Connecting the Dots: Examining Visualization Techniques for Enterprise Architecture Model Analysis

The discourse of Enterprise Architecture is based on modeling and performing ‘holistic’ (multi-layer) analyses. However, view centered methodologies offer a partial glimpse of the overall architecture, and current tools do not bring an explicit method of navigating the underlying model. Considering that we need a starting point for analysis and explore the whole model in order to drill down on more specific analysis techniques, we compare overview visualizations depending on topological properties of the model and a set of domain-specific requirements. Four techniques are examined, and they visualize five Analytical Scenarios that represent typical questions that could arise on a EA diagnostic.