{"id":4736,"date":"2026-01-20T10:37:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T02:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T13:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:27:46","slug":"glossary-of-terms","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Glossary of Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glossary of Terms<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Access Relationship<\/strong>: Models the ability of behavior and active structure elements to observe or act upon passive structure elements.<\/li>\n
  • Active Structure Element<\/strong>: An entity capable of performing behavior.<\/li>\n
  • Aggregation Relationship<\/strong>: Indicates that an element groups or combines a number of other concepts.<\/li>\n
  • Application Collaboration<\/strong>: An aggregate of two or more application internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective application behavior.<\/li>\n
  • Application Component<\/strong>: An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure, which is modular and replaceable.<\/li>\n
  • Application Event<\/strong>: An application behavior element that denotes a state change.<\/li>\n
  • Application Function<\/strong>: Automated behavior that can be performed by an application component.<\/li>\n
  • Application Interface<\/strong>: A point of access where application services are made available to a user, another application component, or a node.<\/li>\n
  • Application Interaction<\/strong>: A unit of collective application behavior performed by a collaboration of two or more application components.<\/li>\n
  • Application Process<\/strong>: A sequence of application behaviors that achieves a specific result.<\/li>\n
  • Application Service<\/strong>: An explicitly defined exposed application behavior.<\/li>\n
  • ArchiMate Core Framework<\/strong>: A reference structure used to classify elements of the ArchiMate core language, consisting of three layers and three aspects.<\/li>\n
  • ArchiMate Core Language<\/strong>: The central part of the ArchiMate language defining concepts for three layers: Business, Application, and Technology.<\/li>\n
  • Architecture View<\/strong>: A representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.<\/li>\n
  • Architecture Viewpoint<\/strong>: A specification of the conventions for a particular kind of architecture view.<\/li>\n
  • Artifact<\/strong>: A piece of data used or produced in a software development process or by deployment and operation of a system.<\/li>\n
  • Aspect<\/strong>: Classification of elements based on layer-independent characteristics related to the concerns of different stakeholders.<\/li>\n
  • Assessment<\/strong>: The result of an analysis of the state of affairs of the enterprise with respect to some driver.<\/li>\n
  • Assignment Relationship<\/strong>: Expresses the allocation of responsibility, performance of behavior, storage, or execution.<\/li>\n
  • Association Relationship<\/strong>: Models an unspecified relationship or one not represented by another specific ArchiMate relationship.<\/li>\n
  • Attribute<\/strong>: A property associated with an ArchiMate language element or relationship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    B<\/strong><\/h4>\n
      \n
    • Behavior Element<\/strong>: Represents the dynamic aspects of the enterprise.<\/li>\n
    • Business Actor<\/strong>: A business entity that is capable of performing behavior.<\/li>\n
    • Business Collaboration<\/strong>: An aggregate of two or more business internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective behavior.<\/li>\n
    • Business Event<\/strong>: A business behavior element that denotes an organizational state change.<\/li>\n
    • Business Function<\/strong>: A collection of business behavior based on chosen criteria, managed or implemented as a whole.<\/li>\n
    • Business Interaction<\/strong>: A unit of collective business behavior performed by a collaboration of multiple business active structure elements.<\/li>\n
    • Business Interface<\/strong>: A point of access where business services are made available to the environment.<\/li>\n
    • Business Object<\/strong>: A concept used within a particular business domain to represent information or physical objects.<\/li>\n
    • Business Process<\/strong>: A sequence of business behaviors that achieves a specific result or outcome.<\/li>\n
    • Business Role<\/strong>: The responsibility for performing specific behavior to which an actor can be assigned.<\/li>\n
    • Business Service<\/strong>: An explicitly defined behavior exposed by a business role, actor, or collaboration to its environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      C<\/strong><\/h4>\n
        \n
      • Capability<\/strong>: An ability that an active structure element, such as an organization or system, possesses.<\/li>\n
      • Communication Network<\/strong>: A set of structures that connects devices or system software for transmission and routing of data.<\/li>\n
      • Composite Element<\/strong>: An element consisting of other concepts, possibly from multiple aspects or layers.<\/li>\n
      • Composition Relationship<\/strong>: Indicates that an element consists of one or more other concepts; representing a “whole-part” link.<\/li>\n
      • Concept<\/strong>: An element, a relationship, or a relationship connector.<\/li>\n
      • Conformance<\/strong>: Fulfillment of specified requirements.<\/li>\n
      • Constraint<\/strong>: A limitation on aspects of the architecture or a factor that prevents the realization of goals.<\/li>\n
      • Core Element<\/strong>: A structure or behavior element in one of the three core layers.<\/li>\n
      • Course of Action<\/strong>: An approach or plan for configuring capabilities and resources to achieve a goal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        D<\/strong><\/h4>\n
          \n
        • Data Object<\/strong>: Data structured for automated processing.<\/li>\n
        • Deliverable<\/strong>: A precisely defined outcome or result of a work package.<\/li>\n
        • Device<\/strong>: A physical IT resource with processing capability upon which system software and artifacts may be stored.<\/li>\n
