What is ArchiMate?
ArchiMate is an open, vendor-independent modelling language from The Open Group that lets you describe, analyse and visualise enterprise architecture unambiguously, from strategy and business processes to applications, technology and physical installations. Where a framework such as TOGAF describes how to develop an architecture, ArchiMate provides the language to record the result: a fixed set of elements, relationships and views with a defined meaning. As a result, an executive, an application manager and an OT engineer can read the same diagram without misunderstanding what a box or an arrow means.
ArchiMate makes complex architectures understandable for both executives and designers, using one common language.
🧠 Where does ArchiMate come from and which versions exist?
ArchiMate is Dutch in origin. Between July 2002 and December 2004 a consortium led by the Telematica Instituut developed the language together with government, industry and academic partners; contributors included the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, ABN AMRO and the ABP pension fund. In 2008 stewardship passed to The Open Group, where the ArchiMate Forum has maintained the specification ever since. This explains why ArchiMate is the dominant architecture notation in the Netherlands, particularly in government.
| Version | Released | Main change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | February 2009 | First Open Group standard: business, application and technology layers |
| 2.0 / 2.1 | January 2012 / 2013 | Motivation elements and the Implementation & Migration extension |
| 3.0 / 3.0.1 | June 2016 / August 2017 | Strategy elements and physical elements (equipment, facility) |
| 3.1 | November 2019 | Value stream added, association optionally directed and grouped with the dependency relationships |
| 3.2 | October 2022 | Refinement and clean-up; basis of the ArchiMate 3 certification |
| 4 | April 2026 | Layers become domains, fewer and more generic concepts |
According to The Open Group, ArchiMate 4 was designed with strong user-level compatibility, so existing 3.x models can be migrated with limited effort. Tool vendors report that the number of concepts drops from about 60 to 42. Business, application and technology processes, for example, merge into a single generic process concept, while the interaction elements, contract, representation, constraint and gap are among the concepts that are dropped. A new feature is multiplicity on relationships, so you can state rules such as “every service is realised by at least one process”.
🎯 What do you use ArchiMate for?
| Purpose | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Visual communication | Drawing architecture models and dependencies clearly for different audiences |
| Uniformity | Making models comparable and consistent within and between organisations |
| Showing coherence | Connecting strategy, processes, applications, data and infrastructure |
| Impact analysis | Working out what is affected when a server, application or PLC fails or is replaced |
| Alignment with TOGAF | Both are Open Group standards; ArchiMate views map onto the TOGAF architecture phases |
The difference from a drawing program is that an ArchiMate model is a repository: an element (say, a SCADA server) exists once and appears in many views. Change the element and every diagram that shows it is up to date again.
🏗 How is ArchiMate structured?
The ArchiMate 3.2 framework combines layers with aspects. The three core aspects are active structure (who or what does something: actor, application component, node), behaviour (what happens: process, function, service, event) and passive structure (what the behaviour acts on: business object, data object, artifact).
| Layer / extension | What does it describe? | Example elements |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy | What the organisation wants to be able to do | Capability, resource, value stream, course of action |
| Motivation | Why: drivers and requirements | Stakeholder, driver, goal, principle, requirement |
| Business | Processes, roles and services (see business architecture) | Business actor, role, process, service, business object |
| Application | Software, interfaces and data (see application architecture and information architecture) | Application component, interface, data object |
| Technology | Hardware, networks and system software (see technical architecture) | Node, device, system software, communication network, artifact |
| Physical | Machines, buildings and material flows, relevant to OT | Equipment, facility, distribution network, material |
| Implementation & Migration | Projects and transition architectures | Work package, deliverable, plateau |
Note that “data” is not a separate layer in ArchiMate. You model data as a data object in the application layer (and as an artifact in the technology layer), so information architecture cuts across the layers.
🔗 Which relationships does ArchiMate have?
ArchiMate 3.2 defines eleven relationships in four categories, plus the junction for combining relationships:
| Category | Relationships | Meaning in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Structural | Composition, aggregation, assignment, realization | Part of, groups, performs, implements |
| Dependency | Serving, access, influence, association | Provides a service to, reads or writes, influences, generic link |
| Dynamic | Triggering, flow | Sequence in time, transfer of information or material |
| Other | Specialization | Is a kind of |
Because the relationships have a fixed meaning, tools can traverse dependencies automatically. That lets you model impact analyses, process chains and the question of which business processes stop when a single network component fails.
ArchiMate works with viewpoints: predefined selections of elements for a particular audience, such as the Layered, Physical, Technology Usage and Implementation and Deployment viewpoints. Management gets a capability map and the OT engineer gets a physical view, both from the same model.
