Francis Sommers

I created two Component diagrams. The first shows all the tiers (client, web, business, resource mgmt) for the itinerary mgmt components and the second does the same for the payment components. Both diagrams support the web client and the Java Swing client. I got 44 on 44 on my component diagram. I think its important to show as much detail as you can up front in the architecture. There are differences in the tiers for the itinerary vs. payment use cases.

My 2 cents.

In the first step the system returns prices for a whole number of flights. Once the user selects the specific flights they want the requirements state "The system prices the itinerary" I assumed (and documented the assumption) that this means the system calculates the total cost of the trip based on the segments the user selected. That was my assumption but the point is you should make assumptions where there are contradictions in the requirements and document those assumptions.

On the other issue there is no mention of different classes of tickets. The requirements indicate there is "one flat price per destination" so don't make your solution any more complicated than it needs to be.

I didn't specifically address protocols on any of my diagrams but I did cover it in my design / architecture overview and assumptions document. I justified the choice of interface to the Frequent Flyer system and to the Transmaster Payment system in my architecture doc. I did cover security in my component diagrams. I covered how the authentication would work as well as I had componments to show the physical security store I used. I also had specific sequence charts for the authentication / authorization and covered security in detail in my architecture overview. I think I am not allowed to provide any more details than that based on the Sun rules.

I received my grade today after 4 weeks + 1 day.

This report shows the total points that could have been awarded in each section and the actual amount of points you were awarded. This information is provided in order to give you feedback on your relative strengths on a section basis. The maximum number of points you could have received is 100, minimum to pass is 70.
Class Diagram (44 maximum) .......................... 36
Component Diagram (44 maximum) ...................... 44 Sequence/Colloboration Diagrams (12 maximum) ........ 12

Obviously my class diagram was where I lost 8 points. I used the original BDM and extended it but also included some of the implementation classes.

The SSL requirement only applies to the web application as the requirement indicates all "Customer" interaction must use SSL. The Java client application is only used by the travel agents.

I do agree that the component diagrams should show how the application is assembled and that Transfer objects are a bit fine grained for a component diagram but I am not completely sure they belong in a top level class diagram either. I'm going to put my transfer objects on my class diagram now. Joseph or Nitin what do you think about Business Delegate and Service Locator objects. Should these go on the class diagram also or should they be on the component diagram ?

I am about to submit my assignment and I plan to use a single Index.html. It has links to sections of my HTML page that have the diagrams. I know of another person who took the same approach and they passed the assignment with 87% so I think its OK to use one Index.html page.

I'm just completing my assignment and currently have the Value objects on my component diagram. I'm of the mindset that the class diagram should include only the businesss objects. I had tossed the idea of including Value objects, Business Delegates, Service locators etc. on my class diagram but decided to include them only in the component diagram because they are needed to realize the business classes. I'd be interested in what others have to say about this.

Yes I would recommend using this book. It was one of the key books I used to prepare for Part I

I started preparing around the beginning of Sept but really didn't get too focused on preparing until late October. In total I spent about 90 hours. In hind site I likely could have gotten away with much less preparation time but i had been hearing the exam was really tough and it turns out the questions in the simulators (I used WhizLabs) are more difficult than the ones on the actual exam in many cases.

Today I took the SCEA Part I and passed it with a grade of 91%

I successfully completed part 1 this morning with a score of 91%. It was easier than I thought it was going to be. Study materials I used are:

1. Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for J2EE Technology Study Guide (Sun Microsystems Press)

2. Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for J2EE Study Guide (Osborne)
3. Patterns in Java, Volume 1: A Catalog of Reusable Design Patterns Illustrated with UML - Mark Grand
4. Original GOF Patterns Book
5. Using Enterprise JavaBeans 2.0, by Chuck Cavaness and Brian Keeton
6. Mastering EJBs 3rd Edition by Ed Roman, Rima Patel Sriganesh and Gerald Brose
7. EJB 2.1 Specification - Sun
8. Chapter 7 - The Core Java Security Model and Applet Security, Professional Java Security, by Jess Garms and Daniel Somerfield
9. Java Message Service, by Richard Monson-Haefel and David A, Chappell, O�Reilly
10. Head First Design Patterns � O�Reilly � Eric + Elizabeth Freeman

11. Various Internet sites - especially Sun Java tutorials, etc.
12. Professional Java Security by Jess Garms and Daniel Somerfield

I've heard the exam is adaptive in that if you get questions wrong on certain topics it dynamically adjusts the other questions on the exam you haven't answered yet to add more questions from the category you get questions wrong in. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not ?