Conceptual Data Modeling for the Functional Decomposition of Mission Capabilities

Abstract

AbstractTo have a complete understanding of implementation‐agnostic functional decompositions of mission capabilities, the data elements consumed and produced by functions must be captured and explained. This paper details a method employing a conceptual data modeling approach to formally document data elements and the interactions between those elements with a structured data architecture. This approach uses the concepts of entities, relationships, and the observable characteristics of those entities and relationships to clearly define the context of the data interchanges and represents the interchanges through different views of the conceptual data model. An example of developing a conceptual data model including views using the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACETM) data architecture is demonstrated. Finally, the data model and functional decomposition are linked together to give a complete context for the mission capability. The process of developing and linking to the data model improves the functional decomposition and enables communication of decomposition context.