        • Distribution Network<\/strong>: A physical network used to transport materials or energy.<\/li>\n
        • Driver<\/strong>: An external or internal condition that motivates an organization to define goals and implement changes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          E<\/strong><\/h4>\n
            \n
          • Element<\/strong>: The basic unit in the ArchiMate metamodel used to define and describe constituent parts of Enterprise Architectures.<\/li>\n
          • Equipment<\/strong>: One or more physical machines, tools, or instruments used to create, store, or transform materials.<\/li>\n
          • Event<\/strong>: A behavior element representing a state change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            F<\/strong><\/h4>\n
              \n
            • Facility<\/strong>: A physical structure or environment that has the capability of housing equipment.<\/li>\n
            • Flow Relationship<\/strong>: Represents the transfer of information, goods, or value from one element to another.<\/li>\n
            • Function<\/strong>: A collection of behavior based on specific criteria such as required resources or competencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              G<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                \n
              • Gap<\/strong>: A statement of difference between two plateaus, usually Baseline and Target Architecture.<\/li>\n
              • Goal<\/strong>: A high-level statement of intent, direction, or desired end state for an organization.<\/li>\n
              • Grouping<\/strong>: A composite element aggregating concepts based on a common characteristic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                I<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                  \n
                • Implementation Event<\/strong>: A behavior element denoting a state change related to implementation or migration.<\/li>\n
                • Influence Relationship<\/strong>: Represents that an element affects the implementation or achievement of some motivation element.<\/li>\n
                • Interaction<\/strong>: A unit of collective behavior performed by two or more internal active structure elements.<\/li>\n
                • Interface<\/strong>: An external active structure element representing a point of access where one or more services are provided.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  J<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                    \n
                  • Junction<\/strong>: A relationship connector used to connect multiple relationships of the same type (And\/Or).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                    L<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                      \n
                    • Layer<\/strong>: An abstraction of the ArchiMate framework at which an enterprise can be modeled.<\/li>\n
                    • Location<\/strong>: A place or position where structure elements can be located or behavior can be performed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                      M<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                        \n
                      • Material<\/strong>: Tangible physical matter or energy used or transformed in physical processes.<\/li>\n
                      • Meaning<\/strong>: The knowledge, expertise, or interpretation given to a concept in a particular context.<\/li>\n
                      • Model<\/strong>: A collection of concepts in the context of the ArchiMate language structure.<\/li>\n
                      • Motivation Element<\/strong>: Represents the context of or reason behind the architecture of an enterprise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                        N<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                          \n
                        • Node<\/strong>: A computational or physical resource that hosts, manipulates, or interacts with other resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                          O<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                            \n
                          • Outcome<\/strong>: An end result, effect, or consequence of a certain state of affairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                            P<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                              \n
                            • Passive Structure Element<\/strong>: A structural element on which behavior is performed and cannot perform behavior itself.<\/li>\n
                            • Path<\/strong>: A link between two or more nodes through which they can exchange data, energy, or material.<\/li>\n
                            • Plateau<\/strong>: A relatively stable state of the architecture that exists during a limited period of time.<\/li>\n
                            • Principle<\/strong>: A statement of intent defining a general property that applies to any system in a certain context.<\/li>\n
                            • Process<\/strong>: A sequence of behaviors that achieves a specific result or outcome.<\/li>\n
                            • Product<\/strong>: A coherent collection of services and\/or passive structure elements offered as a whole to customers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                              R<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                                \n
                              • Realization Relationship<\/strong>: Indicates that a more tangible entity plays a critical role in the achievement or operation of a more abstract entity.<\/li>\n
                              • Relationship<\/strong>: A connection between a source and target concept classified as structural, dependency, dynamic, or other.<\/li>\n
                              • Requirement<\/strong>: A statement of need defining a property that must be met by a specific system.<\/li>\n
