Models and Transformations in MDA

Model driven architecture (MDA) is a software design approach initiated by OMG. Models, Modeling, and model driven architecture are the basis for a set of software development approaches known as model-driven development (MDD). Models are the central artifacts in MDA, which aim at transformation from platform independent to platform dependent models, and eventually to executable source code. Therefore, model transformation plays key roles in making MDA successful. The effective application of the MDA based software development approach subscribes to automated execution of software model transformations. This paper highlights various classifications and salient features of prominent model transformation approaches for transforming PIM to PSM and provides an insight into the complete transformation process with the help of a real-life example. A summary of rules of transforming UML class model into EJB specific model is also given.