You can use the Application Communication diagram to visualize your Application Portfolio and which Applications interrelate to each other.
Two relationships between Application Components are provided:
•Interface.
•Data Flow.
“Light” Architecting: Modeling Interfaces between Applications
Building Enterprise Architecture is an ‘art’. You can do “light” modeling of Interfaces between Applications using the Applications in the Application - Application (Interface) matrix.
Building such interfaces has no relationship to the Data Flows described above. This is a separate endeavor – which you might want to do to get a quick start on understanding what Applications are related to what other Applications.
1 Select View > Matrix Browser, and in the TOGAF Infrastructure Consolidation tab, or Application tab, choose the Application Component to Application Component (Interface) matrix.
2 Toggle intersecting cells to specify an Interface between Applications. This ‘x in cell’ matrix will place a value in the Application Component’s Interface property in its Application Interface tab.
3 To visualize Application Interfaces, create an Application Communication diagram, and drag-and-drop pertinent Application Components onto the diagram.
4 Select View > Heatmap Manager.
5 In the Heatmap Manager dialog, click the Explorer Relationship report.
The lines automatically drawn reflect reports run – you can delete these lines without affecting the architecture. They provide a guide to drawing Data Flows between the Applications (see below).
Modeling Data Flows Between Applications
To model communication between Applications (which is typically called their interfaces), and the data sent between Applications, use an Application Communication diagram.
Model the communication with a Data Flow relationship line. You can specify Data sent between Applications in the definition of the Data Flow.
