ARTiSAN Software Tools launches ARTiSAN Studio 6.2

Jointly specified by the Object Management Group (OMG) and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), SysML is a general purpose graphical modelling language for developing complex systems. By reusing a subset of the UML 2.1 and extending it to meet the explicit needs of system engineers, it represents the natural evolution of existing UML techniques into an internationally adopted standard.

ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 provides complete support for SysML. Making use of its powerful Ergonomic Profiling capability, ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 incorporates a comprehensive SysML Profile that supports the four pillars of SysML – system requirements, behaviour, structure and parametric relationships – and is aligned to the very latest OMG SysML specification, reflecting refinements made by the OMG Finalization Task Force. The ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 SysML Profile directly supports core SysML elements including blocks, item flows, ports and port flows, adding appropriate new commands, explorer panes and toolbars to the menus.

Importantly, the SysML implementation in ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 allows engineers to work with SysML elements and diagrams as new element types and not just as stereotyped UML types, resulting in faster recognition, better usability and ease-of-adoption without compromising compliance to the standard. Engineers also have the unique ability to browse SysML elements and their relationship to other model elements using the new SysML explorer panes. Furthermore, SysML constraints are checked automatically to ensure models and diagrams remain consistent with one another and that they conform to the standard.

Facilitated by the support of the Requirements Diagrams in SysML, ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 also provides a significantly improved, model-driven requirements traceability and impact analysis capability especially for safety-critical applications. This capability is based on the formal integration of TNI-Software’s Reqtify requirements traceability technology into ARTiSAN Studio following the partnership between the two companies announced last year.

In a radical step for a repository-based software development tool complicated by the complex inter-relationships involved with models, ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 also incorporates advanced model and configuration management (CM) capabilities that have been added in support of multi-user and team-based, model-driven code generation and synchronisation. Private sandbox technology improvements have been introduced to facilitate parallel model development enabling multiple engineers to work in isolation on the same model using a new merge engine to synchronise and resolve conflicts using optimistic configuration management techniques. The new private sandbox technology understands the complexity of models and supports the finest model granularity to minimise potential conflicts, automatically maintain consistent models, and minimise redundant data storage. Improvements have also been made to the model management and CM capabilities in ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 to make the review and audit processes more model-friendly especially with regard to change tracking, model versioning, model import and export, models in models, differencing and component sharing.

ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 also includes a variety of infrastructure, usability and performance improvements. Enhanced XMI 2.1 functionality is included to improve the exchange of data between UML modelling tools and metadata repositories, the constraint model is further realigned with UML 2.1. Further advanced UML 2.1 graphical notation options for stereotypes have also been added. Highly functional XMI support coupled with its powerful Ergonomic Profiling capability is important to ARTiSAN Studio’s role as the development platform of choice for the emerging UML-based languages such as DoDAF, MODAF, AUTOSAR, Enterprise Architectures, BPMN and SysML and within the context of the Eclipse ‘ecosystem’, an emerging tool framework for plug-in development. ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 also incorporates performance improvements especially in relation to the development of large, complex models and the IT administration overheads in relation to large team deployment have been significantly reduced with the inclusion of remote installation and active directory support. Usability is also being maintained with a move towards a Windows Vista look-and-feel.

Commenting on the launch of ARTiSAN Studio 6.2, Jeremy Goulding, President and CEO of ARTiSAN Studio said: “With our comprehensive support for OMG SysML and the improvements in the private sandbox technology in support of parallel model development in multi-user and team based scenarios, version 6.2 represents a significant new release of ARTiSAN Studio. The new capabilities we are introducing will undoubtedly reinforce ARTiSAN Studio’s status as the market-leading tool for UML-based systems and software engineering and the development environment of choice for deployment of complex systems modelling projects.”

ARTiSAN Studio 6.2 will be available in Q2 2007 and the new SysML Profile requires no additional licensing.