Abstract: With all the IBM Rational System Architect XT customizations in place, this whitepaper will show you how to create a complete Enterprise Architect Web Site. Content: This white paper starts with an insight into Rational System Architect and System Architect XT and proceeds to provide instructions on setting up the integration. The paper further explains how to customize Rational System Architect XT web pages to get customized reports and its usage at different levels in an enterprise.

1. Generating Customized
Rational System Architect XT Website
(IBM Rational System Architect and IBM Rational System Architect XT)
G Kiran Kumar Singh
Page 1 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

2. September 13, 2010
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ 3
INSIGHT TO RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT AND SYSTEM ARCHITECT -
XT............................................................................................................. 4
RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT.......................................................................... 4
RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT XT (EXTENDED TEAM) .............................................. 4
INSTALLATION OF RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT .................................................... 5
INSTALLATION OF RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT XT................................................ 5
SETTING UP INTEGRATION BETWEEN SA AND SA-XT................................................ 6
RATIONAL SYSTEM ARCHITECT XT CUSTOMIZATION ............................... 7
OVERALL STEPS TO CUSTOMIZE THE CONFIGURATION FILE......................................... 7
CUSTOMIZING REPORT GENERATED USING REPORT GENERATOR ................................... 8
CUSTOMIZING THE LINKS BOX ........................................................................ 11
CUSTOMIZING COMMERCIAL QUESTIONS PAGE ..................................................... 13
CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................ 15
REFERENCES .......................................................................................... 16
Page 2 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

3. Introduction
This white paper starts with an insight into Rational System Architect and System
Architect-XT (SA-XT) and proceeds to provide instructions on setting up the
integration.
Further it explains how to customize SA - XT web pages to get customized reports
and its usage at different levels in an enterprise.
Based on what users need Enterprise Architecture can typically be classified into
two user groups:
Co-located enterprise architecture teams that need a solution to support:
 Complex modeling
 Simulation
 Execution
and
Extended teams that require:
 Architecture analysis
 Custom reporting and
 Lightweight modification in real time
The Rational System Architect XT and Rational System Architect solutions address
all aspects of an organization’s enterprise architecture from modeling to
publishing, analysis, and execution.
This white paper examines the strong support that System Architect-XT provides
to enhance the positives of web based application.
This white paper discusses various SA-XT customization options according to the
profile of every requirement and presents the architecture to users in sessions
configurable to their role and analysis needs.
Page 3 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

4. Insight to Rational System Architect and System
Architect - XT
Rational System Architect
IBM Rational System Architect enables organizations to plan, control, streamline -
- and innovate. Drive better-informed decisions and deliver innovation your
customers demand with enterprise architecture solutions from IBM.
Rational System Architect XT (Extended Team)
IBM Rational System Architect XT is Web-based enterprise architecture (EA) and
business process reporting platform that works in conjunction with Rational
System Architect. These two solutions share a common repository, enabling
complete enterprise support for your actionable architecture. Because these
solutions work together, extended teams have assurances that the data they are
working with is accurate and current. The Rational System Architect XT and
Rational System Architect solutions address all aspects of an organization’s
enterprise architecture from modeling to publishing, analysis, and execution.
The Rational System Architect XT environment provides the extended team with
the analytical tools they need to:
 Analyze and maintain the enterprise architecture repository in real time
through a Web-based interface
 Leverage pre-defined templates to promote effective decision-making at all
levels of the organization
 Personalize sessions for easy data access
 Minimize user training and eliminate client installation (server installation
only)
 Configure the user interface and navigation browser
 Support existing System Architect repositories
 Provide role-based access to control viewing and update usage
Page 4 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

