ArchiMate language structure
This chapter presents the construction of the ArchiMate architecture modeling language. It discuss some general ideas, principles, and assumptions underlying the development of the ArchiMate metamodel.
Design Approach
A key challenge in the development of a general metamodel for enterprise architecture is to strike a balance between the specificity of languages for individual architecture domains, and a very general set of architecture concepts, which reflects a view of systems as a mere set of interrelated entities. Figure below illustrates that concepts can be described at different levels of specialization.
ArchiMate Metamodels at different levels of Specify
At the base of the triangle we find the metamodels of the architecture modeling concepts used by specific organizations, as well as a variety of existing modeling languages and standards; UML is an example of a language in this category.
At the top of the triangle we find the “most general” metamodel for system architectures, essentially a metamodel that merely comprises notions such as “object”, “component”, and “relation”. The design of the ArchiMate language started from a set of relatively generic concepts (higher up in the pyramid). These were then specialized towards application at different architectural layers, as will be explained below.
Core Concepts
The language consists of active structure elements, behavioral elements and passive structure elements.
• The active structure elements are the business actors, application components and devices that display actual behavior, i.e., the ‘subjects’ of activity (right side of the Figure).
• Then there is the behavioral or dynamic aspect (center of Figure).
The active structure concepts are assigned to behavioral concepts, to show who or what performs the behavior.
ArchiMate Generic Metamodel : The core concepts
• The passive structure elements are the objects on which behavior is performed. In the domain of information-intensive organizations, which is the main focus of the language, these are usually information or data objects, but they may also be used to represent physical objects.
These three aspects – active structure, behavior, and passive structure – have been inspired by natural language, where a sentence has a subject (active structure), a verb (behavior), and an object (passive structure).
The ArchiMate Framework
It is important to realize that the classification of concepts based on conceptual domains, or based on aspects and layers, is only a global one. It is impossible to define a strict boundary between the aspects and layers, because concepts that link the different aspects and layers play a central role in a coherent architectural description. For example, running somewhat ahead of the later conceptual discussions, (business) functions and (business) roles serve as intermediary concepts between “purely behavioral” concepts and “purely structural” concepts.
ArchiMate Architectural Framework
