What Goes Wrong with Language Definitions and How to Improve the Situation
A Software Factory Integrating Rational & WebSphere Tools
1. 1
A Software Factory Integrating Rational
& WebSphere Tools
Session 1741
André Tost,
Senior Technical Staff Member, Software Group
Greg Hodgkinson,
Practice Director, Lifecycle Tools and Methodology
2. 2
Session Introduction
Abstract: “Getting any software development team to effectively scale to meet the needs of a large integration
project is actually harder than it sounds. For a large Automotive Retailer based in Florida, this is exactly what
they needed to do. They needed a large amount of integration to be built between their brand new Point of
Sales system and their new SAP back-end. In this session, you will hear about how tools such as Rational
Software Architect and WebSphere Message Broker Toolkit were integrated with a Rational Team Concert-based
development environment to set up super efficient software factory employing techniques such as Model-
Driven Development and Continuous Integration to help this retailer keep their customers’ wheels on the road.”
Topics for today:
The project
The challenges faced
The software factory tools
The software factory workflow
Key practices that helped us succeed
The benefits
Final thoughts
3. 3
Introducing the Project
A new automotive retail in-store experience
Replacing green screen terminals in the store with modern user
interfaces
– Touch screens
– Tablets
– Customer self-service “kiosks”
– In-store WiFi
– Completely new private network (MPLS)
Replacing legacy backend application for customer
management, order management and inventory management
– Transitioning from JDEdwards to SAP
Middleware integration layer
– Exposing backend functionality as reusable business services
– Fully virtualized, scalable infrastructure
• Private cloud on X86/Linux
4. 4
Introducing the Project (cont.)
Service orientation as the architectural foundation
Building an integration layer consisting of service exposure AND
provider creation
Diagram taken from developerWorks article “The Enterprise Service Bus, re-examined”,
see http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1105_flurry/1105_flurry.html
5. 5
Introducing the Project
Challenges faced
Multi-vendor, global development team
– US
– China
– Egypt
– Philippines
Requirements were limited to screenshots
– Hundreds of wire frames, very useful for data modeling
– No functional business requirements
Three layers (client UI, integration layer, backend/SAP) all designed and
developed in parallel
– (Semi-)Agile development process required
Brand new infrastructure
– New network, new platform, new middleware
Plus, all the usual project constraints
– Tight schedule
– Constrained budget
6. 6
Introducing the Software Factory Tools
WebSphere Message Broker
Reducing the complexity of
integrating your systems
Point-to-point is expensive
Integration requires specialist
knowledge of API technologies
Integration plumbing and mapping
code wastes developer hours
Mixing integration code with
application code makes
applications brittle
Integrations have high availability
and reliability requirements –
complexity
2) Dynamic mediation2) Dynamic mediation
4) Supports multiple4) Supports multiple
technologiestechnologies
3) Routes and transforms data3) Routes and transforms data
1) Simplified1) Simplified
integration authoringintegration authoring
7. 7
Introducing the Software Factory Tools
Managing and communicating
your software requirements
Poor requirements is the #1
reason projects fail
Traceability is NB, but time
consuming
Difficult to correlate scope lists
with specifications
As soon as requirements
documents are released they can
become out of date
Often the author > review >
feedback > rework process is
inefficient
1) All-in-one editor –1) All-in-one editor –
text as well astext as well as
diagramsdiagrams
2) Easy traceability2) Easy traceability
link creation andlink creation and
“surfing”“surfing”
3) Visual focus –3) Visual focus –
process, use case,process, use case,
screen mockupsscreen mockups
4) Built-in review4) Built-in review
workflowworkflow
5) Strong lifecycle links – to plans, to5) Strong lifecycle links – to plans, to
designs, to code, to builds, to testsdesigns, to code, to builds, to tests
Rational Requirements Composer
8. 8
Controlling the architectural
quality of your software
Difficult to handle software
complexity – too much of it
Lose sight of good patterns when
you are “down in the code”
Refactoring of code is expensive
Large mental leap between
requirements and code
How do you make design a “team
game”?
Introducing the Software Factory Tools
1) Supports popular modeling1) Supports popular modeling
standards – UML, BPMN2, SoaMLstandards – UML, BPMN2, SoaML
2) Turn models into2) Turn models into
code withcode with
transformationstransformations
3) Automatically3) Automatically
apply modelapply model
patternspatterns
4) Graphical code4) Graphical code
editors and visualizerseditors and visualizers
5) Design Manager5) Design Manager
adds web-basedadds web-based
collaborationcollaboration
Rational Software Architect for WebSphere
9. 9
4) Built-in build support4) Built-in build support
including build engineincluding build engine
5) SCM provides support5) SCM provides support
for streams, components,for streams, components,
workspaces – flexible,workspaces – flexible,
simple, powerfulsimple, powerful
Introducing the Software Factory Tools
Managing and enabling change
Plans can quickly become out of
date
Progress views limited to point-in-
time snapshots and waste effort
How to easily track what work was
delivered in a new build?
