Views, views, and even more views!

BlueDolphin is the collaboration platform that facilitates a shared view of the enterprises' architecture. Throughout the organization, people can create, share and collaborate on views. 

We all know how easy it is to create a view, but how do you make sure it stays organized? How do you prevent a sprawl of views without knowing why a view is created in the first place? 

Here are 4 easy but powerful tips on how to gain control:

1. Pick a title that gives a perfect description of your view

The first thing you want to do when creating a new view is adding a representative title. Your title should give an impression of what is on your view. For example, is it about business capabilities, processes, application components, and a specific solution architecture? 

2. Add a ‘under construction’ warning to unfinished views

Consider publishing your view even when you are still working on it and let your colleagues know which views, you are working on by adding 'under construction' in the view's title. This way, you show your colleagues that it is still a work in progress. My colleague Eric wrote a post, ''Easy way to keep track of your work'', where you find more about this tip! 

By adding the 'under construction' warning, you minimize the risk that someone else starts working on exactly the same view. However, it can motivate your colleagues to contribute to the view by getting in touch with you if they have something to add. 

3. Make sure your view is part of the navigation structure or sitemap.

You are spending your valuable time on a view, so you want your view to be easily found. By linking your view to a part of the navigation structure or sitemap, you contribute to the view's findability. 

4. Set up a view template

Help your colleagues understand the purpose and goal of the view and explain the relevant rules of engagement. Setting up a view template could help. Here is some inspiration on what this could look like:

If you are currently already working with view templates, we are very happy to see some of your examples by adding a comment to this post. Maybe we can vote for the best setup and make a template of it which we will share and make available as a BlueDolphin AMEFF?