Analysing component properties

Started by chriswarbs, September 14, 2018, 09:47:48 AM

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chriswarbs

Hello,

One of the things I use EA tools for is lifecycle analysis. With Archie I'm mastering vendor lifecycle dates as standard properties on relevant components (eg. system software, devices). Within Archi this isn't massively useful, it's just a convenient place to manage the information.

Ultimately I use this information in gantt charts to show the amount of lifecycle risk underpinning a business process or capability.

What I'm looking for is advice on how best to extract just this information in a tabular format.

I could use the CSV export, import into a spreadsheet/database and then write a spreadsheet or database query to produce the information I want.
Another possibility is to use jArchi to parse the models directly.

I've not written any proper code for 20 years, shell script and perl are simple enough, but I don't fancy learning Javascript just to do this...on the flipside though, if I can make better use or component properties, I would use them extensively (eg. business fit, cost modelling, etc).

Really interested in thoughts on the best approach here.

(I've used a number of commercial EA tools in the past, that can do the above, however I much prefer the simplicity of Archi).

cheers

Chris

Phil Beauvoir

Putting aside the use case, can you say what the mechanics of this is are in simple terms? For example - "select specific properties and display them in tabular format / other format, given criteria x and y".
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chriswarbs

I think there's two steps to this, the selection of the components and then the output format.

Because I want to load the data into another tool, like excel, in the short term I can do the selection/lookup in that tool..

so initially I just want to be able to:

for all system software, display/export "component name, vendor, eol date, eos date"
where the last 3 fields are my custom properties.

eg:

"Oracle 5, Oracle, 1/1/1995, 1/1/1999"
"Windows 7, Microsoft, 1/1/2005, 1/1/2007"
...

If I wanted to achieve the above now, I 'think' I would need to merge two of the exported CSV files, identify the reference ID for each component, then identify the properties of that component...it doesn't sound like a complex program, doable in a spreadsheet, but more flexible directly in jarchi...

What I'm not trying to do is use custom properties to make the selection easier (eg. properties like "Used by:Finance", "Used by:HR") that's the role of the model :)

It would be great to be able to parse the model and only show say the system software used to realise applications that are in use in finance - but that's a proper programming exercise, especially if the metamodel used is not consistent and strictly enforced.

I'm just trying to weigh up where to start....excel or jarchi

cheers

Chris

Jean-Baptiste Sarrodie

Hi,

Yes, this is a really simple jArchi use-case.

Basically this leads to this script:

console.show();
console.clear();
$("system-software").each(function(e) {
   console.log(e.name, ",", e.prop("vendor"), ",", e.prop("eol date"), ",", e.prop("eos date"))
})


Of course, with this simple version you have to then copy/paste the result to a file that you'll then open in Excel, but that's the price to pay for simplicity.

Regards,

JB
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chriswarbs

Thanks very much for that, it looks very simple - simpler than spreadsheet  :)

I'll give it whirl on Monday....my archi needs upgrading so I'll get the plug-in.

cheers

Chris