How to easily track SCM changes
against plans?
How to correlate all project data in
a format that is easy to consume
(and has value)
1) Like 5 tools in one – plans, work items,1) Like 5 tools in one – plans, work items,
SCM, build, project data warehouseSCM, build, project data warehouse
2) Fully integrated data2) Fully integrated data
across lifecycleacross lifecycle
3) Excellent support for3) Excellent support for
agile as well asagile as well as
“traditional” project styles“traditional” project styles
Rational Team Concert
10. 10
The Software Factory Workflow
Coordinating requirements and designs across
technology stacks
Constraint: 3 teams working on 3 separate but related streams.
Driven by UI wireframes
Derived scope list (RRC)
Transferred to plans (RTC)
Requirements specs written for
service operations (RRC/RSA)
Designs specs written for service
operations (RSA)
Front-end-WSDL generated
(RSA)
Implementations and stubs
(WMBT)
11. 11
The Software Factory Workflow
Timing is everything!
Ideal: Back-end WSDL available to SOA integration analysts.
12. 12
The Software Factory Workflow
Timing is everything!
Not so good: Back-end WSDL arrives during SOA design.
13. 13
The Software Factory Workflow
Timing is everything!
Getting bad: Back-end WSDL not available for SOA implementation.
14. 14
The Software Factory Workflow
Timing is everything!
The pits: Back-end implementation not available to test against.
15. 15
Coordinating distributed development and
integrating the results
Workflow tuned to high velocity without sacrificing quality.
The Software Factory Workflow
RRC
requirements
RSA
service
model
RTC
scm
RTC
scm
WMB
DEV
WMB
QA
wsdl
implementation
wsdl
implementation
Cairo
wsdl
implementation
wsdl
implementation
China
wsdl
implementation
wsdl
implementation
US
wsdl
SOA
analysts
UI & back-end
analysts,
stakeholders
SOA
designers
UI & back-end
designers,
stakeholders
SOA
devs
SOA
devs
SOA
devs
Continuous
build/deploy
On-demand
build/deploy
feedback
feedback
16. 16
Key Practices for Success
Tighter architectural control using RSA
Solution architecture modeled
in UML
Service model developed in UML
– Initial version derived from
use case descriptions
– Collaboratively finalized via
LotusLive sessions
– ~30 services with ~160 operations
WSDL automatically generated
from UML
– Using out-of-the-box RSA
transformation
– Some required modification
done via XSLT
Both UML and WSDL stored
in RTC
17. 17
Key Practices for Success
Keeping the team on track using RTC
Service operation tracking
– Separate tracking for each service interface and each service operation gives indication of
progress
• See later slide for example
Easy assignment of work items to individuals
– For net new development and defect fixes
– Good way of communicating with offshore teams
Impediments
– Communication of (typically blocking) issues across distributed teams
– Identified and/or assigned also during daily scrum meeting
Custom “change control” work item allowed tracking of changes
to the service model
– Linkage to individual work items (model change, implementation change, etc)
– Notification to interested users
18. 18
Key Practices for Success
Streams for easy management of
different configurations
– Code configuration for each
environment: DEV > QA > PROD
– Easy to promote changes through
environments
Components allow for groups of
artefacts to be managed together
– Separate out code components, tests, stubs,
models, documents
– Component per application component
• Loading and unloading
• Consolidated history
• Easy to snapshot
Collaborative configuration management using RTC
19. 19
Key Practices for Success
Project events provides an excellent way
to quickly see latest changes
– Easy to see what real (as opposed to
planned) current focus of work is
– Can click straight into work context for
more
– Keeps team aware of dependencies
The “Pending changes” view became a
core element of governance
– Good overview of who changed what and why
– Allows enforcement of compliance with established
standards - Naming, code structure, etc.
– Changes are organised by component – making it
easier to focus on the changes that matter to you
Collaborative configuration management using RTC
20. 20
Key Practices for Success
RTC’s simple build engine + Prolifics Build
Conductor = effortless builds!
