Chief architect software for an architecture function you can account for

More of the product, as you would use it

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What a chief architect does

A chief architect is accountable for the architecture function: the standards the estate is built to, the decisions that have been taken and why, and the review process every significant change goes through. Where an enterprise architect works the model itself and a solution architect takes one design from idea to approval, the chief architect answers upward and across: to the CTO and the business for what architecture has delivered, and to the architects for what good looks like. The job gets hard the moment someone asks for evidence — how many reviews are waiting, how often the board approves, which part of the model nobody has connected — and the honest answer lives in five different places.

The questions you get asked

The screens you will use

• The health scorecard, one place for the architecture's own measures: a health score weighted from risk posture, capability coverage and governance, the review pipeline by state, open risks and ArchiMate elements counted by layer. Where something has not been measured, the scorecard says so rather than showing a number.
• The review board, whose dashboard shows total reviews, how many are pending, the approval rate and the average cycle time, with every review listed by number, type, risk and state — see Architecture Review Board.
• Architecture decisions, the record of decisions taken: context, the decision, consequences and the alternatives considered, a status of proposed, accepted, deprecated or superseded, a review date, and the ArchiMate elements each decision affects.
• The traceability matrix, with a coverage and gap analysis showing how much of the model is connected from drivers through goals, requirements and capabilities down to applications — and how many elements are orphaned.
• Capability health, scoring each business capability on maturity, coverage and risk, with domain-level health, at-risk hotspots and the coverage and maturity shortfalls behind them.
• The tech radar, where each device, system software and technology service already in the model is classed adopt, trial, assess or hold, with a rationale, review date and requesting initiative recorded.
• The AI chat, for a plain question about one element and what it connects to; any element then opens in the Composer — see Digital twin of your organisation.
• Roadmaps, with plateaus, the gap register and work packages on one timeline — see Roadmaps.

A week with Entelim

1. Open the health scorecard for the state of the model and the review pipeline.
2. Open the review board dashboard: what is pending, what was decided, how long it took.
3. Check the traceability matrix's coverage figures for the part of the model that is not yet connected, and capability health for where the shortfalls sit.
4. Record the decisions the board took in the architecture decisions register, linked to the elements they concern.
5. Classify any technology that has moved on the tech radar, with the reason and a review date.

What you hand over

A health scorecard that reads from the live model. The review board's volume, approval rate and cycle time. A register of architecture decisions with their status. A technology radar with a rationale and review date on each classification. A coverage report from the traceability matrix showing what is connected and what is not.

Works with

An imported Archi or ArchiMate Open Exchange model brings the existing model in, so the scorecards read from the work already done — see import your model. Connect an AI assistant, read-only and scoped to your organisation's data, to ask the same questions from a tool you already use.

Limits

Every figure is read from what is recorded in the model: the health scorecard and the coverage analysis are only as complete as the model behind them, and a measure with nothing recorded shows as not measured rather than as zero. The review board's decision is made by the people who sit on it; Entelim holds the evidence and the record, not the judgement.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the enterprise architect tools?

The enterprise architect works the model: elements, relationships, impact, roadmaps. A chief architect uses the same model to account for the function — review board throughput, decisions on record, technology standards and how much of the estate is connected. See enterprise architect tools for the modelling side.

Does it follow TOGAF and ArchiMate?

Yes. The model is built on ArchiMate 3.2 across the business, application, technology and motivation layers, and design work is tracked through the stages of TOGAF's Architecture Development Method.

Can the CTO see these numbers without a paid seat?

Yes. Anyone who only reads a dashboard or asks a question in the AI chat is free on every plan. An editor seat is for people who change the model: recording a decision, classifying technology, taking a review forward.

Who needs a paid seat?

Editors on the Team plan, priced at $29 per editor a month. Community covers one organisation of up to three people at no cost, and Enterprise, from $24,000 a year, adds SAML sign-in and unlimited editors.

Start free

Start free on the Community plan for one organisation of up to three people. A larger architecture team moves to Team, priced per editor, where people who only read and ask stay free. See full pricing.

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