Using the ArchiMate Language with UML
Enterprises committed to aligning their process and systems investments with their business strategies must work at multiple architectural levels defined by the TOGAF ® standard, including enterprise-wide strategic architectures, and more granular segment and capability architectures. Solution Architectures may occur at the segment and capability level. Enterprise Architectures are used for high-level direction setting and strategic planning, while Solution Architectures guide lower-level individual project efforts. The ArchiMate ® visual modeling language standard is a natural choice for Enterprise Architectures while, for Solution Architectures, the Unified Modeling Language ® (UML ® ) provides a wide range of views, concepts, and relationships. When architects make these common and workable choices, understanding how to use the ArchiMate language and UML together is necessary for efficient and precise alignment between the Enterprise and Solution Architectures. This White Paper focuses on the use of the ArchiMate language for Enterprise Architectures and UML for IT Solution Architectures, even though both languages have other uses. However, this White Paper is also relevant to other uses of these languages. It explores several ways of using the two languages together.
