Currently this is really my favourite topic! How can we enable organisations to exchange SysML data along the supply/development chain?

I am part of a ProStep Working Group that focues on this topics:  SysML Workflow Forum (SysML-WF)
This group focuses on defining Use Cases for SysML Interchange in the Automotive Industry.

One scenario: An OEM using Tool A wants to pass on a Module (with some  IP removed) to a supplier or engineering service provider with Tool B. At certain stages this model slice should be reintegrated into the Model in Tool A at the OEM.

According to the Standards it should work with XMI! Does it? – No it doesn’t – fine for RFI/RFP but not ready for the real world!
Thanks to OMG Miwg efforts things close to UML seem to work better than SysML specifics. The biggest problem is that it seems unreliable and you need expensive resources to validate the model is the same after the transfer from Tool A to Tool B.

And just to be clear this is a very different challenge than migrating the MBSE Data after you decide you will switch tools!

Possible way forward:

  • Start Small: <package><block>….
  • Users need to make SysML Exchange format a priority
  • Define a first subset fileformat for SysML Data to work for Supplier/Buyer exchange
  • Develop Addin/Addon for the tools to create a common file format optimized for the use case. More tolerant on Versions used….
  • for any rountrip attempts a UUID for elements is required
  • Stay away from the politics around XMI
  • Ignore Diagramming for phase 1

 

And yes I feel that you will need strong Diff and Merge capabilites when reintegrating Models back in you tool… … with our LemonTree we have a very good starting point for these challenges.