Finding and viewing architecture elements

Search, filter and sort architecture elements: On the Published tab you will find all published elements and from there you can open the page of an individual element with its properties, responsible persons and links.

The tab shows the inventory that everyone sees; anything not yet published is held in the Drafts tab. See Creating and publishing architecture elements.

How to proceed

1. Select Architecture.
2. Select the Published tab.
3. Narrow down the list using the filter area and select an element.

Filtering the list

The following options are available in the left-hand area:

• All names — text search in the name
• All types — one or more architecture element types
• All levels — one or more ArchiMate levels, e.g. Business Level or Application Level. If you select a level, Bpanda also selects all types of that level in All types and only offers the types of the selected levels there; if you deselect the level, its types are removed as well.
• Created on — period from/to

Below this, you can sort the list By type (default), By creation date, By level, By modification date or By name.

Three toggles complete the selection:

• I am responsible shows only elements for which you yourself are entered as responsible — including where the responsibility arises via a group, an organizational unit or an organizational role.
• Show invalid also adds invalid elements to the list. Only elements of the type Business Process become invalid, namely when their process version no longer applies, e.g. because a newer version has superseded it.
• Show hidden adds hidden elements. The toggle only appears for BPM Managers and Designers and only on this tab.

The filters are collapsed to begin with; clicking a filter expands it. If a filter offers more than ten values, such as All types, you can narrow them down using the Search field; types and levels are listed alphabetically. When a filter is active, the symbol in front of its title has a colored background. As soon as a filter is active, Reset all filters appears at the top of the left-hand area: it clears all filters, switches the toggles off and resets the sorting to By type.

Each row shows the symbol and name of the element, below it Type - Level, together with the modification and creation date. A person symbol marks elements for which you are responsible, a crossed-out eye marks the hidden ones.

The architecture element page

Clicking a row opens the element. The header shows the name and, below it, Type - Level; the breadcrumb takes you back to the Architecture area.

Below this, the page lists:

• At the very top, a card without a heading showing Published on, Created on and Last modified on, each with the person alongside. If the element is hidden, this is shown at the top, together with Hidden on and Hidden by.
• Description — formatted text, editable on the draft.
• Responsible persons — users, groups, organizational units and organizational roles that are responsible for the element.
• Properties — the properties of the element type, grouped as in the model. Mandatory fields that have not been filled in are shown as required*, empty optional ones as not set.
• Linked architecture elements — the relations of the element with relation type and direction, with the toggles Show invalid, Show hidden and Group by linked elements. See Linked architecture elements and relation types.

Sharing an element

For a published element, select Share to copy the link to the architecture element to the clipboard.

Exporting the list as ArchiMate® XML

As a BPM Manager or Designer, you can export architecture elements as an ArchiMate® XML file. Exactly what the list shows with your current filters is exported: All names, All types, All levels, Created on and the toggles. Published elements and drafts are never contained in one file together; you export them separately from their tab.

1. Select Architecture.
2. Select the Published or Drafts tab.
3. Narrow down the list using the filter area.
4. On the Published tab, select Export architecture elements as ArchiMate® XML at the top right; on the Drafts tab, select the three-dot menu and, within it, Export architecture elements as ArchiMate® XML.

Bpanda downloads the file architecture_export.xml. It contains the elements with name, description and properties as well as the relations between them, but no diagrams. A relation is only contained in the file if both elements it connects are exported as well.

If the export fails, Bpanda reports Exporting the ArchiMate® XML file failed.

See also: Architecture, Editing architecture elements