Hi guys!
I'm a project manager at an IT firm and recently someone in a training course mentioned modelling trough Archi as an way of improving communications with teams and customers, and it looked super interesting to me. Just now I'm dipping my toes into the water and I'm coming up with a couple of interesting things. My case is the following, I'm trying to copy a process diagram from a book as a way to practice with Archi (before having to think of the actual model myself I figured I'd get some experience with the tool). The example is this:
(https://i.imgur.com/sVocPdG.png)
I've gotten this far in Archi:
(https://i.imgur.com/RCwaHRd.png)
Small design optimizations would be interesting later, but the two major things I've encountered so far are these:
- Some processes are re-used at different points in time. Therefore it'd be helpful to have the same process referenced at different points trough the model. To prevent long clunky lines running all the way trough, I'd rather just re-use the same process. Meaning: I'd like to have 2 references to the same process. I've managed to create duplicates, which appear just fine but underwater are of course two different entities. Is what I'm trying a big no-no, or is there a way to do this?
- As you can see in the original image, the vertically aligned process on the left is part of two of the horizontal flows. Is there a way to do this? Currently I've (rather cleverly, if I might say so myself) given the reader the impression it's part of both groups by moving it around, but the process isn't liked to either group at the moment.
All in all I find I'm lacking quite a bit of experience (duh), and while the general help guides are interesting I'm wondering if there's any short intro courses to this kind of modelling online? I'd greatly appreciate any resources that might pass the quality control of you experienced modelers out there ;)
Hi,
Quote from: Yoeri on February 17, 2023, 11:28:11 AMI'm a project manager at an IT firm and recently someone in a training course mentioned modelling trough Archi as an way of improving communications with teams and customers, and it looked super interesting to me.
Archi implements the ArchiMate specification, so you might want to first have a look at these resources online:
- The ArchiMate 101 (https://archimate-user-community.pages.opengroup.org/workgroups/archimate-101/) (not complete, but complete enough to start with the language)
- Mastering ArchiMate (https://ea.rna.nl/mastering-archimate-edition-3-1/) (the great book written by Gerben Wierda, you can download a free excerpt which present all concepts and is very useful)
- The full specification (https://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/archimate32-doc/)
Quote from: Yoeri on February 17, 2023, 11:28:11 AMIs what I'm trying a big no-no, or is there a way to do this?
That's one of the great aspect of ArchiMate, so you can do it with Archi. Two ways to achieve it:
- drag and drop the process from the model tree onto the view (by default this will re-add already existing relationships too, but you can delete them or press CTRL while doing the drag'n drop). See User Guide (https://www.archimatetool.com/downloads/archi/Archi%20User%20Guide.pdf) on p.31.
- Copy the process and past it using the "Paste Special" option of the contextual menu. See User Guide on p.42-43.
Quote from: Yoeri on February 17, 2023, 11:28:11 AMAs you can see in the original image, the vertically aligned process on the left is part of two of the horizontal flows. Is there a way to do this? Currently I've (rather cleverly, if I might say so myself) given the reader the impression it's part of both groups by moving it around, but the process isn't liked to either group at the moment.
Best way to achieve this is to use visual notes instead of visual groups as the later are also considered as containers and thus forces elements to belong to one and only one group.
Regards,
JB
Thanks for your reply Jean-Baptiste! Looks Like I've got some studying to do :)