Core concepts
Caplo works best when you separate reusable architecture data from the views that present it.
Workspace
A workspace is the shared environment for a team or organization. Repository data, diagrams, reports, company profile settings, and properties belong to a workspace.
If you have access to more than one workspace, switching workspaces changes the repository, diagrams, reports, and settings you see.
This is most useful for consulting companies working across multiple clients, or for larger enterprises that intentionally keep business units or subsidiaries in separate modeling spaces.
Switching workspaces does not just change the page you are on. It changes the repository, diagrams, reports, settings, and the permissions that apply to your session.
Entity
An entity is a reusable object in the Repository. In practice, entities can represent any supported ArchiMate element, plus a few practical Caplo-specific types such as vendors.
Examples include applications, capabilities, processes, business actors, data objects, infrastructure, goals, and work packages.
Use entities for things you want to reuse across diagrams and reports. If a label only matters on one diagram, it can stay as a simple drawing shape.
For a clearer overview of supported element types, hierarchy, and workspace-specific configuration, see Meta model.
Relation
A relation connects two entities. Relations make Caplo useful for analysis because they describe how your architecture works.
Common examples:
- An application realizes a capability.
- A data object is accessed by an application.
- A process triggers another process.
- A system flows data to another system.
- One item is a parent of another item.
Relations can also have properties when your workspace uses them. For example, you might capture ownership, confidence, interface details, or other metadata on the relation itself.
For relation types and relation properties, see Meta model.
Diagram
A diagram is a visual view of repository data. A shape can be linked to a repository entity, and an arrow can represent a reusable relation.
This means the same application can appear on multiple diagrams while still referring to one repository item.
Report
A report turns repository data into an analytical view. Reports are useful when you want patterns, totals, timelines, or grouped landscapes instead of a free-form canvas.
Approved and unapproved items
Caplo lets users create or suggest items while modeling. Approved items are ready to use broadly in the repository and reports. Unapproved items should be reviewed before they become part of the shared model.
Use approval to keep workshops fast without losing control over the quality of the repository.
Personal and Shared content
Personal content is private to you. Shared content is visible to the workspace. Diagrams, saved repository views, folders, and saved reports appear under those two areas in the Overview.
Use Personal for drafts and experiments. Move work to Shared when teammates should rely on it.
Properties
In the product UI, Caplo refers to these as entity properties and relation properties. They let you capture metadata that matters to your organization, such as lifecycle phase, owner, criticality, cost, PACE category, cloud provider, or target retirement date.
Good properties are easy to maintain and useful in reports. Avoid creating properties that nobody will keep updated.
For where to configure them and how they relate to enabled element types, see Meta model.