project and identify their specific concerns.

- Select Appropriate Viewpoints: Based on stakeholders' concerns, choose relevant viewpoints from the list provided (e.g., Strategic, Operational, Services).

- Define Views (Viewpoint Specifications): Create specific views within each chosen viewpoint to address the stakeholders' concerns. For example, within the Strategic viewpoint, you might create views that describe the capability taxonomy and strategic processes.

- Use the UAF Grid: Utilize the UAF Grid to understand how different view specifications correspond to viewpoints (rows) and aspects (columns). This helps in organizing and managing the multiple viewpoints and their interrelationships.

- Develop Architecture Models: Develop models that conform to the chosen viewpoints and views, ensuring they are detailed and comprehensive enough to address the identified concerns.

- Analyze and Iterate: Continuously analyze the developed models, gather feedback from stakeholders, and iterate to refine the architecture views and ensure they remain aligned with stakeholders' needs.

View Specifications Examples:

Strategic Perspective Example:

- Viewpoint: Strategic (St)

- Aspect: Structure (Sr)

- View Specification: Describes the breakdown of strategic capabilities.

- Aspect: Processes (Pr)

- View Specification: Details the strategic processes involved.

Operational Perspective Example:

- Viewpoint: Operational (Op)

- Aspect: Connectivity (Cn)

- View Specification: Details the connections and relationships between operational elements.

This approach ensures that all necessary perspectives and dimensions are covered comprehensively, providing a structured and systematic way to address various stakeholder concerns in the architecture.