An AchiMate 3 Map (Layers? What Layers! — 1)

ArchiMate 3 is setup with 5-6 layers (Strategy, Business, Application, Technology/Physical, Implementation) and 4 aspects: (Passive and Active) Structure, Behaviour and Motivation. Quoting the standard:

This looks daunting until you realise that not everything that is called a ‘layer’ is a layer. E.g. any physical behavioural element can Realise a Capability, crossing all layers in between.

Following up on something I created in another ArchiMate 3 review (over at the Enterprise Architecture Professional Journal), I find it helpful to see ArchiMate as being comprised of four domains, like this:

ArchiMate has four sets of elements and relations, directed at modelling:

• The Enterprise Itself (ArchiMate Core)
• The Strategy of The Enterprise (ArchiMate Strategy)
• The Change of The Enterprise (ArchiMate Implementation & Migration)
• Intentions (ArchiMate Motivation)

I choose to let Motivation be a domain, here, and not an aspect, because you can fully model all sorts of intentions with it. I could have left it at an aspect, though, it’s not a big thing.

Now when we add the aspects, we get something like this:

As you see, in the Strategy domain, I’ve shown the aspects a bit different than the standard. That is because in the Strategy domain ArchiMate actually doesn’t have the active/passive split for structure. I’m being pedantic here, as one could as easily argue that the Resource element is both active and passive, so the Strategy layer does have both aspects. Oh well.

Now, the last thing to do is to add the well known (some would say: orthodox) BAT (Business-Application-Technology) layering:

Given that the Physical ‘layer’ is just the addition of certain elements and relations to the Technology layer, I’ve glued them together.

You can click the last image and get a PDF which can be printed perfectly at any scale. Paper your room with it and send me pictures 😉

My original (detailed, critical) review of ArchiMate 3 is here. In th emeantime, I did find some other things that could have ended up there (such as the pedantic remark above).

Shortly, I will write on ArchiMate layers again, as ArchiMate 3 has an important, powerful and useful change on this point. Stay tuned.