ArchiMate Relationship Properties

Selecting an ArchiMate Relationship in the Model Tree or in a View means that you can edit or view the following model properties in the Properties Window. See Relationship Connection Appearance Properties for visual properties when the relationship is selected in a View.


The Main Tab

Main Properties for an ArchiMate Relationship

Specialization: Select the Specialization for this ArchiMate Relationship. The button to the right of the drop-down control will open the Specializations Manager.
Name: The name of the ArchiMate Relationship. If present, this will be displayed next to the connection in a View.
Documentation: A space to enter some documentation relating to this Relationship. If Markdown is used it can be previewed by selecting the "View" toolbar button to the right of the documentation field. See Using Markdown in Text Fields for more details.

In the "Documentation" text control, URLs that start with "http://" "https://", "ftps://" or "file:///" will show as a hyperlink. Holding the Ctrl / Command key will change the cursor to a "hand" cursor and you can open the link in a Browser.


The Association relationship type has an additional property:

Directed: Can be set to directed or non-directed. Setting this also changes the connection's arrow-head.

The Access relationship type has an additional property:

Access Type: Can be set to "Access", "Read", "Write" or "Read/Write". Setting this also changes the connection's arrow-heads.

The Influence relationship type has an additional property:

Strength: Can be set to an appropriate value such as "+", "++", "+++", "-", "--", "---".

The Properties Tab

For more information about creating and managing User Properties see User Properties.


The Analysis Tab

Viewing the "Analysis" Properties for an ArchiMate Relationship

Used in Views: A table showing the Views (if any) where the relationship is used (displayed in a diagram). Double-clicking on an entry in the table will open the View and select the relationship (connection) in the diagram.
Model Relations: A table showing the relationships (if any) to and from the relationship in the model. Double-clicking on an entry in the table will select the relationship in the Model Tree window if it is open. Note - if the relationship has no incoming or outgoing relationships, the table will be empty.