Exploring Enterprise Modeling and Visualization in the EA Workspace

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 6 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring Enterprise Modeling and Visualization in the EA Workspace

    Enterprise Modeling and Visualization in the EA Workspace provides powerful diagramming and modeling capabilities that help ServiceNow customers visualize and plan the future state of their IT environment in relation to business objectives. It allows creation of application hierarchy diagrams linked with architectural artifacts, enabling improved communication, decision making, and alignment with business goals.

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    Key Features

    • Diagram Creation and Visualization: Supports diverse shape libraries including General, ArchiMate®, AWS, CSDM, BPMN, and custom shapes to visually represent enterprise structures, processes, and relationships.
    • Shape and Connector Management: Users can add, resize, and label shapes and connectors, with specific properties available for different notation types such as ArchiMate relationships or line styles for other shapes.
    • Version Control and Collaboration: Diagrams can be saved as versions, shared with peers, duplicated, and committed to repositories post-approval, supporting collaborative enterprise architecture efforts.
    • Keyboard Navigation: Supports comprehensive keyboard shortcuts for navigating and manipulating diagram elements, enhancing accessibility and efficiency.
    • Integration with ServiceNow CMDB and CSDM: Supports AWS and CSDM shapes to align cloud architecture and service-related objects with ServiceNow’s data models, ensuring consistency across ITSM, ITOM, and EA practices.
    • Business Process Modeling: Enables BPMN diagrams to visually represent and analyze structured business processes and workflows.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improved Stakeholder Communication: Visual models bridge the gap between technical and non-technical teams, facilitating clearer understanding of complex enterprise architectures.
    • Informed Decision Making: Modeling supports impact analysis, scenario evaluation, risk identification, and strategic alignment before implementing IT changes or projects.
    • Change and Compliance Management: Visualizing enterprise changes helps plan smooth transformations and provides documentation for regulatory and governance compliance.
    • Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction: Identifying redundancies and optimizing processes through diagrams can reduce costs and improve efficiency.
    • Customization and Flexibility: Custom shapes allow tailoring diagrams to specific organizational needs, enhancing relevance and clarity.

    Installation and Usage

    The Enterprise Modeling and Visualization application can be installed from the ServiceNow Store. Users can then create and manage diagrams using the intuitive drag-and-drop interface, supported by rich shape libraries and connector options. The side panel provides detailed object information and allows updates linked with ServiceNow database records. Versioning, sharing, and collaboration features streamline enterprise architecture workflows.

    Enterprise Modeling and Visualization in EA Workspace helps you with diagramming and modeling capabilities and enable you to model the future state of your IT and its relationship to the business landscape.

    You can use the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization [com.snc.apm_modelling_tool] functionality in EA Workspace to create diagrams for your applications hierarchy and associate them with architectural artifacts. These diagrams enable decision makers to make informed decisions.

    Creating diagrams for your applications hierarchy helps you in the following:
    • Visual representation: The diagrams and models provide a visual representation of complex enterprise structures, processes, and relationships. This visual representation helps your stakeholders, including executives and IT to understand the complexities of the organization.
    • Effective communication: Diagrams serve as a common language that bridges the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders. They enable effective communication and collaboration between different teams and departments within an organization.
    • Improved decision making: The diagramming and modeling capabilities enable decision makers to make informed decisions. They can assess the impact of proposed changes, evaluate different scenarios, and identify potential risks before implementing strategies or projects.
    • Alignment with business goals: Diagrams and models help you align your IT initiatives with overall business goals. They provide a holistic view of the business and confirm that IT 's investments are strategically aligned with business goals.
    • Change management: The modeling capabilities facilitate change management by illustrating how changes impact the entire enterprise. This helps plan and execute transformations that run smoothly and with minimal disruption.
    • Regulatory and governance compliance: Many regulatory agencies and standards organizations require documentation and adherence to architectural guidelines. Modeling helps you verify compliance and governance by providing a structured framework for managing architectural artifacts.
    • Efficiency and cost reduction: By identifying redundancies, optimizing processes, and streamlining operations, modeling and diagramming can lead to cost reductions and improvements in operational efficiency.

    Modeling page

    Installing the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization application

    You can install the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization [com.snc.apm_modelling_tool] from the ServiceNow Store.

    Working with diagrams

    • Shapes: This section enables you to use different kinds of shapes to create a diagram. Available shapes are:
      • General shapes
      • AWS shapes
      • CSDM shapes
      • EA Extended shapes
      • ArchiMate® shapes (ArchiMate is a registered trademark of The Open Group)
      • BPMN shapes

      Shapes library

      Use the Toggle Shape Library icon to show or hide the shapes panel on the canvas.

      Use the Switch to List or Grid view icon to switch between list view and grid view of the shapes for all the shape libraries.

      You can add a shape to the canvas by either selecting the shape or by dragging the shape from the Shapes palette to the canvas.

