Enterprise Architecture Modeling Glossary
On this page, we have listed the terms from the Dragon1 open EA Method you will encounter throughout this guide:
Architecture
A total concept for a structure, consisting of operative, decorative and constructive concepts.
Enterprise Architecture
A total concept for an enterprise structure, consisting of operative, decorative and constructive business and IT concepts.
Concept
An idea, approach, way of doing things, abstraction of an implementation.
Element
A logical entity as part of a concept and principle of a concept.
Principle
The enforced way an entity works, producing results.
Entity Class
A logical data item type that can be stored in a folder. Humans, Products, Services, Processes and Applications, etc. All are entityclasses. You can store many types and instances of entities in a folder.
Entity
A logical data item that can be stored in a folder. A customer (human), insurance (a product), serving coffee (a service), sending invoices (a process) and CRM (application) are examples of entities. But also a model, view and visualization are entities, but a specific type of entity. Every entity always is an instance of an Entity Class.
Model
A set of related entities. For example, the enterprise model of a hospital consists of entities like humans, products, services, processes and applications.
Meta Model
A class of models. For example, hospital enterprise models.
Viewpoint
A set of entities classes, entity types and entities attribute values that are of interest to a certain stakeholder.
View
A filtered model based on a viewpoint (a set of entities).
Visualization
A graphical representation of a view of a model. Diagrams and presentations are types of visualizations.
Relationship
The logical connection between entities in a model.
Complete overview of terms
For a complete overview of terms, please check the Dragon1 Glossary page.