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Key concepts

These concepts form the foundation of Boldo for modeling, understanding and managing your enterprise architecture.

The most important idea is this:

  • the inventory is the central knowledge base
  • the other modules read that knowledge in different ways

Use this page to build the right mental model for how Boldo structures knowledge. For the visualizations built on top of that model, continue with Visualizations and spaces.

Build the knowledge base model​

Asset​

An asset is the fundamental unit of information in Boldo. It represents any element of your organization that you wish to map, track, or analyze.

An asset can represent anything relevant to your context:

  • Physical: A server, a datacenter, an office.
  • Logical: A business capability, a process, a project.
  • Organizational: A team, a vendor, a department.
  • Technical: An application, an API, a database.

Each asset is an instance of an asset type defined in the metamodel, which dictates what information describes it and how it can connect to others.

In practice, users interact with assets in inventories, asset pages, diagrams, charts, and nested maps. The same asset can appear in several places, but it remains one object in the knowledge base.

Relationship​

A relationship is the actual link between two assets in the inventory.

If the metamodel defines the relationship type Application enables Process, users can then create real relationships such as:

  • Customer Portal enables Sales Process
  • CRM Team owns Customer Portal

Relationships are what turn a list of assets into a structured knowledge base. You usually interact with them when editing an asset, reviewing related assets, or generating a diagram from a view.

Asset type​

An asset type is the blueprint for your assets. It defines the structure that all assets of that category must follow.

When you create an asset type in your metamodel, for example Application, Server, or Team, you decide:

  • What it is called: Use your own terminology.
  • What properties it has: Define fields like "Status", "Cost", or "Go Live Date".
  • How it behaves: Define which other asset types it can connect to.

This ensures that every asset of the same type follows a consistent structure.

Asset types are part of the metamodel. They define what users are allowed to create and describe in a structured way.

Relationship type​

A relationship type is the rule defined in the metamodel that says how one asset type can connect to another.

Each relationship type combines:

  • A source asset type
  • A relation name
  • A target asset type

For example:

  • Server hosts Application
  • Application enables Process
  • Team owns Application

Relationship types are part of the metamodel. They define what users are allowed to connect in a structured way.

Metamodel​

The metamodel is the schema of your knowledge base. It defines asset types, their properties, and the relationship types users can use between them.

The metamodel matters because it decides what can exist and what users are allowed to describe in a structured way. It is one of the most structuring parts of Boldo, because it shapes the inventory and influences how views, diagrams, charts, and nested maps can be built from that data.

In practice, most users work inside the metamodel designed for their organization. Changing it is an administrative task and should be done carefully.

Some changes can have direct effects on existing content. For example, changing a slug can break integrations or API calls, changing the source or target of a relationship type can delete existing asset relationships, and deleting a type or property can remove data or dependent content.

In many organizations, the default metamodel starts with English labels. Your organization can keep those labels or rename them to match its own vocabulary.

That is why the safest approach is usually:

  • start from a coherent baseline
  • adapt the vocabulary deliberately
  • change the structure with a clear understanding of the impact on existing data
Example of a Custom Metamodel
├── Type: Application
│   ├── Properties: Criticality, Status, Owner...
│   └── Relationship types: Enables → Process, Uses → Data
├── Type: Process
│   ├── Properties: Frequency, Owner...
│   └── Relationship types: Part of → Business Domain
└── Type: Data
    ├── Properties: Sensitivity, Format...
    └── Relationship types: Stored in → Infrastructure

Inventory​

The inventory is the source of truth containing all your assets.

It is organized by asset type for navigation, but it acts as one shared knowledge base. When you update an asset in the inventory, Boldo reuses that information everywhere else.

You can think of it as your organization's architecture knowledge base:

  • assets store the main objects
  • properties qualify them
  • relationship types define how they can connect
  • relationships connect them in practice
  • the metamodel keeps everything consistent

For example, your organization might model:

  • Customer Portal as an Application
  • Sales Process as a Process
  • CRM Team as a Team

And connect them with relationships such as:

  • Customer Portal -> supports -> Sales Process
  • CRM Team -> owns -> Customer Portal

From that same inventory, you can then save a view of critical applications, build a diagram of the application and its related process, create a chart of applications by lifecycle status, or generate a nested map of teams, applications, and other connected assets.

Organization​

An organization is an independent workspace in Boldo.

Each organization has:

  • Its own metamodel
  • Its own inventory
  • Its own visualizations (views, diagrams, charts, nested maps)
  • Its own users
info

A user can belong to multiple organizations.

Continue with Visualizations and spaces.