Government/Military Trends
DoD Launches JTAonline A New Tool to Streamline the JTA Development Process
 |
| Issue Table of Contents |
|
|
Keeping the Joint Technical Architecture (JTA) current is an immense undertaking. With over 200 pages being updated regularly by different areas of the Department of Defense (DoD) including army, navy, and air force, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest information. Just keeping track of change requests and suggestions can be a monumental task. The new JTAonline database, developed by the JTA Secretariat, was created to support the continuing evolution of the DoD's JTA and automate all of its processes.
"Initially, we managed the JTA and had crude tools to handle change requests, etc.," explains Philip Maisel, JTAonline Task Manager, JTA Secretariat Team ARTEL, Inc. located in Reston, VA. "The government wanted to improve the process, put it on the web and encourage collaboration amongst the groups involved in the development process." The JTAonline consists of a collection of web-based applications and supports all aspects of the DoD JTA - from document development to daily usage and compliance guidance.
The JTAonline was created to develop a common automated tool to support developers and users of the JTA. The JTA itself provides DoD systems with the basis for seamless interoperability. It defines the JTA services and standards applicable to DoD information technology (IT) systems. The JTA is mandated for the management, development and acquisition of new or improved IT systems throughout the DoD. As with the technology it represents, the JTA document is constantly evolving.
"Two large areas my organization has been concentrating on to streamline the JTA process is a change request tool to help manage the process of changes to the JTA document and a profiling tool which allows the user to create an IT profile," comments Maisel.
Change Requests Tool. Anyone who uses the JTA document can submit a change request to propose a new standard, delete a standard, or change text, a paragraph, a section, or an appendix in the JTA. This tool is designed to accept these requests during an "author period" as defined in the Development Schedule on the DoD JTA web site at http://www-jta.itsi.disa.mil. The Change Request Tool provides the format for submitting proposed changes.
Profiling Tool. An Information Technology (IT) Profile is a collection of standards that may be related in any way the user deems fit. The user may choose to group the standards in various ways. A Generic Profile is a predefined JTAonline profile that provides services and interfaces that are common among systems. A System Profile is a collection of one or more IT Profiles.
"The ability to build a profile is what makes this an extremely powerful tool," comments Maisel. "A profile is a list of standards that you need to provide a function. For example, if you're building an airplane and one of the functions you need to concentrate on is communications, you may want to build an IT profile to handle just the communications standards. You might keep this profile grouped with other profiles that all pertain to that same airplane. In this way, the next time you want to build that plane, you've already identified the standards and have them listed in an IT profile."
Other functions the JTAonline offers include:
- Search allows the user to search all versions of the JTA for a list of JTA section references; search the standards database on search fields they select, resulting in a list of standards that meet the criteria. The user can also browse an entire JTA version, select sections to review, and add standards to their IT Profile.
- Online Voting between meetings is a capability used by the JTA Development Group to discuss proposed changes and to vote on them remotely. The tool tracks the current vote status and provides a vote history for each change request.
- Newsgroups offer the opportunity to exchange information and ideas on JTA topics, the tools, or issues themselves. Categories are set up to correspond to sections of the JTA document.
"The JTAonline has provided a more controlled environment, whereby the information is always available and the database is always current," comments Maisel. "This has definitely helped manage the process of change and made it easier for end users, such as program managers and system designers to comply." The JTAonline is a better, more efficient answer to the updating, maintenance and compliance with the JTA. By providing faster access to the precise information developers and users need, this tool will assist the defense community in getting closer to its goal of seamless interoperability. 2
2 Primary Source: ARTEL, Inc. is a support contractor to the Department of Information Standards Association (DISA) on the joint services engineering contract.