7. Model Initiatives and Architecture Change¶
Architecture describes not only the current state but also what is changing it. OpenEA Community models planned or active change with the Initiative / Project object type and governed relationships such as changes, introduces, retires, and improves.
For the complete object schema, see Standard Metamodel. For all valid change relationships, see Relationship Vocabulary.
Goal¶
In this chapter you will create two initiatives:
- Digital Banking Modernization — an active modernization program
- Legacy Wire Retirement — an approved retirement project
You will then connect them to the architecture they affect.
At the end of the chapter, the Acme Bank base model will contain 30 objects and 47 relationships.
1. Create Digital Banking Modernization¶
Select Explore → New → Initiative / Project.
Enter:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Digital Banking Modernization |
| Description | Program to modernize Acme Bank digital channels and supporting technology. |
| Record status | Active |
| Criticality | High |
| Owner organization | Retail Banking |
| Initiative Type | Program |
| Sponsor | Head of Retail Banking |
| Owning Organization | Retail Banking |
| Architecture Owner | Enterprise Architect |
| Status | In Progress |
| Start Date | 2026-01-15 |
| Target End Date | 2027-06-30 |
| Strategic Priority | High |
| Delivery Health | Green |
| Architecture Engagement Status | Design |
| Tags | Acme Bank |
| Source | Manual |
| Confidence | High |
| Review frequency | Annual |
Leave Actual End Date blank because the program is not complete.
Select Create object.
Why both Record status and Initiative Status exist
Record status is universal repository metadata. The Initiative-specific Status field describes delivery state. In this tutorial, Record status: Active and Initiative status: In Progress mean the repository record is active and the change program itself is currently in progress.
2. Create Legacy Wire Retirement¶
Select Explore → New → Initiative / Project.
Enter:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Legacy Wire Retirement |
| Description | Initiative to retire the Legacy Wire Transfer application and remove Java 8. |
| Record status | Active |
| Criticality | High |
| Owner organization | Payments Technology |
| Initiative Type | Project |
| Sponsor | Payments Technology |
| Owning Organization | Payments Technology |
| Architecture Owner | Enterprise Architect |
| Status | Approved |
| Start Date | 2026-10-01 |
| Target End Date | 2027-06-30 |
| Strategic Priority | High |
| Delivery Health | Green |
| Architecture Engagement Status | Assessment |
| Tags | Acme Bank |
| Source | Manual |
| Confidence | High |
| Review frequency | Annual |
Select Create object.
3. Connect Digital Banking Modernization to the architecture¶
Open Digital Banking Modernization → Relationships → + Add relationship.
Create:
| Source | Relationship | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Banking Modernization | changes |
Digital Banking |
| Digital Banking Modernization | introduces |
Kubernetes |
| Digital Banking Modernization | improves |
Customer Management |
For each relationship in this tutorial:
- Confidence:
High - Source:
Manual - Leave the other relationship metadata blank unless you want to add explanatory text.
These relationships answer three different architecture questions:
- changes — which existing architecture is being modified?
- introduces — what new architecture is the initiative bringing in?
- improves — which business capability is expected to benefit?
4. Connect Legacy Wire Retirement¶
Open Legacy Wire Retirement → Relationships and create:
| Source | Relationship | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy Wire Retirement | retires |
Legacy Wire Transfer |
| Legacy Wire Retirement | retires |
Java 8 |
This connects the remediation plan to both the problematic application and its obsolete technology.
5. Inspect change from the target side¶
Open Legacy Wire Transfer → Relationships.
You should be able to see that the application is being retired by the Legacy Wire Retirement initiative even though the stored relationship was created from the initiative.
Then open Java 8 and confirm the same change context is visible.
This is an important repository pattern: OpenEA lets a user begin with the architecture object they care about and discover the initiative changing it.
6. Review roadmap-relevant dates¶
You entered structured dates on both initiatives:
Digital Banking Modernization
Start: 2026-01-15
Target End: 2027-06-30
Legacy Wire Retirement
Start: 2026-10-01
Target End: 2027-06-30
OpenEA's Roadmaps view later derives timeline entries from these fields. You are not creating a separate roadmap object or manually drawing a timeline.
7. Optional architecture-change collision experiment¶
OpenEA has a built-in rule, INIT-COLLISION-001, for architecture objects being changed by multiple active initiatives.
Do not add a collision to the canonical Acme model yet. If you want to experiment later, create a second active initiative and connect it with changes → Digital Banking. Evaluate findings, observe the collision finding, then archive or remove the test relationship before continuing.
This keeps the core tutorial results predictable while showing how the rule can be exercised.
Checkpoint¶
You should now have:
Digital Banking Modernization
├── changes → Digital Banking
├── introduces → Kubernetes
└── improves → Customer Management
Legacy Wire Retirement
├── retires → Legacy Wire Transfer
└── retires → Java 8
The repository now represents both current architecture and planned change.
Continue to Add Governance, Reviews, Principles, and Decisions.