OVERVIEW AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
THE SE/CM PERSPECTIVE 
TIPSTER SE/CM 
TIPSTER @TIPS TER. o r g 
THE SE/CM PROCESS 
The SE/CM process, which is part of the 
overall TIPSTER program, includes the 
following responsibilities: 
• Track Application Conformance with 
the Architecture 
and the lessons learned are fed back into the 
Architecture for the purpose of refining those 
details which have been determined and 
specifying those interfaces which remain under 
specified. These changes are being managed by a 
Configuration Control process administered by 
the TIPSTER Program SE/CM support 
contractor. 
• Conduct Engineering Review Boards 
(ERBs) 
• Track and Evaluate Architecture 
Requests for Changes (RFCs) 
• Exercise Configuration Control of 
Official TIPSTER documents 
CONFORMANCE TO THE 
ARCHITECTURE 
The TIPSTER Architecture has been 
completed to the extent that the basic 
~nctionality of components has been determined. 
Many interfaces, however, have not yet been 
defined to the level of detail which will be 
needed for the Government to meet its goals of 
software reuse and modular upgrading; i.e., they 
are under specified. The Architecture has been 
constructed with a high level of abstraction and 
flexibility. With these characteristics, 
applications can comply with the Architecture 
with relative ease, but the interface elements do 
not have enough constraints to be precisely 
defined in an Interface Control Document. As an 
example, specific annotation types have not yet 
been defined, specified and made available as a 
TIPSTER standard. In another example, the 
attributes for a document may be anything the 
developer chooses with no constraints on 
definition or scope. 
In TIPSTER Phase II, the Architecture is 
being tested by use in a number of applications 
Under these circumstances, conformance to 
the TIPSTER Architecture cannot be rigidly 
def'med. For the current Architecture, 
conformance is def'med as follows: 
Designs of applications or products are 
submitted to a TIPSTER Engineering Review 
Board (ERB). The ERB produces a TIPSTER 
Architecture Conformance Assessment Document 
(TACAD) detailing the ways in which the 
design complies with the Architecture and those 
where it does not. Regarding those places 
within the design which do not comply, the 
ERB issues a recommendation, that the 
Architecture be changed, that the design be 
changed, or that the exception be allowed. This 
recommendation is reviewed by the TIPSTER 
Configuration Control Board. All designs are 
kept on record, both in Design-to and As-built 
form, with the TIPSTER SE/CM. 
This process will result in an enrichment of 
the Architecture with the experience gained ffi'om 
specific implementations as well as the 
beginnings of a library of information about what 
TIPSTER compliant components exist 
throughout the Government community. 
Figure 1 shows the basic ERB process with 
two principal gates that a project must pass 
through. The ERB review just before the 
Preliminary Design Review is the first ERB to 
initially examine TIPSTER conformance. The 
level of conformance is documented in the 
TACAD. The final ERB occurs after the 
completion of the project implementation. 
211 
E3 
ERB \[ 
D Ac 
\[3 CCB 
System 
Initiation 
System 
Implementation 
System 
O&M 
TIPSTER Program 
Can Provide 
Architecture Design 
and Specifications 
Preliminary 
Design 
Review 
Figure 1 
Final 
Operating 
Capability 
Review 
ERBProcess 
TIPSTER Program 
Can Support the 
Integration of New 
Technology and 
Algorithms 
212 
