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Building the technical architecture

Building the technical architecture is part of creating a business application. Creating a business application involves:

  • Assigning a name
  • Assigning key attributes
  • Building the business architecture
  • Building the technical architecture
  • Defining the business objectives
  • Defining the application team
  • Defining stakeholders

Complete Assigning a name, Assigning Key Attributes, and Building the business architecture if you have not already done so.

To build a technical architecture:

  1. Click and drag a technical component (such as an Actor) into the visual workspace. Continue adding components as needed.

  2. Adjust components as needed; see "Adjusting Components," below.

  3. Add connectors between the components, as described in "Adding Connectors," below.

  4. Add configuration information for components, as described in “Using Lenses,” below.

  5. Add data flows, as described in “Adding Data Flows,” below.

  6. Add one or more TrustZone(s) by clicking and dragging them into the visual work area and then moving/resizing them as needed to fit around the component(s) that will require trusted access, such as if they store confidential data.

  7. Click the Save Model button often as you work.

CAUTION: UNSAVED CHANGES WILL BE LOST.

If you make a mistake, then simply press [CTRL]+[Z] at any time to undo your most recent action(s).

Note: Clicking the orange Help *icon at the bottom of the visual work area opens an overlay that displays all of the available keyboard shortcuts.

Adjusting Components

You can adjust components as you draw the technical components of your business application:

  • Rename: Double-click the default component name (such as Business Capability) to give the component a more descriptive name (such as Marketing).

  • Move: Click and drag a component wherever you like within the visual workspace.

  • Resize: Single-click a component to expose its corners and then click and drag one of those corners.

  • Rotate: Single-click a component to expose its corners and then position the cursor near a corner. The cursor will change to arrows, at which point you can click and drag the mouse to rotate the component.

  • Styles: Clicking the Options button in the lower right of the visual workspace opens the Options menu, which allows you to show or hide the Styles palette. The Styles palette lets you adjust the color, size, and other visual effects of components and text to match your organizational style and/or branding needs.

Adding Connectors

You can add connectors between components at any time. To do this:

  1. Either select Connector in the Component Types list or click the Connector button in the visual workspace toolbar.

  2. Click and drag from the originating component to the destination component. This creates a unidirectional connection between the selected components. To set up a bidirectional connection, simply add a second connector going in the reverse direction.

Using Lenses

To use lenses:

  1. Select Choose Lens, and then toggle the lens you want to view ON (blue switch).

  2. Select the component for which you want to view, add, or edit information.

  3. View, add, or edit the information as appropriate. This example shows the Configuration lens for a System component. This allows you to capture detailed attributes about the component, such as names, availability, security, and cost.

Note: AppFaktors strongly recommends adding as much information as possible about each technical component of your application.

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Adding Dataflows

To add a data flow:

  1. Click the +DFD button in the visual workspace toolbar to open the Please confirm popup, and then enter a name for the new data flow.

  2. Enter a name for the new data flow, and then click the blue Submit button. This takes you to a new visual work area with <data flow name> (such as content data flow) selected in the View menu.

  3. Add components to the visual data flow workspace by clicking and dragging them to the desired locations. You can adjust these components, as described in “Adjusting Components,” above.

  4. Add dataflows between components. Dataflows appear as arced lines. You can click and drag the midpoint of a dataflow to adjust the arc. You can also click either endpoint of a dataflow to move it to a different component.

Note: Dataflows are unidirectional, meaning they represent data flowing from the source component (such as a datastore) to the destination component (such as a system accessing that datastore). For bidirectional dataflows, simply add another dataflow in the opposite direction. For example, the datastore could send content to the system, which sends data on new opt-in leads back to the datastore.