As for all other diagram types, you can create OV-5 diagrams which provide a high-level or overview perspective, and then magnify that perspective by creating child constraint diagrams from the symbols you have used. (The diagram in which the symbol is contained becomes the parent diagram.)

This process is called decomposition, and the resulting child constraint diagrams are also called decomposition diagrams. Decomposition is the dividing of a modeled function into component functions. In OV-5, you decompose Operational Activities on OV-5 Activity Model diagrams with OV-5 Activity Model swim lanes diagrams. In doing so, according to IDEF0 parlance, you create a constraint or decomposition diagram. (Remember, the OV-5 Activity Model uses the IDEF0 diagram type.)

The three Balance commands (Reports menu: Balance Parent, Balance Child(ren), and Balance Horizontal) invoke the System Architect 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 in the currently displayed diagram. Click to select the process, then pull down the Reports Menu and select the Balance Child(ren) command.

When you decompose a single function on an OV-5 diagram with a child OV-5 diagram, you model the major subfunctions on the child diagram. To show increasing detail, you can create child diagrams for the subfunctions on the child diagram, and so on. You should keep the overall scope of each child diagram in the scope of the parent operational activities (see below) at all times.

An operational activity symbol in IDEF0 is a rectangle that represents business function or activity. Operational activities usually have a name (a verb or verb phrase) and a number (digit between 0 and 6, used for identification). IDEF0 specifications state that there can be a maximum of six operational activity symbols on any one IDEF0 diagram.