– ANT build engine simple and easy to use
– PBC adds automation scripts for
WebSphere apps: WESB, WMB, WPS, Portal
– Automated build, override, deploy
Build record publishes a wealth of
information
– What was built – BARs
– What tasks/requirements/fixes included
– What change sets included
– Full log files as well as activity view
Hassle-free build and deploy using RTC
21. 21
Key Practices for Success
Different builds for different purposes
– Continuous integration build that only catches compile errors
can look for changes every few minutes
– Continuous integration build that deploys to DEV can be run
every 2 hours
– On-demand build to target QA can be triggered when
needed
Accelerated fix delivery
– From build record snapshot, can create a new fix workspace
within seconds
– Suspend and unload existing changes, then code the fix and
deliver to fix
– As soon as delivered, on-demand build can deploy changes
automatically to environment of choice
– Fantastically quick turnaround of fixes!
Hassle-free build and deploy using RTC
26. 26
How Did We Benefit?
Improving team efficiency
Using RTC client plug-in for Eclipse-based tooling supports
online and offline work
– Especially helpful when having many travelling developers
Fine grained control over which changes are
replicated/downloaded
Using one component per service was a good structure
– Good support of having development teams work concurrently on
different service implementations
Minimal delays to get changes to testers
Separate build streams for dedicated, continuous builds
– More build engines would have been beneficial
Shared build infrastructure meant developers didn’t maintain
their own
27. 27
How Did We Benefit?
Improving deliverable quality
Using a UML-based service model
– Visual representation used to communicate interface to the
development team
Component-based source control made developers think more
about how their code was structured
Automated build and deploy caught issues earlier
Handed over a fully automated and structured build and deploy
infrastructure along with the source code - to the benefit of the
maintenance team
28. 28
Final Thoughts
Session wrap-up
A large project, with a global team of developers and testers, required
global collaboration and cooperation
Tying individual development tools into one team environment, RTC,
facilitated sharing of artefacts and joint development of solutions
– Need good structure of streams and components, based on target
runtimes and team organization
Project management features of RTC allow direct integration of
planning activities with the developed artifacts
Continuous automated builds important enough to have a full time
release engineer
Using Eclipse as the foundation for all tooling makes it easier to
integrate different environments and target runtimes
You still need good developers and strong governance!
29. 29
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31. 31
Please Note
IBM's statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change
or withdrawal at IBM's sole discretion.
Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general
product direction and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.
The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a
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functionality described for our products remains at our sole discretion.
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benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance
that any user will experience will vary depending upon many factors, including
considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream,
the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed.
Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve results
similar to those stated here.
Editor's Notes
Used to implement architecture described in slide 4.
Jazz .. Open source… open platform… people can integrate with.
Show how requirements are identified from UI mockups, transalated to scenarios, scenarios are specified by each of integration and SAP stacks, designs are created for each of integration and SAP stacks, reviews ensure cross-stack integrity.
Show how requirements are identified from UI mockups, transalated to scenarios, scenarios are specified by each of integration and SAP stacks, designs are created for each of integration and SAP stacks, reviews ensure cross-stack integrity.
Show how requirements are identified from UI mockups, transalated to scenarios, scenarios are specified by each of integration and SAP stacks, designs are created for each of integration and SAP stacks, reviews ensure cross-stack integrity.
Show how requirements are identified from UI mockups, transalated to scenarios, scenarios are specified by each of integration and SAP stacks, designs are created for each of integration and SAP stacks, reviews ensure cross-stack integrity.
Show how requirements are identified from UI mockups, transalated to scenarios, scenarios are specified by each of integration and SAP stacks, designs are created for each of integration and SAP stacks, reviews ensure cross-stack integrity.
Show how design work identifies specific services for implementation, these are developed by distributed team, and integrations of the code are delivered to test team.
Mention RSA Design Manager as an alternative to collaborative sessions via LotusLive.
Describe how high-level design is used to come up with set of components across code and other artifacts.
Describe how combination of repo workspaces and streams allow team to work separately and share changes.
Describe how streams are created for each environment to allow changes to be promoted.
Describe how snapshots are used to track configurations of both design and code.
Describe how high-level design is used to come up with set of components across code and other artifacts.
Describe how combination of repo workspaces and streams allow team to work separately and share changes.
Describe how streams are created for each environment to allow changes to be promoted.
Describe how snapshots are used to track configurations of both design and code.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.
Nature of build problems in WMB different – dependencies, etc. Also many deploy time problems caught early – and there were many caused by the way the code had been configured to build.
Overriding properties in BAR files. Hugely important because we could be flexible about what environment we deployed into.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.
Describe continous integration build and all of its advantages.
Describe he features that build conductor provides off the shelf.
Describe other builds – and build conductors flexible reuse model.