DoDAF Viewpoints and Models
Data and Information Viewpoint
DIV-1: Conceptual Data Model
The DIV-1, a new DoDAF-described Model in DoDAF V2.0, addresses the information concepts at a high-level on an operational architecture.
The DIV-1 is used to document the business information requirements and structural business process rules of the architecture. It describes the information that is associated with the information of the architecture. Included are information items, their attributes or characteristics, and their inter-relationships.
The intended usage of the DIV-1 includes:
- Information requirements
- Information hierarchy
Detailed Description:
The DIV-1 DoDAF-described Model describes the structure of an Architectural Description domain's information types and the structural business process rules (defined in the OV Models).
The Architectural elements for DIV-1 include descriptions of information entity and relationship types. Attributes can be associated with entities and with relationships, depending on the purposes of the Architectural Description.
The intention is that DIV-1 describes information or data of importance to the business (e.g., information products that might be referred to in doctrine, SOPs, etc.) whereas the DIV-3 Physical Data Model describes data relevant at the system-level.
The purpose of a given Architectural Description helps to determine the level of detail needed in this model. This level of detail is driven in particular by the criticality of the interoperability requirements.
Often, different organizations may use the same Entity name to mean very different kinds of information having different internal structure. This situation could pose significant interoperability risks, as the information models may appear to be compatible, e.g., each having a Target Track data Entity, but having different and incompatible interpretations of what Target Track means.
A DIV-1 may be necessary for interoperability when shared information syntax and semantics form the basis for greater degrees of information systems interoperability, or when an information repository is the basis for integration and interoperability among business activities and between capabilities.
The DIV-1 defines the Architectural Description's information classes and the relationships among them. For example, if the architecture effort is describing missile defense, some possible information classes may be trajectory and target with a relationship that associates a target with a certain trajectory. The DIV-1 defines each kind of information classes associated with the Architectural Description scope, mission, or business as its own Entity, with its associated attributes and relationships. These Entity definitions correlate to OV-2 Operational Resource Flow Description information elements and OV-5b Operational Activity Model inputs, outputs, and controls.
The DIV-1 should not be confused with the DoDAF Meta-model. Architectural data types for the DoDAF (i.e., DoDAF-defined architectural data elements and DM2 entities) are things like Performer and Operational Activity. The DM2 does provide a specification of the underlying semantics for DoDAF-described Models such as DIV-1. DIV-1 describes information about a specific Architectural Description scope.
DIV-1: Conceptual Data Model
DIV-2: Logical Data Model
DIV-3: Physical Data Model