Читать книгу ArchiMate® 3.1 Specification - The Open Group - Страница 20

The ArchiMate Core Framework is a framework of nine cells used to classify elements of the ArchiMate core language. It is made up of three aspects and three layers, as illustrated in Figure 2. This is known as the ArchiMate Core Framework.

It is important to understand that the classification of elements based on aspects and layers is only a global one. Real-life architecture elements need not strictly be confined to one aspect or layer, because elements that link the different aspects and layers play a central role in a coherent architectural description. For example, running somewhat ahead of the later conceptual discussions, business roles serve as intermediary elements between “purely behavioral” elements and “purely structural” elements, and it may depend on the context whether a certain piece of software is considered to be part of the Application Layer or the Technology Layer.

Figure 2: ArchiMate Core Framework

The structure of the framework allows for modeling of the enterprise from different viewpoints, where the position within the cells highlights the concerns of the stakeholder. A stakeholder typically can have concerns that cover multiple cells.

The dimensions of the framework are as follows:

• Layers – the three levels at which an enterprise can be modeled in ArchiMate – Business, Application, and Technology (as described in Section 3.3)

• Aspects:

— The Active Structure Aspect, which represents the structural elements (the business actors, application components, and devices that display actual behavior; i.e., the “subjects” of activity)

— The Behavior Aspect, which represents the behavior (processes, functions, events, and services) performed by the actors; structural elements are assigned to behavioral elements, to show who or what displays the behavior

— The Passive Structure Aspect, which represents the objects on which behavior is performed; these are usually information objects in the Business Layer and data objects in the Application Layer, but they may also be used to represent physical objects

A composite element, as shown in Figure 1, is an element that does not necessarily fit in a single aspect (column) of the framework, but may combine two or more aspects.

Note that the ArchiMate language does not require the modeler to use any particular layout such as the structure of this framework; it is merely a categorization of the language elements.