Getting Started with Innovator for Enterprise Architects

What do you want to do?

Task	Help topic
Defining a High Level View of Business Processes	Describing Business Processes
Mapping How Applications Support Business Processes	Creating Applications and Dependencies to Business Processes
Mapping How the Application Level Uses the Infrastructure	Modeling Hardware and Software Components Used by Applications
Showing Interrelations Between Modeling Levels	Displaying the Entire Architecture
Describing and Commenting on Model Elements	Creating Specification Texts and Comments

Describing Business Processes

Defining a High Level View of Business Processes

Note:

In ArchiMate®, colors represent different pieces of information. The default color scheme categorizes the elements into the respective level of the enterprise architecture.

To use this color scheme, set as background in the model template, select the View>Colors>Method Colors command.

Work in the business process view you just created for the following steps.

Creating a Business Process

Context

You can create a business process in the same way as a role (see above).

Alternatively, you can also create a business process by connecting it directly to an existing role. This expresses the fact that this role is responsible for this business process.

How to proceed

Select the role in the diagram

The selected role is shown with a blue selection frame. There are various semitransparent icons on the right-hand side; if you hover over them with the mouse they are highlighted – this is called the carousel.
From the carousel, select the Link icon and keep the left mouse button pressed.
With the left mouse button pressed, drag the icon to a free point in the diagram.

The position of the link that will be created is shown when you drag the icon by a blue rubber band line.
Release the left mouse button on a free point in the diagram.

A drop-down list with the partner elements permissible for this type of relationship appears. The business process will be available in the list, alongside other options.
Left mouse click on this entry.

The business process and the link to the role are created; the business process is initially given a default name. You can immediately change this.

Tip:

You can create various types of different types of connections in Innovator diagrams in this way. The types of elements available in a diagram element's carousel and in the drop-down list primarily depend on the diagram type used, the model template used and the user role selected in a model.

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Linking Business Processes Together

Prerequisites

This example assumes that both business processes to be linked are already in the diagram. Alternatively, you can create a new business process together with the Triggering relationship, as you did when creating business processes (see above).

Context

You can link two business processes together with a Triggering relationship, among other options. This expresses a temporal or causal flow between the business processes.

How to proceed

Select a business process in the diagram.

The selected business process is outlined with a blue frame. There are various semitransparent icons on the right-hand side; if you hover over them with the mouse they are highlighted – this is called the carousel.
Select the Triggering icon from the carousel and keep the left mouse button pressed.
With the left mouse button pressed, drag the icon onto the business process to be connected.

When dragging, the position of the relationship that will be created is indicated by a blue rubber band line.
Let go of the mouse button over the business process to which you want to create the connection.

Tip:

You can create various types of different types of connections in Innovator diagrams in this way. The types of elements available in a diagram element's carousel and in the drop-down list primarily depend on the diagram type used, the model template used and the user role selected in a model.

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Creating Applications and Dependencies to Business Processes

Mapping How Applications Support Business Processes

Work in the application usage view you just created for the following steps.

Creating a Service at the Application Level

Context

You can create a service at the application level in the same way as a component (see above).

Alternatively, you can also create a service at the application level by connecting it directly to an existing component. This expresses that this component realizes the service at the application level and can be used by this.

How to proceed

Select the component in the diagram.

The selected component is outlined with a blue frame. There are various semitransparent icons on the right-hand side; if you hover over them with the mouse they are highlighted – this is called the carousel.
Select the Realization icon from the carousel and keep the left mouse button pressed.
With the left mouse button pressed, drag the icon onto the business process to be connected.

When dragging, the position of the realization that will be created is indicated by a blue rubber band line.
Release the mouse button at a free point in the diagram.

A drop-down list with the partner elements permissible for this type of relationship appears. The service (application level) will be available in the list, alongside other options.
Left mouse click on this entry.

The service at application level and the realization relation to the component are created; the service at application level is initially given a default name. You can immediately change this.

Tip:

You can create various types of different types of connections in Innovator diagrams in this way. The types of elements available in a diagram element's carousel and in the drop-down list primarily depend on the diagram type used, the model template used and the user role selected in a model.

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Connecting an Existing Business Process

Prerequisites

This example assumes that the business process to be connected is already in the model and a service (application level) is in the diagram.

Context

You can reuse an existing business process in various diagrams and connect it in the diagram to a service at the application level. This expresses that the service at the application level is used by the business process.

How to proceed

Select a business process in the model structure.

The selected business process is outlined with a selection frame.
Drag the selected business process with the left mouse button pressed to a free point in the diagram.
Release the left mouse button on a free point in the diagram.

The selected business process is inserted at this point in the diagram.
Select a service (application level) in the diagram.

The selected service (application level) is outlined with a blue frame. There are various semitransparent icons on the right-hand side; if you hover over them with the mouse they are highlighted – this is called the carousel.
Select the Used by icon from the carousel and keep the left mouse button pressed.
With the left mouse button pressed, drag the icon onto the business process to be connected.

When dragging, the position of the connection that will be created is indicated by a blue rubber band line.
Let go of the mouse button over the business process to which you want to create the connection.

