Popkin update meets DOD framework

Popkin Software announced this week that System Architect, its flagship modeling tool that supports the development of enterprise systems, now supports the Defense Department's C4ISR framework.

C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) poses several interoperability issues, but the latest extension to System Architect offers complete support for operational, systems and technology modeling to produce required C4ISR applications at the enterprise or project level, said David Rice, principal consultant for New York City-based Popkin. The company described the new feature at the E-Gov 2001 conference in Washington, D.C.

System Architect offers a customizable set of modeling notations and methods and a set of diagrams that enable federal agencies to view the entire enterprise from various business perspectives.

The product integrates the development cycle into one process: from high-level business objectives and organizational makeup, through event-driven business process and function modeling to the design of the applications and databases.

Rice said a number of agencies, including the Transportation Department, are using System Architect to help them comply with the Clinger-Cohen Act, which requires agencies to implement enterprise architecture.

To help federal agencies and government contractors understand the benefits of enterprise architecture within the C4ISR standard, Popkin last week launched a Web site (www.government.popkin.com) that features information and case studies on how System Architect can help government agencies.

System Architect licenses start at $3,295, with an optional extension for the DOD's C4ISR Versions 2.0/2.1, available in August, Rice said.