Metamodel
The ArchNGN metamodel organises architectural elements into four layers: Business, Application, Technology, and Governance. This structure provides a consistent framework for modelling how your organisation operates, what software supports it, what infrastructure runs underneath, and what standards govern it.
Layers
Section titled “Layers”Business
Section titled “Business”Describes what the business does and how value is delivered, independent of implementation.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Domain | A high-level area of knowledge or activity (e.g., “Payments”, “Logistics”). Primary grouping mechanism for capabilities and components. |
| Business Capability | Defines what the business does at a functional level, independent of how it is implemented (e.g., “Order Management”). |
| Organization Role | A structural responsibility or job function within the organization (e.g., “Finance Manager”, “DevOps Engineer”). |
| Value Stream | The end-to-end sequence of activities that create value for a customer (e.g., “Order to Cash”). |
Application
Section titled “Application”Describes the software systems and data structures that support business operations.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Application | A complete software solution or suite providing business functionality, managed as a distinct asset or subscription (e.g., Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft 365). |
| Application Service | A discrete piece of business functionality exposed by a system (e.g., “Payment Processing Service”). |
| Data Object | A key logical data entity (e.g., “Customer Record”, “Order Payload”) independent of physical storage. |
| Interface | The specific access point or contract for interacting with a service (e.g., “v1 REST API”, “CSV Export”). |
| Component | A deployable unit of software, such as an application binary, library, or container image. |
Technology
Section titled “Technology”Represents the foundational infrastructure that hosts and runs the Application layer.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Technology Service | A technical capability provided by the infrastructure or cloud platform (e.g., Messaging, AI, Identity, ETL). |
| Compute | Processing resources required to run applications (e.g., “Virtual Machine”, “Kubernetes Cluster”). |
| Data Store | A physical repository for persisting data (e.g., “PostgreSQL Database”, “S3 Bucket”). |
| Network | Communication infrastructure connecting resources (e.g., “VPC”, “Load Balancer”). |
Governance
Section titled “Governance”Captures the decisions, policies, and standards that guide architectural choices across all other layers.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Decision | Records a specific architectural choice or direction (e.g., “Use React for Frontend”). |
| Policy | High-level rules or intent that must be followed (e.g., “Data Privacy Policy”). |
| Standard | Precise, mandatory constraints or approved technologies (e.g., “PostgreSQL 14”). |
| Blueprint | A high-level reference design or target architecture. |
| Pattern | A reusable solution to a common architectural problem (e.g., “Circuit Breaker Pattern”). |
Cross-Layer Associations
Section titled “Cross-Layer Associations”The value of the metamodel is in the relationships that span layers:
- Top-Down Tracing — Follow a Business Process to the Application Component that automates it, then to the Technology Node that hosts it
- Impact Analysis — Understand how retiring a server affects the applications and business processes that depend on it
- Governance Linkage — Connect policies and standards to the architectural elements they govern
- Category Filtering — Isolate specific layers to focus on a subset of relationships (e.g., Business-to-Business only)