                              • Resource<\/strong>: An asset owned or controlled by an individual or organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                S<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                                  \n
                                • Service<\/strong>: An explicitly defined exposed behavior.<\/li>\n
                                • Serving Relationship<\/strong>: Represents a control dependency where one element provides its functionality to another.<\/li>\n
                                • Specialization Relationship<\/strong>: Indicates that an element is a particular kind of another more general element.<\/li>\n
                                • Stakeholder<\/strong>: The role of an individual or team representing their interests in the outcome of the architecture.<\/li>\n
                                • System Software<\/strong>: Software contributing to an environment for storing, executing, and using software or data deployed within it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                  T<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                                    \n
                                  • Technology Collaboration<\/strong>: An aggregate of two or more nodes working together to perform collective behavior.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Event<\/strong>: A technology behavior element that denotes a state change.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Function<\/strong>: A collection of technology behavior that can be performed by a node.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Interaction<\/strong>: A unit of collective technology behavior performed by a collaboration of two or more nodes.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Interface<\/strong>: A point of access where technology services offered by a node can be accessed.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Process<\/strong>: A sequence of technology behaviors that achieves a specific result.<\/li>\n
                                  • Technology Service<\/strong>: An explicitly defined exposed technology behavior realized by technology functions.<\/li>\n
                                  • Triggering Relationship<\/strong>: Describes a temporal or causal relationship between behavior elements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                    V<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                                      \n
                                    • Value<\/strong>: The relative worth, utility, or importance of a concept or outcome.<\/li>\n
                                    • Value Stream<\/strong>: A sequence of activities that create an overall result for a stakeholder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                                      W<\/strong><\/h4>\n
                                        \n
                                      • Work Package<\/strong>: A series of actions identified and designed to achieve specific results within specified time and resource constraints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":4733,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_eb_attr":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":""},"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-4736","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nGlossary of Terms - Visual Paradigm Guides French<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Glossary of Terms - Visual Paradigm Guides French\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Glossary of Terms A Access Relationship: Models the ability of behavior and active structure elements to observe or act upon passive structure elements. Active Structure Element: An entity capable of performing behavior. Aggregation Relationship: Indicates that an element groups or combines a number of other concepts. Application Collaboration: An aggregate of two or more application internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective application behavior. Application Component: An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure, which is modular and replaceable. Application Event: An application behavior element that denotes a state change. Application Function: Automated behavior that can be performed by an application component. Application Interface: A point of access where application services are made available to a user, another application component, or a node. Application Interaction: A unit of collective application behavior performed by a collaboration of two or more application components. Application Process: A sequence of application behaviors that achieves a specific result. Application Service: An explicitly defined exposed application behavior. ArchiMate Core Framework: A reference structure used to classify elements of the ArchiMate core language, consisting of three layers and three aspects. ArchiMate Core Language: The central part of the ArchiMate language defining concepts for three layers: Business, Application, and Technology. Architecture View: A representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns. Architecture Viewpoint: A specification of the conventions for a particular kind of architecture view. Artifact: A piece of data used or produced in a software development process or by deployment and operation of a system. Aspect: Classification of elements based on layer-independent characteristics related to the concerns of different stakeholders. Assessment: The result of an analysis of the state of affairs of the enterprise with respect to some driver. Assignment Relationship: Expresses the allocation of responsibility, performance of behavior, storage, or execution. Association Relationship: Models an unspecified relationship or one not represented by another specific ArchiMate relationship. Attribute: A property associated with an ArchiMate language element or relationship. B Behavior Element: Represents the dynamic aspects of the enterprise. Business Actor: A business entity that is capable of performing behavior. Business Collaboration: An aggregate of two or more business internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective behavior. Business Event: A business