5. The IBM Rational System Architect XT environment enables an organization to
share its architecture across the enterprise. Subject matter experts and business
professionals can now view, in real time, their own specific architecture artifacts.
Where appropriate, users can update the architecture through a Web browser,
minimizing the need for enterprise-wide tool training and deployment. Because
Rational System Architect XT uses encrypted HTTP (HTTPS) and supports Unicode
characters, an organization can share its architecture over an intranet or the
Internet, helping to create a global decision support platform for extended teams.
Installation of Rational System Architect
 Download the installer for Rational System Architect 11.3.1.1 using the link
below: http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
 Click on the MSI to install
 Get a valid license from the License Key Center:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/support/licensing/
Installation of Rational System Architect XT
 Download the installer for Rational System Architect XT 11.3.1.1 using the link
below: http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
 Click on Setup.exe to install
 Get valid license from the License Key Center:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/support/licensing/
Page 5 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

6. Setting up integration between SA and SA-XT
Rational System Architect XT (SA-XT) requires that the same version of Rational
System Architect (SA) be installed on a different computer on the network, as
shown in the figure below. The Rational System Architect XT installation also
installs Rational System Architect Catalog Manager. SA Catalog Manager can be
run from the Rational System Architect XT machine (A) or from the computer in
which standard Rational System Architect is installed (C).
Note: An alternate configuration to that shown above is to install Rational System
Architect XT (A) on the same computer as the SQL Server/Oracle database (B);
such a configuration yields optimum performance, but is not required.
Page 6 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

7. Rational System Architect XT Customization
The following section talks about generic steps to be followed for Rational System
Architect XT customization. Also gives examples for customizing “Latest Additions
Box”, “Links Box” and “Commercial questions page”.
Overall Steps to Customize the Configuration File
The steps below provide a high-level view of the tasks you need to perform to
modify the default home page of your Rational System Architect XT website. You
can use these general techniques to modify the components listed in the Related
Links section at the bottom of this page.
1. Make a copy of a Configuration File present in the subfolder
<C>:Program FilesTelelogicRational System Architect XT
SuiteSAXTPagefiles. You should save your custom Configuration Files to
the same subfolder above so your file(s) appear as options that you can
select from the Select page configuration file drop-down field.
2. Using your XML editor of choice, open your copy of the Configuration File.
3. Modify or create new components on the page (you can click on the links
to samples components at the bottom of this topic).
4. Save your Configuration File.
5. Launch and login to the Rational System Architect XT website, for example
http://<machinename>/saxt.
Page 7 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

8. Customizing report generated using Report Generator
The Internal Reporting System of Rational System Architect offers a graphical
user interface to build your own reports, or modify existing ones.
The user interface enables you to navigate the Rational System Architect
metamodel, and build reports that are written in a SQL-based language.
Although the graphical user interface is easy to use, in order to write a
complicated report, some knowledge of the encyclopedia metamodel and
underlying semantic relationships is generally necessary.
Menu Option in Rational System Architect: Reports > Report Generator
Note: Rational System Architect Report Generator-Text Edit can be used to
customize the Rational System Architect XT Web Pages. Further in this document
we will understand as to where we can make use of the report generated and how
they can be reflected on SA-XT Web pages.
Page 8 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

9. Customizing the Latest Additions Box in Home Page
The Latest Additions box is a grid style view of the latest objects added to the
encyclopedia. The information presented is gathered by a report that runs when
the home page is loaded. The Latest Additions box appears on the home page as
follows:
The code section below shows an example of adding a “Latest Addition Box” the
name of the new box being “Process Models”.
Note: The below mentioned code is edited in the file: Commercial.XML which can
be found in folder “<Install Directory>SAXTpagefiles”. Also you may add
multiple reports which will be displayed in the Rational System Architect XT Home
page)
Page 9 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

