System Lifecycle and Evolution

Abstract

A complete methodology is not just an ontology and a set of notations. It prescribes a system whose function is supporting the lifecycle and evolution of an artificial system. There is confusion regarding the various terms that pertain to this issue. Most methods refer to the development of software systems, called the “Software Process”, where there is a consensus that development entails analysis, design and implementation. OPM considers development as just one (albeit a central one) of three processes, the other two being initiating and deploying. This chapter introduces the architecture — the combination of structure and behavior through interacting objects — that comprises the objects and the processes that affect them, to attain the entire system function. We do this by way of presenting a set of OPDs and discussing their content using OPL. Since the architecture is aimed to be as general as possible, this chapter may seem abstract in first reading. The description of the System Lifecycle and Evolution system is probably initially quite vague. However, as we move forward and drill down to increase the level of detail of the system specification, the specification of the system’s architecture gets less fuzzy and more concrete. This chapter discusses system lifecycle and applies OPM to describe the lifecycle and evolution of artificial systems.

There is a perfectly killing little place that I want to show you, Anne. It wasn’t built by a millionaire. It’s the first place after you leave the park, and must have grown while Spofford Avenue was still a country road. It did grow — it was’t built! Anne of the Island by Lucy M. Montgomery