      You can also adjust the size of shapes by selecting a shape and then drag any of its edges or corner handles. Pulling outward increases the shape dimensions, while dragging inward reduces its size.

      When you hover over a shape icon in the Shapes panel, a preview popover appears to the right of the panel showing a larger view of the shape and its label. Moving to a different shape icon, using either the mouse or the arrow keys, updates the popover to the new shape. The popover closes when you move the mouse away from the icon, press Tab on the keyboard, start dragging a shape, or scroll the panel.

    • Label connector lines: Select a connector line between shapes in a diagram and select T+ in the connector toolbar to add a label. For more information, see Add labels to connector lines between shapes in a diagram.
      You can perform the following actions for the labels:
      • Add multiple labels on a single relationship line
      • Drag and move labels
      • Delete individual labels without deleting the relationship
      • Use undo or redo action for a label
      Note:
      In read-only mode or after the diagram is submitted for approval, label actions are unavailable.
    • Connector line properties: Select a connector between two shapes to display a toolbar above the connector. The toolbar has two forms depending on the notation of the connected shapes:
      • If both connected shapes are ArchiMate shapes, the toolbar shows the following controls:
        • Relationship type: Sets the ArchiMate relationship type from a predefined list, including Access, Aggregation, Assignment, Association, Composition, Flow, Influence, Realization, Serving, Specialization, Triggering, and Used by.
        • Swap direction: Reverses the connector orientation, switching the left and right sides.
        • T+: Adds a text label to the connector.

        ArchiMate connector toolbar showing the relationship type list, Flip control, and T+ button above a connector linking two shapes.

      • If at least one connected shape is a non-ArchiMate shape (for example, a CSDM or AWS shape), or when connecting shapes from two different notations, the toolbar shows the following controls:
        • Line style: Sets the connector line to solid, dashed, or dotted.
        • Start arrow: Sets the arrowhead style at the starting end of the connector.
        • Swap direction: Reverses the connector orientation, switching the left and right sides.
        • End arrow: Sets the arrowhead style at the ending end of the connector.
        • Icon: Adds a BPMN message flow decorator icon to the connector.
        • T+: Adds a text label to the connector.

        Non-ArchiMate connector toolbar showing line style, start arrow, Flip, end arrow, icon, and T+ controls above a connector linking two shapes.

      For more information, see Shape connector properties in Enterprise Modeling and Visualization and Set shape connector properties in Enterprise Modeling and Visualization.

    • Version: This field enables you to view and open a different version of the diagram.

      Version drop-down

    • View details: Use this option to view version-specific details of your diagram such as version label, description, and planned rollout day.

      View details pop-up window

    • Undo and Redo: Use this option to revert or reinstate recent changes made to a diagram. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts to perform the undo and redo action.

      Undo and Redo buttons highlighted on a diagram page.

    • Align and distribute shapes: Select two or more shapes on the canvas to align them to a common edge or center. Select three or more shapes to also distribute them at equal spacing. For more information, see Align and distribute shapes in a modeling diagram.

      The alignment and distribution options available on the diagram canvas page.

    • Share: Use this option to share the diagram with your peers.
    • Commit changes: Use this option to synchronize the diagram to the repository. This option is available only when the diagram is approved.
    • Save as new version: Use this option to create a version of the diagram within the same artifact.
    • Duplicate: Use this option to duplicate an existing diagram and save it as a new artifact.

      Modeling options

    • Open side panel: Select a shape in the diagram to see this option. Use this option to open the selected object details in a side panel. If the shape is connected to an existing ServiceNow element, the details are fetched from the database and shown in the side panel. Update the details as required. You can select the Full details link to open the full form.

      Side panel

    • Add related records- Select a shape in the diagram to see this option. Use this option to fetch and add the objects and their relationships with reference to the selected object.

      Add related records

    • More actions- Select the three dots menu to see the following options:

      More actions on diagram

      • Delete shape from canvas to remove the selected shape from the canvas.
      • Add relation to add relationships with reference to the selected object.

    Keyboard navigation on the diagram page

    Enterprise Modeling and Visualization supports keyboard navigation across the diagram canvas, panels, shapes, and dialogs.

    You can use the keyboard to move between shapes, groups, pools, swimlanes, and nested elements on the canvas. Focus indicators clearly show the currently selected item. You can access shape and relationship context menu using the keyboard to open the side panel, view related records, add or edit relationship text, and perform actions such as delete or add relations.

    The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts available for navigating:
    Table 1. Keyboard navigation reference
    Key Action
    Tab or Shift + Tab Move focus forward or backward between canvas elements, panels, and controls.
    Arrow keys (↑ ↓ ← →) Navigate between shapes, nested elements, libraries, lists, pools, and swimlanes.
    Enter Select the focused shape, relationship, or control.
    Shift + Enter Move focus to shape or relationship adornments.