Introducing Brownfield - Part Two

The underlying conceptual architecture of all Brownfield tooling is known as VITA. VITA stands for Views, Inventory, Transformations and Artifacts. In a VITA architecture, the problem definition of the target space can be maintained as separate (though related) native "headfulls" of knowledge known as Views. The core advantage of a View is that it can be based on pretty much any formal tool. Brownfield does not impose a single tool or language on a problem space – a core tenet is that the headfulls continue to be maintained in their native forms and tools. Views can currently be imported from a wide variety of sources including code, configuration files, UML, XML, DDL, databases and spreadsheets.
These native Views are then brought together and linked into a single Inventory underpinned by semantic technologies. The Inventory is analyzed via automated, semi-automated and manual techniques to create further viewpoints at varying levels of abstraction. Unlike Greenfield abstractions, these are built from the ground up, not top down. Extracts from this Inventory are then used with a series of Transformation tools which work at varying levels of abstraction to produce the Artifacts that the solution needs. Conventional model and pattern driven development techniques are used to complete the forward engineering of the new solution. In addition to code and models, this technique can also create abstract, but now precise documentation such as system contexts or component models. The technique has even enabled multi-layered, precise, yet easy to understand visualisations to be automatically created and shared in new real-time community environments like Second Life as shown in the video below:

The rapid cyclic nature of the discovery, re-engineer, generate and test cycle used in Brownfield Development means that solutions can be refined iteratively in terms of their logical and physical definitions as more of the constraints become known and the solution architecture is refined. This results in development acceleration, improved solution quality and cheaper defect removal. In addition, the ability to identify smaller coherent elements that are amenable to change means that wholesale replacement or transformation of systems is often not necessary, enabling incremental change and a gradual reduction in overall complexity.