MDA FastStart™ Program

For Agility in the Enterprise and Public Sectors

The DAT MDA FastStart program is designed to quickly familiarize organizations in the private and government sectors with MDA� concepts and to start integrating MDA into their mission-critical software development activities. The program is the first step in realizing a "Solutions Factory" leveraging MDA to achieve a more agile enterprise, reducing costs while more effectively meeting business requirements.

MDA provides the organization with a full life-cycle business focused information system architecture that reduces the dependence on specific infrastructures and vendors while providing a portfolio of long-term assets at reduced costs and reduced risk. MDA facilitates integration and interoperability without technology lock-in. MDA is Designed for Change™.

The DAT MDA FastStart program provides an integrated set of assessment, planning, executive seminar, technical practicum and pilot project activities for both executives and technical staff, all of which can be delivered in as little as 5 weeks. Based on your organization's needs, DAT can customize the program, and/or offer additional complementary customized consulting, mentoring services as well as supporting technologies and products.

The following describes the core MDA FastStart program activities which may be conduced serially or concurrently.

MDA Introduction and Assessment:

The readiness assessment is a 1-week activity used to determine the best overall approach to introducing MDA into the organization. It includes the following activities to be conducted concurrently:

A 1/2 day introductory tutorial on MDA concepts and the DAT FastStart process.
A high-level review of the business drivers relevant to MDA, and identification of target MDA-related technical activities best suited to those business drivers
A high-level review of the organizations requirements for better collaboration and integration between divisions, departments, projects, customers and suppliers
A high-level review of the various technological drivers and tools in the organization that would influence MDA Transition, including current software development processes and related computing infrastructure
A high-level review of the organizational scope, size, and structure of the target MDA users, as well as the human resources available to support MDA activities
A high-level assessment of the organizations readiness to transform to an agile organization leveraged with MDA

The primary Assessment deliverable is a brief report with recommendations for presentation to customer management. The initial report will cover the opportunities offered by MDA as well as the potential pitfalls. In addition, information gathered during the period of the assessment is used to scope and customize the subsequent FastStart activities.

MDA Architecture Overview

The Architecture Review is a 1-week activity conducted by a seasoned MDA architect used to determine in more detail the technology specifics of the organization's current architectural foundation and desired endstate with the aim of understanding:

The level of maturity associated with current enterprise/application architecture efforts
What parts of the enterprise architecture and computing infrastructure offer the most beneficial, cost-effective initial focal points for future MDA-related efforts
How MDA can best be adapted to the architectural paradigms currently in use
Current tools, practices, technologies and infrastructure that would impact or be impacted by MDA
The needs and current approach to collaboration and integration of the enterprise
A high-level review of the organizations component reuse strategy and capability
Identification of potential pilot projects for validating and learning MDA

These and related matters are summarized in a brief report with recommendations to be presented to technical management. In addition, this information will be used to better focus subsequent FastStart activities.

MDA Transition Plan

The transition planning activity requires 1 week to complete and offers a set of recommendations and a high level plan for introducing and incorporating MDA into the customer's organization.

The activity is based on MDA best practices and the results of the Assessment and Architecture Review. It includes the selection of a set of specific technical activities for the MDA Practicum activity and an evaluation of the various modeling and MDA tools that are appropriate for the customer's organization and technical requirements. This activity is typically performed offsite and requires minimal involvement by the client.

The transition plan will include short term activities, such as the pilot project, combined with a mid and long term strategy.

The transition plan is delivered is a report and presentation to management.

MDA Seminars

The Seminars provide a variety of options customized as appropriate for each particular organization. Typically, the seminars include:

A �-day Executive Seminar aimed at CEO, CTO, CIO, Engineering directors, etc., typically limited to 10 participants. This seminar describes the overall ideas around MDA and explains the benefits, requirements and timeframe of implementing an MDA transition program in the organization. The Executive Seminar also includes the presentation of the Assessment and Architecture Review reports and recommendations, as well as the proposed Transition Plan.
1-2-day Technical Seminars aimed at architects, designers, modelers and engineering managers to discuss the principles, techniques, tools, etc. involved in implementing MDA. The Technical Seminars are typically limited to 10-15 participants. The customer has a choice of general MDA seminars or seminars utilizing DAT products.
1 day architectural seminar on enterprise collaboration and integration using the OMG standard Enterprise Collaboration Architecture (Part of the EDOC standard)

MDA Practicum and Pilot Project

The MDA Practicum and pilot project is a highly interactive 2-3-week activity run by seasoned MDA architects and developers. The practicum and pilot project is intended for senior technical staff, such as enterprise and system architects, designers, developers and project managers. It includes formal, detailed presentations on MDA technology topics and a set of workshop periods that allow the participants to apply what they learn in a pragmatic fashion.

Along with the theory, DAT guides architects and developers through the full life-cycle of a pilot project derived from the organizations own requirements. The full MDA cycle of model centric requirements, analysis, design, technology mapping and deployment will be covered and result in a small deliverable application. DAT will work with the organization to select an application appropriate for the pilot, one having existing tooling and infrastructure support. More complex pilot projects may require additional time commitments and cost.

Practicum participants are typically limited to 5-8 in order to ensure maximum interaction between the practicum leader and the participants. Participants will both work as individuals and as a team at various points during the workshop. All practicum and pilot project participants will be licensed to use all DAT technologies for the term of the FastStart program - reducing the organization's up-front costs and risk. DAT can also integrate other MDA or modeling tools into the program.

MDA FastStart is a trademark of the Object Management Group
MDA is a registered trademark of the Object management Group
Design for change is a trademark of Data Access Technologes. Inc.