Scope
Compared
- Whether each is a drawing notation or a governed data record
- How each treats ownership, currency, and evidence of a statement
- Where responsibility for accuracy lives
Not compared
- ArchiMate's viewpoint catalog or certification scheme
- Specific enterprise architecture tooling
- ArchiMate's exchange format (Open Group Exchange Format)
Terminology mapping
| OCOM | ArchiMate | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Object | Business Object | Partial |
| Ownership | Business Role / Actor | Partial |
| Capability | Capability (Strategy layer) | Similar |
| Policy | Requirement / Principle | Partial |
| Workflow (Models tier) | Business Process | Partial |
Conceptual differences
| Aspect | OCOM | ArchiMate |
|---|---|---|
| Centre of gravity | Object-centric: what is governed | Viewpoint-centric: how architecture is modeled and drawn |
| Time | Object state over the whole lifecycle | Plateaus and gaps model coarse architecture states; no per-object lifecycle |
| Governance | First-class: ownership, policy, constraint | Implied by modeled relationships, not enforced |
| Scope | Spans systems via a governed record | Bounded to the modeled architecture view |
Concept coverage
| Concept | OCOM | ArchiMate |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture diagrams | Partial | Covered |
| Object identity | Covered | Partial |
| Lifecycle | Covered | Partial |
| Governance | Partial | Partial |
| Ownership | Covered | Partial |
| Evidence | Partial | Out of scope |
| AI retrieval | Partial | Out of scope |
Four OCOM cells read Partial rather than Covered (Architecture diagrams, Governance, Evidence, AI retrieval), and the reason for each is recorded in the specification's own register: Architecture diagrams is Partial because Language/Notation.md defines a notation, including a graphical form, but states that the specification prescribes no symbol library, and no canonical Scope list says whether adopting the notation is required (AO-049); Governance is a Core Characteristic of every Object that no document defines as one (AO-023); Evidence has no Meta, Models or Language definition, its Definition being reserved for a future version (AO-021); AI retrieval is disclaimed by AI/Context/Context Assembly.md, which prescribes no retrieval algorithms (AO-048). Workflow and Event are defined normatively at the Models tier and carry no Core Vocabulary term record.
Covered: the model defines the concept explicitly. Partial: the concept appears indirectly or by convention. Out of scope: the model does not set out to describe it; a boundary, not a deficiency.
Interoperability
- An ArchiMate view can be produced as a projection of an OCOM model: the diagram becomes a rebuildable rendering of governed objects instead of a hand-maintained artifact that drifts from reality.
- Organizations with an established ArchiMate practice do not need to abandon it; they need a governed source for it to draw from.
References
- OCOM Object
- OCOM Ownership
- OCOM Policy
- ArchiMate 3.2 (The Open Group)