This tutorial is adapted from the Web Age course Archimate for Architects.
ArchiMate is a notation for describing architectural ideas about enterprise systems. It deals with what are traditionally separate domains with one notation -Business, Application, Data, and Technology. ArchiMate compliments more specific notations such as BPMN or ERDs.
ArchiMate is a notation for describing architectural ideas about enterprise systems. ArchiMate is not a methodology. It does not tell you how to do architecture. It helps you communicate the architecture you develop.
ArchiMate’s place in the toolbox
There are many architecture modeling notations – why yet another one?
ArchiMate is good at
Showing the whole picture in one model
- UML, ERD, BPMN, etc. focus on one aspect – detailed but narrow
- ArchiMate allows a broader, more comprehensive view in one model
Showing relationships between domains- Business, information, application, technology all modeled together
A comprehensive picture makes relationships between domains explicit
ArchiMate is not so good at
Brevity – can be very verbose
Subtlety – ArchiMate is more general than more specialized notations
- UML – Software engineering
- ERD – Data models
- BPMN – Process
Infrastructure -Not widely used to show infrastructure as a layer on its own
ArchiMate compliments other notations
You may want to use ArchiMate along with more specific notations
- BPMN for process modeling
- ERDs for data modeling
- Network diagrams for infrastructure
Consider
- Your audience
- What you are trying to describe
- Shop standards and practices
Rule of thumb: ArchiMate is the primary notation at HCSC
- For Solution Architects
- For Data Architects
- For Business Architects
- For Enterprise Architects (emerging)
ArchiMate in Action- Value Streams and Capabilities
ArchiMate in Action- Strategy Viewpoint
ArchiMate in Action- Business Process View
ArchiMate in Action – Layered view gives process context
ArchiMate in Action – Layering can link from business through technology
ArchiMate in Action – Application Cooperation View
Standard view – describes relationships between application components
Locations are optional
- Could use system boundaries (to show the interaction between
components within systems) - Could use nodes (emphasizes inter-node traffic)
ArchiMate in Action – Technology Viewpoint
- We focus on business and application
- We use technology elements where needed
- E.g., use of Kubernetes cluster implies quality of service attributes – availability – and is important for software design
Summary
- ArchiMate is a notation describing enterprise systems
- It is not a methodology
- One notation for domains that are traditionally separate
(Business, Information, Application, Technology) - Complements but does not replace specialized notations
(ERD, BPMN, …) - Good at showing the big picture
- Good at showing how parts are related, even across boundaries
- Good at showing why architectural choices were made
