With the whole in view
Ross, Weill and Robertson call it the core diagram: one page showing which processes, data and technologies the company must standardise to execute its strategy. It is the first sheet of the map.
Architecture map
A map of your systems that the board understands and the engineers can build from.
Before buying, integrating or building software it pays to see the whole: what the business does, which applications hold it up, and which technology they run on. I draw that map in two languages that complement each other: ArchiMate for the enterprise and C4 for each system to be built or integrated. The result fits in a few pages and gets signed before the first line of code.
What it is for
The same drawing for everyone
Leadership, operations and engineering look at the same map at different zoom levels. Nobody has to translate between an org chart, a software contract and a network diagram.
Before building
What is going to be integrated or developed is described, with its boundaries and its decisions, before anyone asks for a quote. Changing a drawing costs an hour; changing a half-built system costs weeks.
C4: a map with zoom
The C4 model, by Simon Brown, describes a software system as a map with four levels of zoom: context, containers, components and code. Each level answers a different audience in the same language. Below, the first three for the ERP of the fictional distributor; the code level is only drawn when it is needed.
The zoom advances on its own; hover to stop it and pick a level. Every box says what it is, on which technology, and what it is for: that discipline is what makes a map readable without an explanation. The same discipline, applied to cameras, access control and alarms, is on integrated security with AI.
ArchiMate: business, applications and technology in one language
ArchiMate is The Open Group's standard for modelling the whole enterprise. One model holds motivation and strategy, the actors, roles and processes of the business, the applications with their services, and the technology underneath, joined by relationships that mean something: who performs what, what realises what, what serves whom. With it you can answer which applications hold up each process, what is affected if one changes, and where there is duplication.
How it is modelled, with method
A map is worth what you can ask of it afterwards. These are the rules I apply, taken from Gerben Wierda's practice in Mastering ArchiMate and from the standard.
Structure and behaviour, kept apart
An application is not a box: it is the component that acts, the function it acts with, the service it offers and the data it touches. That is how you know what each application gives the business, not merely that it exists.
One model, many views
ArchiMate has a single view type: the whole enterprise. Each diagram is a cut of that model for one audience: leadership, operations or engineering. Nothing is drawn twice.
The same pattern for comparable things
Two similar applications are modelled the same way. That is what makes the model answer questions: which servers hold up a process that cannot stop for more than four hours, which applications depend on one vendor.
Relationships that mean something
Who performs what, what realises what, what serves whom. Relationships are chosen for what they say, not for the arrow that looks nice, and they read as sentences.
Quiet views
Lines only horizontal and vertical, no confusing crossings; elements of the same size on a grid; the element type written in the label for people who do not read models every day.
The source model, not the picture
What gets delivered is the model file, opened in Archi, with the views inside. Pictures can be regenerated; a model is queried and maintained.
What you get
Core diagram
One page with the company's operating model: which processes, data and technologies are shared across units and which are not. It follows the method of Ross, Weill and Robertson.
ArchiMate views
Business capabilities and processes, the applications that hold them up, the technology they run on, and the gaps between what exists and what is missing.
C4 model of the solution
Context, containers and components of what is going to be built or integrated, with the technology of each piece. The code level when it needs explaining.
Decisions on record
Every architecture decision with its context, the alternatives and the reason, in short versioned records. Whoever arrives later will know why.
The source model, not just images
The Archi file for ArchiMate and the C4 diagrams as code, so your team can keep editing them without depending on me.
A reading session
A session with leadership and engineering to read the map together, correct it and sign it.
Price
Two scopes at a fixed price. Half to start and half when the map is signed.
Context map
One week. Core diagram, C4 context of the current systems, and one ArchiMate view of processes and applications. To know where the company stands before deciding.
Solution architecture
Three weeks. Everything above plus the containers and components of the solution to be built or integrated, the technology view, the decisions on record, and the reading session.
If you come from the process mapping, the context map comes out of the same interviews and costs USD 350. If you go on to contract the implementation with me, the map is credited against it. Full refund of the deposit within fourteen days and before the first delivery, under the refund policy.
Frequently asked
What is the C4 model?
A way of describing a software system as a map with four levels of zoom: context, containers, components and code. Each level answers a different audience in the same language. It was proposed by Simon Brown.
What is ArchiMate and how is it different from C4?
ArchiMate is The Open Group's standard for modelling a whole enterprise: motivation, business, applications and technology in one model. C4 describes one concrete system. In an architecture map they are used together: ArchiMate for the whole, C4 for what is going to be built or integrated.
What do I receive, and in what format?
A PDF to sign, the source model in Archi for ArchiMate, the C4 diagrams as code and the architecture decisions on record, plus a reading session with leadership and engineering. Context map USD 700 in one week; solution architecture USD 2,100 in three weeks.
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Ask for the map
Tell me which systems you run today and what you want to build or integrate. I reply with a proposal within one business day.
contacto@andresbrinez.com