Relationships among people are dynamic and quite distinct from their relationships with components, such as servers or applications. Hence, visualizing them solely in this manner doesn't capture their social interactions well.
Overview
What the Connected People Legend Is
The Connected People Legend is a separate feature that displays a list of people as additional context to the graph. It provides unique value by addressing the question of "whom is the right person to reach out to?" in various situations.
How It Works
Technically, Connected People is a legend placed on the Ardoq Discover details page, that appears on top of the Components and References legends whenever People component is a part of the traversal. It displays a list of component icons connected to all the components within the viewpoint. Thus, it is shown only when there are people connected to the components within the viewpoint: if viewpoint data rules include a People component type, people icons of such components will be displayed in the legend window, which is opened by default.
The default state of the feature doesn't require any actions from Ardoq users and will appear by default on the viewpoint details page wherever the People component is included in the traversal.
Default State: Showing Only People Icons That Are a Part of the Data Rules of the Traversal
For some viewpoints, the default state of Connected People is sufficient, and there is no need to enable it manually. Below are a few cases when you might want to keep the default state of the legend and not enable Connected People.
When the main user of the viewpoint for a selected component is the only owner of the process displayed in the viewpoint: For example, when a viewpoint represents a low-level specification of something, like a design of a cloud hosting analytics app.
When the user is an owner of the process displayed in the viewpoint and no other people involved.
If there are too many people added to the viewpoint: For example, if an application has too many owners, displaying the list of connected people in the legend of such a viewpoint might just overwhelm users.
If you'd like to configure the viewpoint to display people components that are not included in the viewpoint model but are located at the first degree of separation from the components you used in the data rules, you will need to configure it manually. 👇
Configurable State: How to Display Connected People Who Are Not a Part of the Viewpoint's Data Rules
By default, the Connected People toggle is off for any viewpoint, meaning that the Connected People legend will appear (with the list of People icons) only if you included People components in the data rules of the viewpoint:
In order to display people who are not a part of the viewpoint model but are connected to the components of the traversal, please follow the steps:
Open the viewpoint builder page and scroll down to the Connected People toggle.
Turn it on.
Save the viewpoint.
The list of people connected to the components you set up in the viewpoint will immediately appear in Ardoq Discover.
The Value Connected People Bring to Ardoq Discover Users
Connected People can be a valuable tool for Ardoq Discover users who want to find individuals connected to specific components in the enterprise architecture. This can be done to inform them about something, request additional information, or discuss any issue related to the insights displayed in the viewpoint.
Here are a few real-life examples from our customers:
An application expert may want to find the right people to discuss the potential impact of changes they are about to make to the API with a selected group of application owners who might be affected by these changes.
An Information Security & Risk Manager might want to mitigate risk sooner by contacting the expert associated with the application in question. They can also use the Connected People legend during the risk mitigation process.
An application owner who is considering discontinuing the use of an application may wish to gather feedback from all the application experts regarding this decision.
Learn more how different roles can use Ardoq Discover.
The Future
In essence, the Connected People legend embodies Ardoq's commitment to facilitating holistic and comprehensive architectural discussions by placing people at the heart of the conversation. As this feature evolves, it lays the foundation for more robust communication networks and a dynamic exchange of ideas, ultimately leading to more informed and impactful architectural outcomes.
Would you like to share your feedback and vision? Reach out to us via the Ardoq online chat.