You can create IDEF0 diagrams, which provide an overall perspective. Then you can magnify that perspective by creating child diagrams from the symbols you have used. The diagram in which the symbol is contained becomes the parent diagram.

This process is called Decomposition. In IDEF0, you decompose IDEF0 diagrams with IDEF0 child diagrams. In doing so, according to IDEF0 parlance, you create a constraint or decomposition diagram.

The three Balance commands (Reports menu: Balance Parent, Balance Child(ren), and Balance Horizontal) invoke balancing algorithms. System Architect checks Balance violations, as well as rule violations that prevent proper balancing, during execution of these commands. The diagram being checked is annotated with error indicators. Multiple errors are indicated with an asterisk. The Clear Errors command removes the error indicators from the diagram after you are done inspecting them.

The Balance Child(ren) command balances the child diagrams of any parent processes selected within the currently displayed diagram. Click to select the process, and then click Reports > Balance Child(ren).