Grouping and Child Objects in Architecture Views

Organizing objects effectively is key to creating clear, understandable architecture views. The child objects option allows you to define hierarchical relationships between objects based on the 'composition' relationship type. This is ideal when you need to represent structural dependencies, such as breaking down a system into its components.

The Group Objects option is useful for visually organizing related elements within a view without altering their underlying relationships. 

BlueDolphin offers these grouping options,

• Create Child objects
• Group objects visually
• ArchiMate Grouping

Child Objects

Allows you to create or add existing child objects (limit 50 child objects) to the selected object based on the 'Composition' relationship.

Note: You can only create or add child objects that are of the same object definition as the parent object.

To create a child object,

1. In the View, right-click the Object and select the child objects option.
2. To add existing child objects, click Add, or Create to add a new one using the composition relationship.
3. In the Add Child Objects dialog, search for an object. If the object does not exist, BlueDolphin creates a new one with the same definition. Choose the object and relationship lifecycle state.
   
4. To create objects in batches, click the Create another object option.
5. Click OK to add the child object to the view. 

Group Objects

If you want to group objects in a view because they belong together logically, you can do so by performing the following steps.

1. Select the objects that you want to group.

2. In the context menu, select the Group objects option or use the combination <CTRL>-<G>.

3. The title of the group can be changed by double-clicking it.

Once a group is present, you can drag objects in and out of the group. Objects then automatically become part of the group. The size of the group is automatically adjusted. When you drag the last object out of the group, the group gets deleted.

ArchiMate Grouping

BlueDolphin has introduced a new object definition called Grouping, which allows users to cluster related elements logically without altering their behavior. This feature enhances modeling clarity and organization while aligning with ArchiMate standards.

You can create grouping objects to structure your models more effectively. Unlike structural elements like Application Component or Business Process, the Grouping object does not represent an operational entity. Instead, it visually organizes related elements without affecting their dependencies.

Enable Archimate Grouping

The Grouping object definition is not enabled by default. Administrators can activate it based on their governance requirements.

To enable it, first download the Grouping object definition, go to Admin → Configuration → Templates.

You can download the Grouping object in one of the following two ways:

Through Collections

To include ArchiMate 3.2 relationships (pre-configured but disabled by default), go to Templates → Collections and download them. You can select only the relationships you need.

Through Object Definitions

If you want no object combinations pre-configured, so that you get full control over configuration, then download from templates -> Object definitions.

For more information about downloading a template, refer to the "Download a Template from the Library” section of the " Download and Update the Templates in the Library” article.

Once you download the object definition or collection for Grouping, it will be Disabled. Make sure to enable the Grouping object definition to use it.

Grouping on the view

Grouping elements does not automatically create relationships between them. It serves purely as a visual and organizational aid. If you need relationships, you must create them explicitly between the objects.

However, all elements within a group remain fully functional and can still be linked using standard ArchiMate relationships.