The connection expresses that the service is used by the inserted, connected business process.

Tip:

You can insert various types of elements that already exist in the model into Innovator diagrams in this way, in order to describe various aspects of these elements. The types of elements that can be inserted into a diagram primarily depend on the diagram type used, the model template used and the user role selected in a model.

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Modeling Hardware and Software Components Used by Applications

Mapping How the Application Level Uses the Infrastructure

Work in the infrastructure usage view you just created for the following steps.

Displaying the Entire Architecture

Showing Interrelations Between Modeling Levels

Work in the layered view you just created for the following steps.

Adding Business Processes Using Existing Concept Connection Edges

Prerequisites

This example assumes that a business process exists in the model which is connected to a business process already occurring in the diagram.

Context

You can add business processes that already have a relationship in the model to the diagram using the carousel for the business process already in the diagram.

How to proceed

Select the business process in the diagram.

The selected business process is outlined with a blue frame. There are various semitransparent icons on the right-hand side; if you hover over them with the mouse they are highlighted – this is called the carousel.
Select the Concept connection edge icon from the carousel and keep the left mouse button pressed.
With the left mouse button pressed, drag the icon to a free point in the diagram.

When dragging, the position of the relationship that will be created is indicated by a blue rubber band line.
Release the left mouse button on a free point in the diagram.

A drop-down list of the elements in the relationship with the type of the respective relationship appears. The business process will be available in the list, alongside other options.
Left mouse click on this entry.

The business process and the connection are inserted.

Tip:

You can insert various types of elements that are connected to diagram elements into Innovator diagrams in this way. The types of elements available in the drop-down list primarily depend on the diagram type used, the model template used and the user role selected in a model.

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Labeling Changes Between Plateaus on Elements

Prerequisites

This example assumes that the elements are connected to the corresponding plateaus or can be manually assigned.

Context

You can assign elements from the company architecture to an architecture plateau by selecting the appropriate label.

To make the assignment clear in the diagram, you can used color labels.

To label changes to elements between plateaus, it is possible to customize the properties of the corresponding elements.

How to proceed

To represent the assignments to the plateaus in the diagram in color, jump to the color scheme using View>Colors>Color Label.

The existing color labels are displayed.
Select the color label Contained in plateau.

The elements in the diagram are shaded according to the color label.
To specify the instance of an element in a plateau, select the element.

The properties for the selected element are displayed in the Properties tool window.
Open the Labels area by clicking on the arrow.

The labels available for the element are displayed.
For the Contained in plateau label, select which plateau the element occurs in.

The color of the element is customized in accordance with the assigned plateau.

Document generation (in MS Word etc.) will of course take into account the current color settings.

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Creating Specification Texts and Comments

Describing and Commenting on Model Elements

Creating Specification Texts

Context

Lots of model elements can have a textual specification to describe a certain aspect of a model element in more detail. Specification texts are primarily used for documenting the model and its model elements.

How to proceed

(Optional) Select one or more model elements in the diagram that you want to edit their specification with the left mouse button.

If you have not selected a diagram element, Innovator assumes that the diagram itself should be given a specification.
Activate the Design tab from the Diagram Tools context group in the ribbon if this is not the active tab.

This tab contains the Editing group, which contains the Specification Text (F3) icon. If this icon is inactive, then you have selected an element that textual specifications cannot be created for.
Click on the Specification Text (F3) icon.

A new window opens for each selected element in the right-hand half of the document area; it shows all available specification texts for this element.
Enter the text in the respective text definition.
The name of the text definition to be edited is shown in red if your changes have been made.
Format the text using the Text tab or the context menu.
Save the text with Text>Specification>Save (Ctrl+S).
The name of the edited text definition is shown in black again if the save was successful.
Close the window with the specifications once you have finished editing.

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Creating Comments in the Diagram

Context

You can add comments to diagrams to e.g. help other users better understand a diagram.

How to proceed

(Optional) Select one or more diagram elements that you want to comment on with the left mouse button.
Activate the Design tab from the Diagram Tools context group in the ribbon if this is not the active tab.

This tab contains the Create Diagram Content group.
Click on the Comment icon.

If you selected parts of the diagram in part 1, a comment is created for all selected diagram elements. It initially contains a default text, is positioned in the middle and linked with all selected diagram elements by a dotted line. The comment is placed left above this element if only one diagram element was selected.

You can immediately overwrite the comment's default text with your own comment.
If you missed out step 1, move the mouse in the direction of the element you want to comment on.

The comment icon is "attached" to your mouse pointer and follows the movement of the mouse.
Click with the left mouse button on the diagram element you want to comment on.

The comment is created for the diagram element you clicked on. It initially contains a default text, is positioned top-left above this element and is linked with this by a dotted line. You can immediately overwrite the comment's text with your own text.

Another way to proceed using the context menu:

Select one or more diagram elements that you want to make a comment on and right-click to open the context menu for this selection.
Click on New Comment.

A comment is created for all selected diagram elements. It initially contains a default text, is positioned in the middle and linked with all selected diagram elements by a dotted line. The comment is placed left above this element if only one diagram element was selected.

You can immediately overwrite the comment's default text with your own comment.

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