ArchiMate 3: What’s New and Why? ArchiMate 3.0, the updated standard from The Open Group, has arrived.by Richard Moore

In this short piece we’re going to look at why there was space for an update, and in doing so we’ll briefly cover the new material present in the spec.

So what is it about today’s environment that has invited a fresh look at the ArchiMate standard? We can identify four drivers for an update immediately.

Firstly, more and more organizations are recognizing that Enterprise Architecture isn’t just an ‘IT-thing’. In fact ArchiMate is increasingly being regarded as a means to clarify, realize and implement strategy. So this is our first driver for an update of version 2.1: increasing demand for relating EA to business strategy.

Secondly, there is the rise of technology innovations that mix IT and the physical world. The ‘Internet of Things’, for example. Before ArchiMate 3.0 we were able to model the internet, but lacked a means to deal with the ‘Things’. So an update that enables us to map the physical world becomes necessary. Even more so when you factor in ArchiMate’s increasing usage in more traditional domains, such as manufacturing and logistics. These domains need the ability to model the physical world also. So there’s driver number two.

Thirdly, there are the small inconsistencies and opportunities for simplification and improvement that start to gather around the ongoing usage of any standard. Driver number three: improvement in the usability and accessibility of the ArchiMate standard.

Finally, there is the ongoing work in improving the alignment between Open Group standards, most importantly TOGAF. Number four: the harmonization of ArchiMate and TOGAF.

ArchiMate Series #2 | ATL003:2

© Copyright 2014 Good e-Learning. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, resold, stored in a retrieval system, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Such requests for permission or any other comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: marketing@goodelearning.com. Good e-Learning is a trading name used by

Educational Systems Ltd. The Open Group®, TOGAF® and ArchiMate® are registered trademarks of the Open Group in the United States and other countries.

So what are the changes to the framework in ArchiMate 3.0?

As mentioned already, people are increasingly using ArchiMate in a more strategic context to link strategy and EA. This has led to requests for concepts that support, for instance, capability-based planning (CBP).

Version 3.0: supporting the link between strategy and EA

A business-focused view of the enterprise needs to understand exactly what the business does, and where investment will reap the most value. But EA, it can be argued is technically a communication mechanism between architects. Historically this has sometimes made it difficult to elaborate required changes in terms that business leaders understand. And the problematic communication flows both ways: strategy and high-level goals have often not been reflected in many EA models.

Capability

People

People

People

“A capability is a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or

exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome”

fig.1 - Capabilities

fig.2 - Version 3.0 introduces all the necessary concepts to model CBP

In essence, then, capabilities (a concept introduced in ArchiMate 3.0) represent a common language that both business and IT leaders understand. CBP’s goal is to facilitate the planning of transformations in terms of capability changes over time.

So this is the driver behind ArchiMate 3.0’s new strategic concepts. Version 3.0 introduces all the necessary concepts to model CBP.

In the ArchiMate 3.0 diagram shown, you can see where the Strategy elements have been introduced.

Concept Definition Notation RelationshipCapability A capability represents an ability

that an active structure element, such as an organization, person, or system, possesses.

Capability

Realizes/Services a Course of actionRealized by Behavior elements

Resource A resource represents an asset owned or controlled by an infividual or organization.

Resource

Assigned to Capability Realized by Structure elements

Course of action

A course of action is an approach or plan for configuring some capabilities and resources of the enterprise, undertaken to achieve a goal.

Course of action

Realizes/Influences an Outcome Realized/Serviced by Capability

Outcome An outcome represents an end result that has been achieved. Outcome

Realized by OutcomeRealizes a Goal

Metric A metric is the extent, quantity, amount, or degree of something, as determinated by measurement or calculation.

Metric

Specialization of the Driver element

Capability Increment

A specialization of a capability realized by a specific plateau or a state in the architecture that represents a stage in the evolution of that capability.

No specific notation, uses the notation of Capability

Specialization of the Capability element.

© Copyright 2014 Good e-Learning. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, resold, stored in a retrieval system, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Such requests for permission or any other comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: marketing@goodelearning.com. Good e-Learning is a trading name used by

Educational Systems Ltd. The Open Group®, TOGAF® and ArchiMate® are registered trademarks of the Open Group in the United States and other countries.

© Copyright 2014 Good e-Learning. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, resold, stored in a retrieval system, or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Such requests for permission or any other comments relating to the material contained in this document may be submitted to: marketing@goodelearning.com. Good e-Learning is a trading name used by

Educational Systems Ltd. The Open Group®, TOGAF® and ArchiMate® are registered trademarks of the Open Group in the United States and other countries.

STRATEGY

MOTIVATIONACTIVE STRUCTURE

BEHAVIORPASSIVESTRUCTURE

APPLICATION

PHYSICAL

BUSINESS

LAYERS

ASPECTS

TECHNOLOGY

IMPLEMENTATION AND MIGRATION

Fig.3 - The ArchiMate 3.0 Full Framework

Other new features include new motivation concepts, new entities, and improvements in cross-layer relationships and in the viewpoints definition mechanism.

For a good introduction to capability-based planning, download the white paper “Capability-Based Planning” (ref W16C) from The Open Group website. Also recommended is the white paper “An Introduction to the ArchiMate 3.0 Specification (ref W168) from the same source.

There is also wealth of great ArchiMate 3.0 presentations from The Open Group accessible on their YouTube Channel. You can also register with The Open Group and access their library of webinars and publications (including the ArchiMate 3.0 spec itself). And be sure to follow the announcements coming out of the San Francisco Open Group conference.

Other changes

We also have a new layer of Physical concepts, which is highly integrated with the IT world. Physical technology is often IT-based as well. The Internet of Things is just one example, but most equipment today is computer-controlled.

You can see in the diagram that the Physical layer in ArchiMate 3.0 is tightly associated with the Technology layer.