behavior element that denotes an organizational state change. Business Function: A collection of business behavior based on chosen criteria, managed or implemented as a whole. Business Interaction: A unit of collective business behavior performed by a collaboration of multiple business active structure elements. Business Interface: A point of access where business services are made available to the environment. Business Object: A concept used within a particular business domain to represent information or physical objects. Business Process: A sequence of business behaviors that achieves a specific result or outcome. Business Role: The responsibility for performing specific behavior to which an actor can be assigned. Business Service: An explicitly defined behavior exposed by a business role, actor, or collaboration to its environment. C Capability: An ability that an active structure element, such as an organization or system, possesses. Communication Network: A set of structures that connects devices or system software for transmission and routing of data. Composite Element: An element consisting of other concepts, possibly from multiple aspects or layers. Composition Relationship: Indicates that an element consists of one or more other concepts; representing a “whole-part” link. Concept: An element, a relationship, or a relationship connector. Conformance: Fulfillment of specified requirements. Constraint: A limitation on aspects of the architecture or a factor that prevents the realization of goals. Core Element: A structure or behavior element in one of the three core layers. Course of Action: An approach or plan for configuring capabilities and resources to achieve a goal. D Data Object: Data structured for automated processing. Deliverable: A precisely defined outcome or result of a work package. Device: A physical IT resource with processing capability upon which system software and artifacts may be stored. Distribution Network: A physical network used to transport materials or energy. Driver: An external or internal condition that motivates an organization to define goals and implement changes. E Element: The basic unit in the ArchiMate metamodel used to define and describe constituent parts of Enterprise Architectures. Equipment: One or more physical machines, tools, or instruments used to create, store, or transform materials. Event: A behavior element representing a state change. F Facility: A physical structure or environment that has the capability of housing equipment. Flow Relationship: Represents the transfer of information, goods, or value from one element to another. Function: A collection of behavior based on specific criteria such as required resources or competencies. G Gap: A statement of difference between two plateaus, usually Baseline and Target Architecture. Goal: A high-level statement of intent, direction, or desired end state for an organization. Grouping: A composite element aggregating concepts based on a common characteristic. I Implementation Event: A behavior element denoting a state change related to implementation or migration. Influence Relationship: Represents that an element affects the implementation or achievement of some motivation element. Interaction: A unit of collective behavior performed by two or more internal active structure elements. Interface: An external active structure element representing a point of access where one or more services are provided. J Junction: A relationship connector used to connect multiple relationships of the same type (And\/Or). L Layer: An abstraction of the ArchiMate framework at which an enterprise can be modeled. Location: A place or position where structure elements can be located or behavior can be performed. M Material: Tangible physical matter or energy used or transformed in physical processes. Meaning: The knowledge, expertise, or interpretation given to a concept in a particular context. Model: A collection of concepts in the context of the ArchiMate language structure. Motivation Element: Represents the context of or reason behind the architecture of an enterprise. N Node: A computational or physical resource that hosts, manipulates, or interacts with other resources. O Outcome: An end result, effect, or consequence of a certainGlossary of Terms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visual Paradigm Guides French\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T05:27:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/\",\"name\":\"Glossary of Terms - Visual Paradigm Guides French\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T02:37:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-20T05:27:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ArchiMate Explained: A Guide to AI-Powered Enterprise Architecture\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Appendices\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Glossary of Terms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/\",\"name\":\"Visual Paradigm Guides French\",\"description\":\"Smart guides for an AI-driven world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Glossary of Terms - Visual Paradigm Guides French","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guides.visual-paradigm.com\/fr\/docs\/archimate-explained-a-guide-to-ai-powered-enterprise-architecture\/appendices\/glossary-of-terms\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Glossary of Terms - Visual Paradigm Guides French","og_description":"Glossary of Terms A Access Relationship: Models the ability of behavior and active structure elements to observe or act upon passive structure elements. Active Structure Element: An entity capable of performing behavior. Aggregation Relationship: Indicates that an element groups or combines a number of other concepts. Application Collaboration: An aggregate of two or more application internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective application behavior. Application Component: An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure, which is modular and replaceable. Application Event: An application behavior element that denotes a state change. Application Function: Automated behavior that can be performed