UNICOM® System Architect® now supports sysML®

The market-leading enterprise architecture tool now also supports the important Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) standard

Mission Hills, CA, October 21, 2021 – UNICOM Systems, Inc., a division of UNICOM® Global, has announced support for sysML® – the Systems Modeling language – in its market-leading architecture tool, System Architect®. The support is provided in the base product, without need for an add-on. Users may now use the popular engineering standard, produced and managed by the Object Management Group (OMG), to build designs of systems – and systems of systems (SOS) – using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) capabilities. They may do so within the same repository that they build data-driven enterprise architectures using popular frameworks such as DoDAF 2, TOGAF®, and ArchiMate®.

Along with support for sysML, System Architect has new, detailed support for UML 2.5, the latest version of the Unified Modeling Language standard for software design. System Architect’s longstanding support for UML 2.0 is still available, labeled UML 2 Lite.

“We see a lot of organizations needing to tie their Enterprise Architecture to solution designs,” said Lou Varveris, Director of Product Management for UNICOM Systems. “While enterprise architects like to model in the business language of frameworks such as TOGAF, DoDAF, and ArchiMate, solution designers and systems engineers prefer the precise expressions provided by sysML, and software architects prefer UML.”

“Being able to do all modeling in the same tool enables better traceability between enterprise architecture and the designs of the systems and software that make it run,” explained Mr Varveris, “And it leads to better communication and decision-making all around.”

MBSE with sysML being used to architect complex systems MBSE with sysML is being used successfully to design sophisticated systems such as the F-35 fighter jet, where tracing system design to requirements is essential. To enable that endeavor, System Architect supports Open Service Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC), the REST standard that allows easy linking and traceability between the architecture and related requirements in tools such as IBM® DOORS®. UNICOM Systems has recently enhanced its OSLC functionality in System Architect by adding support for the Global Configuration Management standard for OSLC.

sysML is being offered in a staged approach. Version 11.4.9 of System Architect, released in October 2021, supports the entirety of the complex sysML metamodel, static diagram types such as Block Definition Diagrams (BDDs), Internal Block Diagrams, and Package Diagrams, and the dynamic Sequence Diagram with all of the sophisticated notations that sysML derives from UML 2.5.

System Architect’s support is for sysML 1.6, the latest version of the standard. UNICOM Systems intends to support version 2.0 of the standard after it is ratified by the Object Management Group. sysML and UML 2.5 models may be built in both the System Architect rich client and SA XT – the thin web browser client.

“System Architect has always been the perfect systems design tool, because of its underlying database repository, customizable metamodel that can be altered to capture any concept that presents itself, and its built-in reporting engine that allows easy analysis and communication of designs,” said Mr. Varveris. “When you add to that the web drawing capabilities and dashboards of SA XT – systems engineers and solution architects now have a very powerful weapon to get their job done and be successful. And enterprise architects will benefit from that as well.”

sysML Block Diagram and Sequence Diagram for an AI Robot, in System Architect

About System Architect System Architect® is a long-time market leader in the Enterprise Architecture and Defense Architecture domains, utilized by customers to build data-driven views of their organization's strategy, capabilities, business architecture, operational architecture, data, application landscape, supporting systems, services, technologies, and infrastructure. Built-in reporting enables customers to gain insight and analytics necessary to describe current and future states of the enterprise along with interdependencies, risks, life cycles, and standards. SA XT is the web-browser thin-client sister product, offering many of the capabilities of rich client System Architect, and in addition providing reporting dashboards. System Architect is available from UNICOM’s TeamBLUE™ division. Formed from several key acquisitions, TeamBLUE brings a blend of world-class solutions and teams together with a common culture and history of customer success.