This comprehensive guide explores the utilization of the ArchiMate modeling language for integrated modeling throughout the architecture development and implementation cycle. ArchiMate provides a structured approach to describing, visualizing, and integrating different architecture domains, as well as their relationships and dependencies. This guide will delve into the key aspects, benefits, and practical applications of ArchiMate, supported by numerous examples.

Key Aspects

Integrated Architectural Approach

ArchiMate offers an integrated approach for organizations to describe and visualize different architecture domains alongside their underlying relationships and dependencies. This approach ensures that all aspects of the enterprise architecture are cohesive and aligned with business goals.

• Example: An organization uses ArchiMate to model the integration of a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, showing how it interacts with existing business processes, applications, and technology infrastructure.

Uniform Representation

ArchiMate provides a uniform representation for enterprise architecture descriptions, ensuring consistency and clarity across different domains and layers.

• Example: A uniform ArchiMate model illustrates how a retail company’s business processes are supported by its IT applications and infrastructure, providing a clear and cohesive view of the enterprise architecture.

Integration of Domains

ArchiMate integrates various domains and describes them in an easily readable way, focusing on consistent alignment and coherence across all enterprise domains.

• Example: An ArchiMate model integrates the business, application, and technology layers to show how a new e-commerce platform supports online sales processes, from customer interactions to order fulfillment.

TOGAF Complement

ArchiMate complements the TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) by providing a visual language for developing enterprise architectures. It supports the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM) by modeling various aspects of the architecture.

• Example: During the TOGAF ADM Phase B (Business Architecture), ArchiMate models are used to visualize business processes and their interactions with application and technology components.

ArchiMate and TOGAF

ArchiMate is closely aligned with the TOGAF standard, primarily used for representing architecture models. It supports the TOGAF ADM phases by modeling aspects of Passive Structure, Behavior, and Active Structure at the Business, Application, and Technology layers.

• Example: In TOGAF ADM Phase C (Information Systems Architectures), ArchiMate models illustrate how data flows between applications and how application components interact with the technology infrastructure.

How ArchiMate Supports Architecture Development

Uniform Representation

ArchiMate supports the development of Enterprise Architectures by providing a uniform representation for diagrams, ensuring consistency and clarity across different domains.

• Example: A uniform ArchiMate diagram represents the interactions between business processes, applications, and technology components in a healthcare organization, ensuring that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the architecture.

Inter-related Architectures

ArchiMate includes concepts for specifying inter-related architectures, specific viewpoints for stakeholders, and language customization mechanisms.

• Example: An ArchiMate model shows how a new application integrates with existing systems, highlighting the dependencies and interactions between different architecture components.

Integrated Approach

ArchiMate offers an integrated architectural approach that describes and visualizes different architecture domains and their underlying relations and dependencies.

• Example: An integrated ArchiMate model illustrates the relationships between business processes, applications, and technology infrastructure in a manufacturing company, supporting the development of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Structuring Mechanism

ArchiMate’s language framework provides a structuring mechanism for architecture domains, layers, and aspects, ensuring a cohesive and organized approach to enterprise architecture.

• Example: The structuring mechanism is used to organize the architecture domains of a financial institution, ensuring that business processes, applications, and technology infrastructure are aligned and cohesive.

ArchiMate Core Language

Layers

ArchiMate distinguishes between a business layer, an application layer, and a layer with the underlying (IT) technical infrastructure.

• Business Layer Example: Modeling the customer support process, including roles like “Customer Support Agent” and services like “Issue Resolution.”
• Application Layer Example: Mapping the “Customer Relationship Management (CRM)” application and its interactions with other applications.
• Technology Layer Example: Illustrating the server infrastructure that hosts the CRM application, including network components and storage solutions.

Elements

The ArchiMate core language defines a structure of generic elements and their relationships, which can be specialized in different layers.

• Example: The “Business Process” element in the Business Layer can be specialized to represent specific processes like “Order Fulfillment” or “Customer Support.”

Architecture Domains

Business Architecture

Provides context for system development trajectories, showing the main business processes, actors or roles, and information exchanged between the processes.

