Basic Viewpoints: Organization, Technology, and Layered Views

Basic Viewpoints: Organization, Technology, and Layered Views

Basic viewpoints in ArchiMate are used to describe concepts from the three core layers: Business, Application, and Technology. These viewpoints are essential for managing complexity and establishing consistency across the enterprise architecture. They are categorized by their coverage direction, such as Composition (internal structure) and Realization (how lower layers support higher ones). Within Visual Paradigm, these viewpoints act as specialized “filters” that allow architects to select a relevant subset of elements to address specific stakeholder concerns without cluttering the diagram with irrelevant data.

1. The Organization Viewpoint

The Organization viewpoint focuses on the internal structure of a company, department, or a network of companies. It identifies the competencies, authority, and responsibilities within an organization. Models in this viewpoint are typically represented as nested block diagrams or traditional organizational charts.

• Stakeholders: Enterprise architects, managers, and employees.
• Key Elements: Business Actor, Business Role, Business Collaboration, Location, and Business Interface.
• Practical Example: Using the AI Chatbot, an architect can generate an Organization viewpoint showing the reporting structure and departments of a regional hospital. This allows management to clearly visualize how different specialized units, such as the emergency department and pharmacy, interact under a single administrative actor.

2. The Technology Viewpoint

The Technology viewpoint provides a detailed view of the infrastructure and platforms that underlie an organization’s information systems. It describes software and hardware technology elements such as networks, devices, and system software like databases or middleware. This viewpoint is critical for analyzing the stability, security, and costs of the IT infrastructure.

• Stakeholders: Infrastructure architects and operational managers.
• Key Elements: Node, Device, System Software, Technology Interface, Communication Network, and Path.
• Practical Example: An architect can prompt the AI to generate a Technology viewpoint for a cloud-based video streaming service. The resulting model would depict the specific hardware devices and system software—such as content delivery network nodes and cloud servers—that support the application layer.

3. The Layered Viewpoint

The Layered viewpoint offers a “bird’s-eye view” of all core elements across all layers and aspects of the Enterprise Architecture. The structural principle is that each layer exposes a set of services through a realization relationship, which then serves the next layer up. This viewpoint is highly effective for reducing complexity and performing impact of change analysis.

• Stakeholders: Enterprise, process, and application architects.
• Key Elements: All core elements and relationships are permitted in this viewpoint.
• Practical Example: During a Digital Transformation project, an architect might use a Layered viewpoint to describe the “To-Be” state of a retail company’s shift to e-commerce. The diagram would show how the Business Layer (order fulfillment processes) is served by the Application Layer (inventory management apps), which is in turn realized by the Technology Layer (cloud hosting infrastructure), providing a holistic view of the transformation.

Summary of Basic Viewpoints