idef for the defense fair see international defence industry fair idef methods part of the systems engineers toolbox idef initially abbreviation of icam definition renamed in 1999 as integration definition refers to a family of modeling languages in the field of systems and software engineering they cover a wide range of uses from functional modeling to data simulation objectoriented analysisdesign and knowledge acquisition these definition languages were developed under funding from us air force and although still most commonly used by them as well as other military and united states department of defense dod agencies are in the public domain the mostwidely recognized and used components of the idef family are idef0 a functional modeling language building on sadt and idef1x which addresses information models and database design issues overview of idef methods idef refers to a family of modeling language which cover a wide range of uses from functional modeling to data simulation objectoriented analysisdesign and knowledge acquisition eventually the idef methods have been defined up to idef14 idef0 function modeling idef1 information modeling idef1x data modeling idef2 simulation model design idef3 process description capture idef4 objectoriented design idef5 ontology description capture idef6 design rationale capture idef7 information system auditing idef8 user interface modeling idef9 business constraint discovery idef10 implementation architecture modeling idef11 information artifact modeling idef12 organization modeling idef13 three schema mapping design idef14 network design in 1995 only the idef0 idef1x idef2 idef3 and idef4 had been developed in full the methods idef7 idef10 idef11 idef 12 and idef13 havent been developed any further than their initial definition history idef originally stood for icam definition initiated in the 1970s at the us air force materials laboratory wrightpatterson air force base in ohio by dennis e wisnosky dan l shunk and others the specific projects that produced idef were icam project priorities 111 and 112 later renumbered 1102 the subsequent integrated information support system iiss project priorities 6201 6202 and 6203 attempted to create an information processing environment that could be run in heterogeneous physical computing environments further development of idef occurred under those projects as a result of the experience gained from applications of the new modeling techniques the intent of the iiss efforts was to create generic subsystems that could be used by a large number of collaborating enterprises such as us defense contractors and the armed forces of friendly nations at the time of the icam 1102 effort there were numerous mostly incompatible data model methods for storing computer data sequential vsam hierarchical ims network cincoms total and codasyl and cullinets idms the relational data model was just emerging as a promising way of thinking about structuring data for easy efficient and accurate access relational database management systems had not yet emerged as a general standard for data management the icam program office deemed it valuable to create a neutral way of describing the data content of largescale systems the emerging academic literature suggested that methods were needed to process data independently of the way it was physically stored thus the idef1 language was created to allow a neutral description of data structures that could be applied regardless of the storage method or file access method idef1 was developed under icam program priority 1102 by dr robert r brown of the hughes aircraft company under contract to softech inc dr brown had previously been responsible for the development of ims while working at rockwell international rockwell chose not to pursue ims as a marketable product but ibm which had served as a support contractor during development subsequently took over the product and was successful in further developing it for market dr brown credits his hughes colleague mr timothy ramey as the inventor of idef1 as a viable formalism for modeling information structures the two hughes researchers built on ideas from and interactions with many luminaries in the field at the time in particular idef1 draws on the following techniques the evolving natural language information model enalim technique of dr g m nijssen control data corporation this technique is now more widely known as niam or the objectrole model orm the network data structures technique popularly called the codasyl approach of dr charles bachman honeywell information systems the hierarchical data management technique implemented in ibms ims data management system developed by dr r r brown rockwell international the relational approach to data of dr e f codd ibm the entityrelationship approach er of dr peter chen ucla the effort to develop idef1 resulted in both a new method for information modeling and an example of its use in the form of a reference information model of manufacturing this latter artifact was developed by d s coleman of the d appleton company dacom acting as a subcontractor to hughes and under the direction of mr ramey personnel at dacom became quite expert at idef1 modeling and subsequently produced a training course and accompanying materials for the idef1 modeling technique experience with idef1 revealed that the translation of information requirements into database designs was more difficult than had originally been anticipated the most beneficial value of the idef1 information modeling technique was its ability to represent data independent of how those data were to be stored and used it provided data modelers and data analysts with a way to represent data requirements during the requirementsgathering process this allowed designers to decide which dbms to use after the nature of the data requirements was understood and thus reduced the misfit between data requirements and the capabilities and limitations of the dbms the translation of idef1 models to database designs however proved to be difficult the idef modeling languages idef0 idef0 example of an idef0 diagram a function model of the process of maintaining reparable spares the idef0 functional modeling method is designed to model the decisions actions and activities of an organization or system idef1x idef1x example of an idef1x diagram to satisfy the data modeling enhancement requirements that were identified in the iiss6202 project a subcontractor dacom obtained a license to the logical database design technique lddt and its supporting software adam lddt had been developed in 1982 by robert g brown of the database design group entirely outside the idef program and with no knowledge of idef1 lddt combined elements of the relational data model the er model and generalization in a way specifically intended to support data modeling and the transformation of the data models into database designs the graphic syntax of lddt differed from that of idef1 and more importantly lddt contained interrelated modeling concepts not present in idef1 mary e loomis wrote a concise summary of the syntax and semantics of a substantial subset of lddt using terminology compatible with idef1 wherever possible dacom labeled the result idef1x and supplied it to the icam program because the idef program was funded by the government the techniques are in the public domain in addition to the adam software sold by dacom under the name leverage a number of case tools use idef1x as their representation technique for data modeling the iiss projects actually produced working prototypes of an information processing environment that would run in heterogeneous computing environments current advancements in such techniques as java and jdbc are now achieving the goals of ubiquity and versatility across computing environments which was first demonstrated by iiss idef2 and idef3 idef3 example of an enhanced transition schematic modelled with idef3 the third idef idef2 was originally intended as a user interface modeling method however since the integrated computeraided manufacturing icam program needed a simulation modeling tool the resulting idef2 was a method for representing the time varying behavior of resources in a manufacturing