The ArchiMate meta-model
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In this subtree the metamodel for the ArchiMate concepts is presented. A metamodel defines the language for expressing a model, in our case a business or application layer model. We do not elaborate on the ideas and principles behind the metamodel. For this we refer to the subtree Concepts for architectural description, which discusses these topics in more detail.
The framework in Figure 1 is used to structure the concepts and their relationships. In this framework, a common distinction between the business, application and technology layer is used. In each layer, three aspects are considered: each layer consists of active ‘things’ that have behaviour, have an (internal) structure, and use or communicate information.
Figure 1. Architectural framework
While (in an operational sense) all three aspects in the same layer are related to each other, the layers in the framework constitute some sort of functional or system hierarchy. Although the boundaries between these layers are not strict: they reflect a commonly accepted division of an enterprise. Following a common layered approach, layers are only explicitly related to layers directly above or below them.
Figure 2 gives a summary of the ArchiMate concepts and their relationships. A distinction is made between the "external" and "internal" behaviour of an organisation or system. For the external behaviour, the designation "service" is used. The service is the externally visible effect of processes, function or interactions (see Figure 3), that can be used by other units of behaviour that require this service. The internal behaviour, on the other hand, represents what is required to realise this service. For the ‘consumers’ of a service the internal behaviour of a system or organisation is usually irrelevant: they are only interested in the functional and non-functional results of the behaviour that are advertised by the service. In this way different layers can be related to each other (behaviour aspect) by means of services. Each layer makes its services available to the next higher layer.
As for the structure aspect, we could say that an (application) interface is the location where components (applications) in the application layer interact with (business) actors. Therefore, ‘interface’ can be considered a linking concept comparable to the service concept for the behaviour aspect.
Figure 2. Overview of the main concepts and relationships
Figure 3 shows the concepts for modelling collaborative behaviour and structure. The figure shows the collaboration concept, which is a collective of roles within an organisation which perform collaborative behaviour, i.e., interactions. This figure holds for both the business and the application layers.
Figure 3. Business collaboration and business interaction