Model-driven software development has all chances to turn software development into software engineering. But this requires not only mature methodologies but also engineering models. An engineering model should satisfy five key characteristics, namely, abstraction, understandability, accuracy, predictiveness and inexpensiveness. This chapter discusses capabilities of a Topological Functioning Model (TFM) as such an engineering model for the purposes of domain analysis and software development in common. The TFM has functional and topological properties. The functional properties are cause-effect relations, cycle structure, inputs, and outputs. The topological properties are connectedness, closure, neighborhood, and continuous mapping. Thanks to its formal mathematical foundations, the TFM completely satisfies the mentioned characteristics of engineering models that is illustrated in the chapter.

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Object-oriented analysis suggests semiformal usecase driven techniques for problem domain modeling from a computation independent viewpoint. The proposed approach called Topological Functioning Modeling for Model Driven Architecture (TFMfMDA) increases the degree of formalization. It uses mathematical foundations of Topological Functioning Model (TFM) that holistically represents complete functionality of the system. TFMfMDA introduces more formal analysis of a business system, namely enables defining not what the client wants, but what the client needs. Additionally, it also enables verification of textual functional requirements, checking of missing requirements in conformance with the "as is" model of the problem domain. A use case model of the application is defined with the help of a goal-based method. A model of domain concepts is defined by graph transformation of the TFM. TFMfMDA satisfies the main feature of MDA -Separation of Concerns.

The first model in Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a Computation Independent Model (CIM) that specifies domain information. One of issues discussed in this chapter is the meaning of “computation independence”. Another one is formalism of CIMs. And the last issue discussed is a use of a Topological Functioning Model (TMF) for problem domain modeling from a computation independent viewpoint. The TFM is a mathematical model that holistically and formally represents functionality of the problem domain, and does not show any details of the implementation and modeling platform. The TFM contains information from functional, information, and organizational domains of business process modeling. Construction of the TFM from the informal description of the system and guidelines for its decomposition into business processes are discussed and demonstrated by an example.

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