system providing a framework for specification of math model based simulations it was the intent of the methodology program within icam to rectify this situation but limitation of funding did not allow this to happen as a result the lack of a method which would support the structuring of descriptions of the user view of a system has been a major shortcoming of the idef system the basic problem from a methodology point of view is the need to distinguish between a description of what a system existing or proposed is supposed to do and a representative simulation model that will predict what a system will do the latter was the focus of idef2 the former is the focus of idef3 idef4 idef4 idef4 behavior diagram the development of idef4 came from the recognition that the modularity maintainability and code reusability that results from the objectoriented programming paradigm can be realized in traditional data processing applications the proven ability of the objectoriented programming paradigm to support data level integration in large complex distributed systems is also a major factor in the widespread interest in this technology from the traditional data processing community idef4 was developed as a design tool for software designers who use objectoriented languages such as the common lisp object system flavors smalltalk objectivec c and others since effective usage of the objectoriented paradigm requires a different thought process than used with conventional procedural or database languages standard methodologies such as structure charts data flow diagrams and traditional data design models hierarchical relational and network are not sufficient idef4 seeks to provide the necessary facilities to support the objectoriented design decision making process idef5 idef5 example of an idef5 composition schematic for a ballpoint pen idef5 or integrated definition for ontology description capture method is a software engineering method to develop and maintain usable accurate domain ontologies in the idef5 method an ontology is constructed by capturing the content of certain assertions about realworld objects their properties and their interrelationships and representing that content in an intuitive and natural form the idef5 method has three main components a graphical language to support conceptual ontology analysis a structured text language for detailed ontology characterization and a systematic procedure that provides guidelines for effective ontology capture idef6 idef6 idef6 model of idef4 design activities idef6 or integrated definition for design rationale capture is a method to facilitate the acquisition representation and manipulation of the design rationale used in the development of enterprise systems rationale is the reason justification underlying motivation or excuse that moved the designer to select a particular strategy or design feature more simply rationale is interpreted as the answer to the question why is this design being done in this manner most design methods focus on what the design is ie on the final product rather than why the design is the way it is idef6 will be a method that possesses the conceptual resources and linguistic capabilities needed to represent the nature and structure of the information that constitutes design rationale within a given system and to associate that rationale with design specifications models and documentation for the system idef6 is applicable to all phases of the information system development process from initial conceptualization through both preliminary and detailed design activities to the extent that detailed design decisions for software systems are relegated to the coding phase the idef6 technique should be usable during the software construction process as well idef8 idef8 or integrated definition for humansystem interaction design is a method for producing highquality designs of interactions between users and the systems they operate systems are characterized as a collection of objects that perform functions to accomplish a particular goal the system with which the user interacts can be any system not necessarily a computer program humansystem interactions are designed at three levels of specification within the idef8 method the first level defines the philosophy of system operation and produces a set of models and textual descriptions of overall system processes the second level of design specifies rolecentered scenarios of system use the third level of idef8 design is for humansystem design detailing at this level of design idef8 provides a library of metaphors to help users and designers specify the desired behavior in terms of other objects whose behavior is more familiar metaphors provide a model of abstract concepts in terms of familiar concrete objects and experiences idef9 typical business systems idef9 or integrated definition for business constraint discovery is designed to assist in the discovery and analysis of constraints in a business system a primary motivation driving the development of idef9 was an acknowledgment that the collection of constraints that forge an enterprise system is generally poorly defined the knowledge of what constraints exist and how those constraints interact is incomplete disjoint distributed and often completely unknown this situation is not necessarily alarming just as living organisms do not need to be aware of the genetic or autonomous constraints that govern certain behaviors organizations can and most do perform well without explicit knowledge of the glue that structures the system in order to modify business in a predictable manner however the knowledge of these constraints is as critical as knowledge of genetics is to the genetic engineer idef14 idef14 or integrated definition for network design method is a method that targets the modeling and design of computer and communication networks it can be used to model existing as is or envisioned to be networks it helps the network designer to investigate potential network designs and to document design rationale the fundamental goals of the idef14 research project developed from a perceived need for good network designs that can be implemented quickly and accurately data modeling entityrelationship model modeling language relational model structured analysis and design technique this article incorporatespublic domain material from the national institute of standards and technology website httpwwwnistgov ovidiu s noran 2000 business modelling uml vs idef paper griffith university wikimedia commons has media related to idef integrated definition methods data modeling the idef process modeling methodology by robert p hanrahan 1995 vtesoftware engineeringfields computer programming requirements engineering software deployment software design software maintenance software testing systems analysis formal methods concepts data modeling enterprise architecture functional specification modeling language orthogonality programming paradigm software software archaeology software architecture software configuration management software development methodology software development process software quality software quality assurance software verification and validation structured analysis orientations agile aspectoriented object orientation ontology service orientation sdlc modelsdevelopmental agile eup executable uml incremental model iterative model prototype model rad up scrum spiral model vmodel waterfall model xp other spice cmmi data model er model function model information model metamodeling object model systems model view model languages idef uml usl sysml softwareengineers victor basili kent beck grady booch fred brooks barry boehm peter chen danese cooper ward cunningham tom demarco edsger w dijkstra delores m etter martin fowler adele goldstine margaret hamilton c a r hoare lois haibt mary jean harrold grace hopper watts humphrey michael a jackson ivar jacobson alan kay nancy leveson stephen j mellor bertrand meyer david parnas trygve reenskaug winston w royce james rumbaugh mary shaw peri tarr elaine weyuker niklaus wirth edward yourdon related fields computer science computer engineering project management risk management systems engineering category commons 