Integrating Software Architecture into a MDA Framework

Model Driven Development (MDD) is one of the main trends in Software Engineering nowadays. Its main feature is to consider models as first-class concepts. Model Driven Architecture (MDA), the MDD proposal by the OMG, defines an infrastructure which considers models at three different levels of abstraction, namely Computer-Independent Model (CIM), Platform-Independent Model (PIM) and Platform-Specific Model (PSM). Although it is becoming ever more important, the MDA approach has still some gaps. In our opinion, the lack of an adequate support for architectural design has been, ironically, one of its main drawbacks. MIDAS is an specific Model Driven Architecture for Web Information Systems (WIS) Development. It proposes to model a WIS by considering three different viewpoints, namely Content, Hypertext and Behaviour Viewpoints, which are orthogonal to MDA abstraction levels. In this paper, we propose to extend MIDAS by integrating architectural design aspects. Software architecture is therefore conceived as an crosscutting perspective, which is in turn orthogonal to those three viewpoints. MDA abstraction levels are still considered, and therefore both Platform-Independent Architecture and Platform-Specific Architecture models are defined. This approach, named Architecture-Centric Model-Driven Architecture (ACMDA), has several advantages, as it allows architectural design to benefit from the adaptability and flexibility of an MDD process; and on the other hand it extends MDA philosophy by integrating true architectural concerns, effectively turning it into an Architecture-Centric Model-Driven Development (ACMDD) process.