Business: actors, roles, and services | ArchiMate Foundation: reading models and dependencies

Concept and mechanism

The business layer describes who participates, what happens, and what functionality is offered. A Business Actor can be an organizational unit; a Business Role identifies an assumed responsibility. One team can perform several roles, and different actors can perform the same role depending on context. A Business Process organizes behavior to produce a result. A Business Service presents behavior offered to users without requiring them to know every internal step. A Business Object represents information relevant to business. These concepts help separate organization, operation, and information before selecting applications.

Guided application

In an exercise, the fund-operations team performs the daily-validation owner role. The check-instructions process produces a decision and uses information about received instructions. A validation service can be offered to another unit without exposing the entire internal sequence. If work moves to a team in another country, responsibility may remain while the actor changes. This distinction helps an IT Project Manager discuss handover and continuity. Avoid modeling one person’s name as though it permanently defined responsibility. Confirm process and service boundaries with business, particularly where exceptions, escalations, and work outside normal hours exist.

IN PRACTICE

Changing the executing team need not change the role’s meaning.

Common pitfalls

Actor treated as role; process treated as application; service treated as every internal step.

Related topics: Language, model, and aspects · Relationships, direction, and meaning · Motivation and strategy

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Separate who assumes responsibility from what is provided.

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Reference: Archi hint: business role · OGA-031; ArchiMate 3.2