Solution architect tools for a design the review board can actually decide on

More of the product, as you would use it

Start free or see pricing.

What a solution architect does

A solution architect turns an approved direction — a capability gap, a target-state decision, a new integration — into a design detailed enough to build: which applications and interfaces are involved, what changes in each, and who owns the pieces. The job turns from drafting to defending the moment someone outside the design asks what it actually touches, or whether it was ever approved. Solution architect tools earn their place by answering both from the model the design is built in, not a diagram and a decision log kept in two places that quietly drift apart.

The questions you get asked

The screens you will use

• The AI chat, first, for a quick question about one element, and the impact analysis to trace what a design touches — see Digital twin of your organisation.
• Architecture Journey and Solutions, where a design is built: its ArchiMate elements, the APQC processes it affects, and the owner, sponsor and technical lead recorded against it.
• ADM Kanban, which moves a design across the stages of TOGAF's Architecture Development Method — the standard cycle of phases a change in enterprise architecture passes through, from the first statement of intent through business, information systems and technology architecture to migration planning and governance — with each stage's governance checkpoints attached to the card.
• The review board, where a design goes as a change proposal, is discussed in a session, and comes back with a decision — approved, approved with conditions, rejected or deferred — see Architecture Review Board.
• Programmes, where a design's delivery sits against the same roadmap stage it is closing, with dates, status and cost per work package — see is the programme on time and on budget within Portfolio.
• Interface Register, recording each interface's type, protocol, criticality and status against the roadmap initiative it belongs to, and flagging the gaps between one initiative's interfaces and the next — see the Interface Register screen.
• AI Chat, carrying the same questions into a conversation instead of a search through the model — see AI Chat.

Enterprise architects set the target state these designs move toward; read how they work on enterprise architect tools.

A week with Entelim

1. Open a design in Solutions and attach its ArchiMate elements, APQC processes, owner, sponsor and technical lead.
2. Move it across the ADM kanban board as each phase's inputs are met, with that phase's governance checkpoints attached to the card.
3. Ask what the design touches before you submit it — what depends on the elements it changes.
4. Check the interface register for anything the design adds, changes or retires, scoped to its roadmap initiative.
5. Submit it to the review board with that evidence attached, and record the decision against the design itself.

What you hand over

A design's blueprint, exported as a PowerPoint file and, where Microsoft 365 is connected, uploaded straight to a SharePoint folder. A review board decision with its rationale and any conditions attached. An interface register entry for each interface the design touches, with its type, protocol and criticality recorded. And the model itself, updated once the design is approved, so the next person who asks what changed gets the real answer.

Works with

An imported Archi or Open Exchange model puts a design on the same model your enterprise architects use from day one. From there, connect Jira (see the connectors) to carry a design's work into the tracker your delivery team already uses, and connect Microsoft 365 and Teams to send a design's exported blueprint to SharePoint and post the decision to a Teams channel as soon as the review board approves it.

Limits

The review board's decision is still made by the people sitting on it; Entelim holds the evidence and the record, not the judgement. The interface register holds what is recorded against a roadmap initiative; it does not discover interfaces on its own. ADM Kanban tracks a design's progress through TOGAF's phases; whether that design is methodologically sound is still a question for the review board.

Frequently asked questions

Does it follow TOGAF?

Yes. The ADM kanban board tracks a design through the stages of TOGAF's Architecture Development Method, with each stage's inputs, outputs and governance checkpoints attached to the card, and the underlying model is built on the ArchiMate 3.2 standard across the business, application, technology and motivation layers.

Can I submit a design to the review board from it?

Yes. A design in Solutions goes to the review board as a change proposal with its evidence pinned to the decision, is discussed in a recorded session, and comes back with a decision — approved, approved with conditions, rejected or deferred — recorded against that same design rather than a separate document.

Can I export a design document?

Yes. A design's blueprint exports as a PowerPoint file you can present directly, and if Microsoft 365 is connected, Entelim uploads the same file straight to a SharePoint folder, so a reviewer who was not in the room still sees exactly what the board decided on.

How is it different from a diagramming tool?

A diagramming tool stores a picture; Entelim stores the elements and relationships a design is made of, so "what does this touch" is answered by tracing the model, not by someone reading a diagram and guessing. The diagram is still there when you need it, generated from the same elements rather than redrawn by hand.

Who needs a paid seat?

Anyone editing a design — moving it across ADM Kanban, submitting it to the review board, or recording an interface — needs an editor seat on the Team plan, priced at $29 per editor a month. People who only ask questions in the AI chat are free, on every plan, and Community covers a whole organisation of up to three people at no cost at all.

Start free

Start free on the Community plan for one organisation of up to three people, with Solutions, the ADM kanban board and the review board all included from day one. A growing team moves to Team, priced per editor, where people who only ask questions stay free. See full pricing.

Other roles