ArchiMate Next: How Enterprise Architecture Modelling Is Evolving

ArchiMate emerged in the early 2000s from a Dutch government-funded research initiative with the goal of giving Enterprise Architecture a shared visual language. When The Open Group adopted it as a standard in 2008, ArchiMate became the only open and widely-recognized standard notation for EA and arguably the closest thing the industry has to a common grammar for describing how strategy, organization, applications, and technology fit together. 

Since then, it has evolved through several major releases: 2.0 in 2012, 3.0 in 2016, and 3.2 in 2022. Each iteration kept the overall structure practitioners know while extending the language with new concepts and stronger support for strategic and physical perspectives. That evolution came with a tradeoff. The more the language grew, the steeper the learning curve became, particularly for teams encountering ArchiMate for the first time.

As ArchiMate continues to mature, the experts shaping the specification introduce refinements to address complex or less common scenarios. Over time, this expands the language and its rules. The ArchiMate Next Snapshot, a preview of the upcoming version, provides the first concrete indication of how these principles are shaping the evolution of the language, explicitly referencing the earlier “ArchiMate Manifesto” as guidance.

The Snapshot introduces several structural and conceptual refinements across the framework. It is presented as a preview rather than a final standard and follows an evolutionary direction that builds on the existing ArchiMate structure. The expectation is that many existing models will remain usable, while certain areas may require adjustment where concepts are simplified or tightened. 

The focus is on keeping the language small and practical. The direction is to reduce conceptual overhead and avoid maintaining rarely needed constructs as first class parts of the language, so diagrams stay simpler and the learning curve stays manageable.

The Snapshot replaces the traditional layer concept with domains. It consistently uses the term domain and presents the framework as a way to categorize concepts rather than define a fixed diagram layout. A new hexagon style visualization reflects this more flexible organization.

ArchiMate Next puts more weight on a shared foundation that works across all domains. Concepts in the Common Domain are positioned as reusable building blocks, so the same core ideas apply consistently whether modeling business, applications or technology.

The Snapshot introduces clearer relationship definitions, including cardinality on relationships, supporting more precise modeling rules and validation.

The following table provides an overview of the relationship types in the ArchiMate Next Snapshot, including their meaning, notation, and role names. It reflects the clearer and more explicit relationship definitions introduced in the updated metamodel.

In ADOIT, the ArchiMate Next changes will be supported without forcing an immediate, repository-wide migration. New customers starting from scratch would typically begin with ArchiMate Next as the default modeling baseline, while existing users can adopt the new version at their own pace.

A key control point is the ADOIT Administrator. For each change category listed in the overview above, administrators can decide what is allowed for new modeling. The decision is granular: it is made per change category, not as a single all-or-nothing switch.

ArchiMate 3.2 elements that are not included by default in ArchiMate Next are treated in ADOIT as specializations. This means they remain available where needed, without introducing an additional generic element alongside them.

These settings affect user models in a predictable way. Existing diagrams and repository content remain usable, but what users can create going forward depends on the administrator’s configuration per change category. Where an administrator decides that a specific ArchiMate 3.2 concept should no longer be used for new modeling, ADOIT will offer a migration action that re-expresses existing occurrences in line with the new changes. This enables incremental migration concept by concept, at the organization’s own pace.

For interoperability, the ArchiMate XML export will offer an ArchiMate Next option and automatically translate any former ArchiMate 3.2 concepts into their ArchiMate Next equivalents during export.

ArchiMate Next is still taking shape, but the direction is clear. A leaner language, more explicit rules and a structure that is easier to work with without losing the expressive power practitioners rely on.

For ADOIT users, that transition is already accounted for. When the final standard arrives, the groundwork will be in place to adopt it at whatever pace makes sense for your organization.