Basic ArchiMate Views: Composition, Support, Collaboration, Implementation, Physical and Layered Views

Basic Views

ArchiMate basic views consist of ArchiMate elements and the three main layers—business, application, and technology. The following table lists ArchiMate 3.1 example viewpoints, grouped into four categories, indicating their focus and scope.

Composition: view that defines the internal composition and aggregation of elements.

Support: view showing how the element you are looking at is supported by other elements, usually from a lower layer to an upper layer.

Collaboration: view toward peer elements that cooperate, often across different aspects.

Implementation: view of the element that implements other elements, typically from an upper layer down to a lower layer.

Composition View

Name

Viewpoint

Concern

Organization

Structure of the enterprise in terms of roles, departments, etc.

Identify capabilities, authority, and responsibility

Information Structure

Shows the structure of information used in the enterprise.

Structure and dependencies of data and information, consistency and completeness

Technology

Infrastructure and platform of the enterprise information system, such as networks, devices, and system software.

Stability, security, dependencies, and cost of the infrastructure

Layered

Provides an overview of the architecture.

Consistency, reduced complexity, impact of change, flexibility

Physical

Physical environment and how it relates to IT infrastructure.

Relationships and dependencies of the physical environment and its connection to IT infrastructure

Support View

Name

Viewpoint

Concern

Product

Shows the content of the product.

Product development, enterprise product value

Application Usage

Links applications with their usage in business processes, etc.

Consistency and completeness, reduced complexity

Technology Usage

Shows how applications use technology.

Dependencies, performance, scalability

Collaboration View

Name

Viewpoint

Concern

Business Process Collaboration

Shows relationships between various business processes.

Business processes, consistency and completeness, dependencies between responsibilities

Application Collaboration

Shows application components and their mutual relationships.

Relationships and dependencies between applications, service orchestration, consistency and completeness, reduced complexity

Implementation View

Name

Viewpoint

Concern

Service Implementation

Shows how services are realized through required behavior.

Value addition to business processes, consistency and completeness, responsibility

Implementation and Deployment

Shows how applications map to underlying technology.

Structure of the application platform and its relationship with supporting technology

Physical View

What is the Physical View?

The physical view displays devices that can create, use, store, move, or transform material, how they are connected via distribution networks, and other activity elements assigned to the devices.

The table below details the physical view.

Stakeholders

Infrastructure architects, operations managers

Concern

Relationships and dependencies of the physical environment and its connection to IT infrastructure

Purpose

Design

Scope

Multi‑layer / multi‑aspect

Elements

Location, node, Device, Equipment, Facility, Path, Communication network, Distribution network, Material

Physical View Example

The figure below shows an architecture diagram drawn from the physical viewpoint.

Layered View

What is the Layered View?

The layered viewpoint provides an overview of the core elements of all layers and aspects of enterprise architecture. The underlying principle is that each dedicated layer exposes a service layer through an "realization" relationship, and the service layer in turn "serves" the next dedicated layer. This view makes it easy to separate the internal structure and organization of a dedicated layer from its externally observable behavior (represented as the service layer implemented by the dedicated layer).

The table below details the layered viewpoint.

Stakeholders

Enterprise, process, application, infrastructure, and domain architects

Concern

Consistency, reduced complexity, impact of change, flexibility

Purpose

Design, decision‑making, informing

Scope

Multi‑layer / multi‑aspect

Elements

<All core elements and all relationships are allowed in this view>

Layered View Example

The figure below shows an architecture diagram drawn from the layered viewpoint.

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