by an application component. Application Interface: A point of access where application services are made available to a user, another application component, or a node. Application Interaction: A unit of collective application behavior performed by a collaboration of two or more application components. Application Process: A sequence of application behaviors that achieves a specific result. Application Service: An explicitly defined exposed application behavior. ArchiMate Core Framework: A reference structure used to classify elements of the ArchiMate core language, consisting of three layers and three aspects. ArchiMate Core Language: The central part of the ArchiMate language defining concepts for three layers: Business, Application, and Technology. Architecture View: A representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns. Architecture Viewpoint: A specification of the conventions for a particular kind of architecture view. Artifact: A piece of data used or produced in a software development process or by deployment and operation of a system. Aspect: Classification of elements based on layer-independent characteristics related to the concerns of different stakeholders. Assessment: The result of an analysis of the state of affairs of the enterprise with respect to some driver. Assignment Relationship: Expresses the allocation of responsibility, performance of behavior, storage, or execution. Association Relationship: Models an unspecified relationship or one not represented by another specific ArchiMate relationship. Attribute: A property associated with an ArchiMate language element or relationship. B Behavior Element: Represents the dynamic aspects of the enterprise. Business Actor: A business entity that is capable of performing behavior. Business Collaboration: An aggregate of two or more business internal active structure elements that work together to perform collective behavior. Business Event: A business behavior element that denotes an organizational state change. Business Function: A collection of business behavior based on chosen criteria, managed or implemented as a whole. Business Interaction: A unit of collective business behavior performed by a collaboration of multiple business active structure elements. Business Interface: A point of access where business services are made available to the environment. Business Object: A concept used within a particular business domain to represent information or physical objects. Business Process: A sequence of business behaviors that achieves a specific result or outcome. Business Role: The responsibility for performing specific behavior to which an actor can be assigned. Business Service: An explicitly defined behavior exposed by a business role, actor, or collaboration to its environment. C Capability: An ability that an active structure element, such as an organization or system, possesses. Communication Network: A set of structures that connects devices or system software for transmission and routing of data. Composite Element: An element consisting of other concepts, possibly from multiple aspects or layers. Composition Relationship: Indicates that an element consists of one or more other concepts; representing a “whole-part” link. Concept: An element, a relationship, or a relationship connector. Conformance: Fulfillment of specified requirements. Constraint: A limitation on aspects of the architecture or a factor that prevents the realization of goals. Core Element: A structure or behavior element in one of the three core layers. Course of Action: An approach or plan for configuring capabilities and resources to achieve a goal. D Data Object: Data structured for automated processing. Deliverable: A precisely defined outcome or result of a work package. Device: A physical IT resource with processing capability upon which system software and artifacts may be stored. Distribution Network: A physical network used to transport materials or energy. Driver: An external or internal condition that motivates an organization to define goals and implement changes. E Element: The basic unit in the ArchiMate metamodel used to define and describe constituent parts of Enterprise Architectures. Equipment: One or more physical machines, tools, or instruments used to create, store, or transform materials. Event: A behavior element representing a state change. F Facility: A physical structure or environment that has the capability of housing equipment. Flow Relationship: Represents the transfer of information, goods, or value from one element to another. Function: A collection of behavior based on specific criteria such as required resources or competencies. G Gap: A statement of difference between two plateaus, usually Baseline and Target Architecture. Goal: A high-level statement of intent, direction, or desired end state for an organization. Grouping: A composite element aggregating concepts based on a common characteristic. I Implementation Event: A behavior element denoting a state change related to implementation or migration. Influence Relationship: Represents that an element affects the implementation or achievement of some motivation element. Interaction: A unit of collective behavior performed by two or more internal active structure elements. Interface: An external active structure element representing a point of access where one or more services are provided. J Junction: A relationship connector used to connect multiple relationships of the same type (And\/Or). L Layer: An abstraction of the ArchiMate framework at which an enterprise can be modeled. Location: A place or position where structure elements can be located or behavior can be performed. M Material: Tangible physical matter or energy used or transformed in physical processes. Meaning: The knowledge, expertise, or interpretation given to a concept in a particular context. Model: A collection of concepts in the context of the ArchiMate language structure. Motivation Element: Represents the context of or reason behind the architecture of an enterprise. N Node: A computational or physical resource that hosts, manipulates, or interacts with other resources. 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