10. <component name="Process Models" type="Report" class="boxSmall"
header="Process Models" style="width:335px;height:240px" allowedit="y"
limit="10">
<settings>
SETTING { DECIMALSEPARATOR "." }
SETTING { LISTSEPARATOR "," }
SETTING { MEASUREMENT English }
</settings>
<fields>
FIELD "Formatted Initial Date" { SOURCE PROPERTY "Initial
Date" LENGTH 10 TYPE DATE }
FIELD "Formatted Initial Time" { SOURCE PROPERTY "Initial
Time" LENGTH 10 TYPE TIME }
</fields>
<report>
SELECT "Name", "Type" ,"Audit"
WHERE Class = Diagram
WHERE "Type Number" = 142
ORDERBY "Name"
</report>
</component>
Page 10 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

11. Customizing the Links Box
The Linksbox component contains button-style links. By default, all buttons
except Create my Own Question/Query target link to Page components within
pagegen.aspx. You can easily add your own buttons and have them link to either
hidden page components, or to entirely different pages.
The appearance and placement of the Links box component is defined by its class
name boxSmall left. On the home page, the Site Management box is to the right
of the Link Box. The class name is boxSmall right. The code shown below is an
example for adding a new link box by name “My custom Questions”.
Note: The below mentioned code is edited in the file: Commercial.XML which can
be found in folder “<Install Directory>SAXTpagefiles”)
<pages>
<page name="home">
<componentname="Link1"type="Link"class="boxSmall
left"style="height:150px"format="Button">
linktarget="pagegen.aspx?page=commercialquestions"label="COMMER
CIAL QUESTIONS"/>
<linktarget="pagegen.aspx?page=healthofarchitecturequestions"la
bel="HEALTH OF ARCHITECTURE"/>
<linktarget="query.aspx"label="CREATE MY OWN
QUESTION/QUERY"newpage="Y"/>
<linktarget="pagegen.aspx?page=browser"label="Rational System
Architect XT Browser"/>
</page>
</pages>
Page 11 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

12. Page 12 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

13. Customizing Commercial Questions Page
The Commercial Questions page is a component inside of the commercial.xml file.
It contains multiple questions, grouped by modeling domain, that are critical to
the enterprise. The defence.xml file has an equivalent component, named
Defence Questions, which is grouped by Operational, System and Technology
Views. Each question is basically a pre-written report that queries the
encyclopedia currently in view.
The inks in the Questions box send the reportfile, reportname, and stylesheet
values to the getpage.aspx file, which runs the report and displays the result in a
secondary window. The sample Questions box shown below, with the header label
'PROCESS' is from the Configuration File commercial.xml file.
The Snippet below shows a sample example for the same:
<page name="commercialquestions">
…………………………
<component name="Models for Managers" type="Link" class="boxLarge"
header="Organizational Models for Manager" format="Table"
newpage="Y">
<link
target="ip/getpage.aspx?reportfile=Enterprise_Questions&amp;reportnam
e=Management Diagram&amp;DDID=&amp;stylesheet=/stylesheets/Linked
tables.xsl" label="Mgmt Diagrams"/>
</component>
...............................
</page>
The report for the above snippet must be placed in the report specified in the
above report file. (Enterprise_Questions.RPT). All the .RPT files are placed in the
location <C>:Program FilesIBMRationalSystem Architect Suite11.3.1System
ArchitectSAXT PublisherReports.
Page 13 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

14. The screen below shows the snippet of the Enterprise_Questions.RPT file:
Page 14 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

15. Conclusions
Tools like Rational System Architect and Rational System Architect XT have
proven successful in many different industries individually and as integration as
well. They complement each other’s capabilities.
With all the customizations in place, a complete Enterprise Architect Web Site can
be created.
A few other benefits gained through the customization are:
1. Avoid browsing through the normal tree structure in Explorer and reach
the frequently used diagrams/definitions in a quick/easier way.
2. Create a link to existing reports and get the refreshed data every time you
access the link.
Hence customization provides a great deal of user friendly WebPages to help use
the abilities of the tool to a better extent.
Page 15 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”

16. References
The following were used in references or as other sources of information
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/systemarchitect/
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/systemarchitect/xt/
Page 16 of 16 “Rational Support Whitepaper”