How to Create a Process Application Diagram

This tutorial will introduce how to create a process application landscape diagram.

The Dragon1 modeling language enables the modeling of business processes and information systems (applications) in detail.

Business Processes can be modeled with input, output, indicators, responsibilities, activities, tasks, procedures, work instructions, decisions, events, and gateway.
Information Systems can be modeled with applications, modules, components, databases, interfaces, documents, and people.

Example Process Application Landscape

dragon1 process application architecture diagram

Process Application Landscape Diagram.

This visualization shows a process landscape related to an application landscape. The dependencies of processes to applications are shown.

An overview like this is necessary for any organization to analyze beforehand the impact of changing processes and applications.

You will create this landscape by using three web applications on Dragon1: The Architecture Repository (AR), The Visual Designer (VD), and the Viewer (V).

You will take the following steps:

Create a dossier structure (AR)
Enter or import data (AR)
Create process and application models, using the data (VD)
Create links between the process and application models (AR)
Create process and application views, using the models (VD)
Create links between views (AR)
Create a visualization, using the views (VD)
Publish the visualization to the Viewer to have it watched and commented on by stakeholders (VD and V)

Step 1. - Create a Dossier Structure

First we are going to create a dossier structure in a cabinet to store our data. We will use the Architecture Repository application for that.

On Dragon1, data is stored in repositories. A repository consists of a cabinet with dossiers and every dossier consists of folders. Folders hold the data you enter. Read more about cabinets, dossiers and folders.

A basic folder structure for a process-application landscape dossier would be:

-Data
     -Information Domains
     -Application Platforms
     -Processes
     -Applications
     -Information Objects
     -Databases
-Models
-Views
-Visualizations
-Scenarios
-Atlases

Read more on the Help about creating a dossier structure.

To create a dossier structure:

Go to the Architecture Repository
Create or open a Cabinet
Select the cabinet in the Explorer treeview
Create a Dossier
Select the dossier in the Explorer treeview
Create four folders in the dossier: Data, Models, Relationships, Views, and Visualizations
Create a subfolder Processes and a subfolder Applications in the Data folder

When you are finished with step 1, your screen should look something like this:

Create a Dossier Structure.

Step 2. - Enter Data

On Dragon1 you can enter data manually, via import, or visually. In this tutorial, we use the Architecture Repository for manual data entry.

To enter data:

Go to the Architecture Repository
Create or open a Cabinet
Select a folder
Insert entities in the folders using the Insert Archifact or Insert Entity dialog
- In the process application map, we will finally have three layers: Business, Information, and Application.
- Choose the entities for these layers, using the insert dialogs:
- For the Business Layer: Group, Function, Process, Activity
- For the Information Layer: Information Object
- For the Application Layer: Application, Database, Interface, Service
Select an inserted entity in the treeview
Change the name of the entity in the form
Click 'Update' to save your changes.

When you are finished with step 1, your screen should look something like this:

Enter the Data.

Step 3. - Create a Model, using the data

To create a model:

Go to the Visual Designer
Create or open a Cabinet
Select a folder
Insert models from the menu bar
- Create models for the process-application landscape for every entity class you have used
- Process model, Service model, Application model, etc...
Enter a name for the model
Optionally choose a type for the model
Insert shapes like processes and applications for the model by clicking on Draw Archifact or Draw entity and drag the shape onto the canvas
You can change the color and size of the shapes
Draw connections between the shapes using the smart tools of a selected shape.

Step 4. - Create links between models

To create a link between models:

Select a model in the Explorer treeview
Select a shape in the model
Enter a link to another model in the LinkURL field of the text attributes

Step 5. - Create a View, using the model

To create a view:

Go to the Visual Designer
Create or open a Cabinet
Select a folder
Insert views from the menubar
- Create views for the process-application landscape for each model you created:
- Functions view, Process view, and Activities view, etc.
Enter a name
Select the model to use
Enter a viewing rule for the model data:
- Rule Event: onload
- Rule Condition: Class=Process;Name=Sales;Relation=FirstLevel
- Rule Action: Show(name)

Step 6. - Create links between views

To create a link between views:

Select a view in the Explorer treeview
Select a shape in the view
Enter a link to another view in the LinkURL field of the text attributes

Step 7. - Create a Visualization, using the views

To create a visualization

Go to the Visual Designer
Create or open a Cabinet
Select a folder
Insert a visualization from the menubar
Drag a shape on the canvas. You will use this shape to generate the view data on the canvas.
- For the process-application landscape use three shapes:
- One for Functions, Processes and Activities.
Save the visualization
Select one of the three view shapes
Enter the following view rules in the data attributes panel of the inspector.
- Rule Event: onload
- Rule Condition: Class=Process
- Rule Action: Show(name)

Do this for all three view shapes

With this rule you will only see the processes from the view data. You can also show the whole view with Rule Condition = *.

Step 8. - Publish the visualization

To publish a visualization:

Select a visualization in a folder
Click on the Share button in the menubar
Enter the correct data in the dialog
Click on the share button in the dialog
Now go to the Viewer and search for your visualization by its title
Add a comment to the visualization
Filter the visualization on certain values

Read also

If you are interested in more examples of Landscape Diagrams you might also want to read:

Get Started

Do you want to start immediately? You can purchase your Dragon1 PRO user license here online via PayPal.

If you do not have the time and you need a Process Application Landscape on short notice, we can create a Landscape for you.