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Reference

This reference summarizes common Caplo terms and configuration choices.

Quick guide, not exhaustive

The lists below are examples, not the full metamodel. What you can create or see depends on your workspace configuration and visibility settings.

Entity type catalogue​

Common entity types include:

  • Application
  • Application service
  • Application interface
  • Data object
  • Business actor
  • Business service
  • Business object
  • Business process
  • Capability
  • Value stream
  • Goal
  • Outcome
  • Work package
  • Facility
  • IT infrastructure
  • Vendor

This is a quick sample, not the full metamodel. Caplo entities can represent any supported ArchiMate element, depending on which types are enabled in your workspace.

Your workspace may show more or fewer types depending on visibility settings.

Relation type catalogue​

Common relation types include:

  • Association: a general relationship.
  • Parent-child (child-of): a hierarchy or containment relationship (child → parent).
  • Realizes: one entity implements or supports another.
  • Accessed by: an entity is accessed by another entity.
  • Triggers: one entity starts or causes another.
  • Flows: information, data, or work flows between entities.

Property type reference​

Common property types include:

  • Text for short descriptions.
  • Select or multi-select for consistent categories.
  • Number for scoring, counts, and aggregation.
  • Currency for cost and financial analysis.
  • Date, datetime, or Date or range for timelines. Date or range is an exact day or a year / quarter / month window.
  • User or owner properties for responsibility.
  • Entity references when the value should point to another repository item.

Report configuration reference​

When configuring reports, think in four steps:

  1. Choose the base entity set.
  2. Add filters to focus the data.
  3. Follow relations or metadata to group related items.
  4. Choose display settings such as colors, aggregation, layout, or timeline fields.

Privacy and sharing rules​

Personal items are private to their owner. Shared items are visible to the workspace. Use Shared only when the content is ready for team use.

Workspace behavior​

Workspaces are separate modeling environments. Switching workspaces changes the repository, diagrams, reports, settings, and company profile context.

History, snapshots, and audit logs​

  • History is the past versions of one entity, relation, diagram, BPMN process, or saved report. You can preview or restore a version of that item.
  • Workspace snapshots are named versions of the whole workspace. Viewing one is read-only and does not change the live workspace.
  • Audit logs show who created, updated, or deleted items across the workspace.

More in History and snapshots and Settings and customization.

Known limitations​

  • Imported models may need cleanup after type mapping and duplicate detection.
  • Reports are only as useful as the repository data behind them.
  • Very large diagrams can become difficult to read; use saved views and reports for analysis-heavy work.
  • AI-generated content should be reviewed before approval.