Contribution of ISO/IEC 12207 (2008) for the use of UML

To represent information systems, several types of models (or product models) are developed. The complexity of an information system is such that it is necessary to combine several points of view with different levels of abstraction. Classically, we distinguish between functional, dynamic and ontological points of view, and conceptual, organizational, logical and physical levels. We are interested in the case where the software project to be carried out is integrated into a particular information system.

Family standards ISO 9000 : 2000 The latest revision of these standards dates from October 2015, and are the international benchmark for quality assurance. To facilitate their application, tool standards such as the ISO/IEC 12207 itself revised in 2008. We show how this standard applies the basic principles of quality assurance. The standard advocates a process approach. A "process" is defined as "a set of interrelated or interactive activities that transform inputs into outputs". In most cases, the output elements are product models. For several years now, we have been using the UML (Unified Modeling Language) to describe the various product models.

Implementation using the UML language is generally associated with the RUP (Rational Unified Process) process model. The use of "Agile" methodologies, which have been around since the early 1990s, has become widespread in digital services companies. These methodologies are independent of UML, which doesn't mean they don't allow the use of modeling tools. Among them, we have chosen to present Scrum and more specifically its process declination: the SBOK™ (Scrum Body of Knowledge) knowledge guide. RUP and SBOK™ are generic processes, i.e. they propose a common framework to be adapted according to the project being handled. We show that each of them corresponds to a particular implementation of the standard ISO/IEC 12207 .

In version 2.5, UML offers 14 different diagram types. The corollary of this richness of representation is the difficulty of implementation: which diagram to choose? How to use the various associated modeling elements, depending on the point of view and level of abstraction? What is the objective of using UML: "sketch" mode to communicate certain aspects of the system, or "plan" mode to prepare code generation? Whatever the case, the aim of this modeling effort is to improve the quality of the software produced by improving the quality of its production mode.

In this article, we focus on the types of product models developed with UML that can be built for each activity in the...