ArchiMate

is a modeling language for enterprise architecture that helps to describe, analyze, and visualize the relationships among business domains. It complements the TOGAF standard.

• It is a standard developed by The Open Group.
• It allows architects to create different views of architecture at different levels of abstraction.
• Supports interoperability with other standards such as UML and BPMN
• Defines three main categories of elements; active structures, behavior, and passive structures
• Active structures perform behavior: actors, roles, collaborations, and interfaces.
• Example: A team squad can have specific permissions on an application.
• Behaviors: processes, functions, events, and services performed by active structures.
• Example: A checkout process in an e-commerce application.
• Passive structures are manipulated by behavior: data, products, and contracts.
• Example: A list of registered users.
• These concepts can be organized into three layers: business, application, and technology.