• Example: A business architecture model illustrates the main business processes of a retail company, including customer interactions, order processing, and inventory management.

Application Architecture and Data Architecture

Part of the Information Systems Architectures, focusing on the applications and data that support business processes.

• Example: An application architecture model shows how different applications interact to support the order fulfillment process, including the CRM system, inventory management system, and shipping system.

Technology Architecture

Models the infrastructure that supports applications and data architectures.

• Example: A technology architecture model illustrates the server infrastructure, network components, and storage solutions that support the applications and data architectures of an e-commerce platform.

ArchiMate Modeling Language

Visual Language

The ArchiMate Enterprise Architecture modeling language is a visual language that helps to create a consistent, integrated model, which can be depicted in the form of views.

• Example: A visual ArchiMate model illustrates the interactions between business processes, applications, and technology components in a logistics company, providing a clear and cohesive view of the enterprise architecture.

Graphical Notation

ArchiMate provides a graphical notation that helps to create a consistent, integrated model, which can be depicted in the form of views.

• Example: The graphical notation is used to represent the relationships between business processes, applications, and technology components in a healthcare organization, ensuring clarity and consistency in the architecture model.

Views and Viewpoints

ArchiMate supports views, which are specified by viewpoints. Viewpoints define abstractions on the set of models representing the Enterprise Architecture, each aimed at a particular type of stakeholder and addressing a particular set of concerns.

• Example: A viewpoint for IT stakeholders focuses on the technology infrastructure and its interactions with applications, while a viewpoint for business stakeholders focuses on business processes and their interactions with customers.

Benefits of Using ArchiMate

Communication

The ArchiMate modeling language is a visual language for communicating and managing change and complexity through architecture description development.

• Example: ArchiMate models are used to communicate the impact of a new technology implementation on business processes and applications, ensuring that all stakeholders understand the changes and their implications.

Holistic View

ArchiMate provides a holistic view of the enterprise’s capabilities, promoting a better understanding and collaboration among different initiatives aimed at supporting business transformation.

• Example: A holistic ArchiMate model illustrates how a new digital transformation initiative impacts business processes, applications, and technology infrastructure, ensuring alignment and coherence across the enterprise.

Boundaryless Information Flow

ArchiMate promotes the use of the language as a common standard among practitioners of Enterprise Architecture, ensuring a consistent and integrated approach to architecture development.

• Example: ArchiMate is used as a common standard across different departments in an organization, ensuring that architecture models are consistent, integrated, and aligned with business goals.

Customization

ArchiMate provides the fundamental concepts to describe Enterprise Architecture but recognizes the need to extend the language to represent specific domains of interest more accurately.

• Example: Custom elements and relationships are defined to represent industry-specific concepts, such as regulatory requirements in the healthcare industry.

ArchiMate and UML

UML can be used to elaborate ArchiMate views, representing, elaborating, or realizing an ArchiMate model, view, or element with one or more UML diagrams.

• Example: A UML sequence diagram elaborates an ArchiMate model, showing the detailed interactions between application components during the order fulfillment process.

ArchiMate 1-2-3

ArchiMate 1-2-3 is a simple approach to utilizing modeling within the architecture work, based on a small set of ArchiMate elements. It is analogous to the Goal-Driven Approach (GDA) and Service-Driven Approach (SDA), focusing on a holistic view of the enterprise architecture.

• Example: ArchiMate 1-2-3 is used to model the high-level architecture of a new business initiative, focusing on the holistic view of the enterprise, the behavior and structure aspects, and the business, application, and technology layers.

Summary

By providing a structured and standardized approach to Enterprise Architecture modeling, the ArchiMate language enables stakeholders to visualize, analyze, and communicate complex architectures across different domains and layers. Its alignment with TOGAF and its support for various viewpoints make it a valuable tool for managing change and complexity throughout the architecture development and implementation cycle. This comprehensive guide, supported by numerous examples, illustrates the practical applications and benefits of using ArchiMate for integrated modeling in enterprise architecture.