🛠 Which tools support ArchiMate?
| Tool | Characteristic |
|---|---|
| Archi | Free open-source tool, popular for learning and smaller repositories |
| Bizzdesign Horizzon | Commercial platform of Dutch origin with ArchiMate and TOGAF support |
| Sparx Enterprise Architect | Broad support for ArchiMate, BPMN, UML and SysML |
| BlueDolphin | Dutch cloud tool for enterprise architecture based on ArchiMate |
You exchange models between tools using the ArchiMate Model Exchange File Format, an XML standard from The Open Group. The Open Group also certifies tools and people: the ArchiMate 3 Foundation and Practitioner exams are aligned with version 3.2 and are taken separately; there is no combined exam. The Practitioner exam requires the Foundation level, and you may consult the 3.2 specification during it.
🏛 How does Dutch government use ArchiMate?
| Architecture framework | Use of ArchiMate |
|---|---|
| NORA | Visualising functions, chains and the five-layer model |
| GEMMA | Municipalities model processes, applications and information in ArchiMate 3.1, including Common Ground |
| MARIJ | Historical central-government architecture; ministries now often model these layers in ArchiMate |
| WILMA / PETRA | Water boards and provinces record water systems, managed objects and interfaces |
ArchiMate makes complex domains such as licensing, supervision, infrastructure and enforcement transparent and traceable.
🏭 How do you model OT with ArchiMate?
Although ArchiMate originated in IT, the physical elements added in version 3 make it well suited to modelling operational technology (OT):
| OT component | ArchiMate element |
|---|---|
| Pump, reactor, production line | Equipment, with composition for sub-installations |
| Plant, pumping station, substation | Facility |
| Pipe network, cable network, conveyor | Distribution network and material (flow) |
| PLC, RTU, industrial PC | Device, with system software for firmware |
| SCADA/HMI | Application component, serving the operating process |
| Fieldbus, process network, DMZ | Communication network and grouping |
A practical five-step approach:
- Start with the value chain - model the business process (for example “supply drinking water”) and the capabilities that support it.
- Record the physical installation - equipment and facilities, structured along the ISA-95 hierarchy (enterprise, site, area, work centre).
- Connect the control layer - PLCs and SCADA as devices and application components, linked to the equipment they control through composition (the PLC as part of the machine) or serving.
- Draw zones and conduits - group elements per zone from IEC 62443 and model each conduit as a communication network or path, optionally per level of the Purdue Model.
- Put the model to work - for impact analysis, the CMDB and asset inventory, risk assessments and change management.
This is how you combine ArchiMate with the IEC 62443 zones and conduits model and let the model support OT convergence in your OT architecture.
❓ Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ArchiMate and TOGAF?
TOGAF is a framework and method for developing enterprise architecture, with the Architecture Development Method at its core. ArchiMate is the modelling language you use to record and visualise the results of such a method. Both are Open Group standards and are often used together.
Is ArchiMate free to use?
ArchiMate is an open standard: organisations may apply the language for their own use, and the specification can be downloaded from The Open Group. With the open-source tool Archi you can build ArchiMate models without licence costs. Commercial tools, training and certification do cost money.
What changes in ArchiMate 4?
ArchiMate 4 was released in April 2026 and replaces the layers with domains, including a common domain for shared concepts. The number of concepts falls because, among other things, the layer-specific processes are merged and the interaction elements are dropped. The Open Group stresses that migrating from ArchiMate 3.2 requires limited effort.
Can ArchiMate describe OT installations and plants?
Yes, since version 3 ArchiMate includes physical elements such as equipment, facility, distribution network and material. With these you model pumps, production lines and pipe networks and link them to PLCs, SCADA applications and business processes. The result is one coherent IT/OT model.
Which ArchiMate certifications exist?
For people, The Open Group offers the ArchiMate 3 Foundation and ArchiMate 3 Practitioner exams, aligned with version 3.2 of the specification. The Open Group also certifies tools that implement the language correctly, so you can check whether your modelling tool conforms to the standard.
Why is ArchiMate so widely used in the Netherlands?
ArchiMate was developed in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2004 by a consortium led by the Telematica Instituut, with support from organisations including the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. Dutch government frameworks such as NORA, GEMMA and WILMA record their models in ArchiMate. That makes ArchiMate the natural architecture language for Dutch public bodies and their suppliers.
📌 In summary
ArchiMate is the open, standardised language for enterprise architecture, from strategy down to the physical OT installation. With fixed elements, eleven relationships and viewpoints you capture strategy, processes, applications, technology and machines in a single model. That makes architecture diagrams understandable for both engineering and management, and keeps impact analyses and IEC 62443 zoning traceable.
See also OTArchitect.nl