What Triodian Adds

The Triodian Metamodel builds on business architecture foundations with additional capabilities designed for modern enterprise needs. This page describes what Triodian adds beyond traditional business architecture frameworks.

Design Principles

Triodian was designed with specific principles that shape its additions:

Principle	Description	Resulting Capability
Schema-first	All concepts defined in formal JSON Schema	Machine-readable, validatable definitions
Integration-ready	API-first design for enterprise tools	Data catalog and platform integration
Comprehensive	Cover modern enterprise complexity	24 domains vs. traditional 4
Traceable	End-to-end relationship modeling	Cross-domain lineage and impact analysis
Open	Community contribution model	Continuous evolution and extension

Extended Domain Coverage

Beyond Core Domains

Traditional business architecture focuses on four core domains. Triodian extends this to 24 domains organized into layers:

Why More Domains?

Traditional Approach	Triodian Approach	Benefit
Finance embedded in other domains	Dedicated Finance domain	Explicit cost/revenue modeling
Technology as context	Technology domain	Direct capability-technology linkage
Risk as assessment	Risk Management domain	Formal risk taxonomy and controls
People through organization	People domain	Workforce planning and skills
Sustainability as consideration	Sustainability domain	ESG and environmental objectives

Strategic Response Model

One of Triodian's most significant additions is the Strategic Response Model (SRM), which provides structured tracing from events to outcomes.

SRM Components

Component	Purpose	Traditional Approach
Trigger	Capture events prompting response	Scenario planning narratives
Rationale	Document reasoning for decisions	Meeting minutes, implicit knowledge
Strategic Intent	Capture proactive aspirations and opportunities	Strategy documents
Strategic Response	Define actions across domains	Initiative tracking
Performance Indicators	Measure outcomes and track progress	KPI spreadsheets

Traceability Chain

This formalized structure enables:

Audit trails — Full documentation of why changes were made
Impact analysis — Understand downstream effects of triggers
Pattern recognition — Identify similar triggers and responses
Automation — Trigger-based workflow initiation

Cross-Domain Relationships

Triodian adds formal relationship modeling with defined semantics: 37 relationship types in seven categories.

Relationship Types

Category	Relationship Verbs	Example
Financial	`funds`, `measures`, `reports`, `forecasts`	Finance funds Initiative
Operational	`depends`, `constrains`, `enables`, `mitigates`, `consumes`, `delivers`, `optimizes`, `maintains`	Capability enables Value Stream Stage
Governance	`monitors`, `governs`, `audits`, `certifies`, `escalates`, `accountableFor`, `responsibleFor`	Policy governs Capability
Information and knowledge	`informs`, `validates`, `enriches`, `learns`, `teaches`, `benchmarks`	Intelligence informs Strategy
Innovation and transformation	`innovates`, `evolves`, `transforms`, `designs`, `implements`	Initiative transforms Capability
Coordination and integration	`orchestrates`, `integrates`, `synchronizes`, `aligns`, `prioritizes`	Strategy prioritizes Initiative
Market and demand	`drives`, `responds`	Market drives Product

Directionality

All relationships have defined direction (source → target) using active voice verbs:

✓ Capability enables Value Stream Stage
✗ Value Stream Stage enabled by Capability

Information, Performance, Product and Service are passive domains: they receive relationships but are never the source.

This consistency enables:

Upstream/downstream impact analysis
Consistent visualization
Query pattern standardization

Inter-Unit Relationships

Triodian adds explicit modeling of how organizational units relate to shared assets. The main relationship roles are:

Relationship	Description
`owning`	Has governance responsibility
`providing`	Delivers the asset or service
`consuming`	Uses the asset or service
`benefiting`	Receives value from the asset
`custodian`	Maintains day-to-day operation
`supporting`	Provides supporting function
`governing`	Sets policies and standards

The schema defines further roles, such as contributing, dependent, monitoring and sponsoring; every relationship also carries a relationshipStrength from 1 to 5.

This enables answering questions like:

"Which units depend on this capability?"
"Who needs to be consulted for this change?"
"What's the full impact of decommissioning this service?"

Interoperability Mappings

Triodian includes pre-built JSON-LD mappings to industry standards, in the repository's interoperability/ folder:

Financial Services

Standard	Mapping Coverage
BIAN	Service domain alignment for banking
FIBO	Financial ontology property mappings

Enterprise Architecture

Standard	Mapping Coverage
SAP EAF	Correspondences between Triodian domains and SAP EA concepts (`skos:closeMatch`)
Well-Architected	TechnologyOne Well-Architected Framework extension schema

Data Platforms

Platform	Integration Pattern
OpenMetadata	Entity mapping, glossary terms
Data Catalogs	Business context enrichment

Coverage Extensions

Triodian adds a maturity tracking system:

Component	Purpose
Coverage Template	Define which domains matter for context
Organization Goal	Set domain weighting, coverage aspirations and tolerances
Coverage Status	Compare actual coverage to expectations and identify gaps
Coverage Expectation	Set the desired coverage level for a domain in an organisation or unit

This enables:

Metamodel adoption tracking
Gap analysis and prioritization
Maturity roadmap planning

Business Analysis Extension

Triodian adds formal support for business analysis:

Component	Capability
Requirements	Formal requirement element with acceptance criteria
Requirement Artefacts	Document and model tracking
Elicitation Activities	Capture how requirements were gathered
Analysis & Design	Solution option evaluation
Solution Evaluation	Post-implementation assessment

Framework Translation

Each business analysis element can carry a mapping to concepts in other BA frameworks:

Framework	Supported Mappings
BABOK	Requirements, techniques, deliverables
Volere	Requirement types, templates
IREB	Requirement engineering concepts
TOGAF	Architecture concepts
Agile	User stories, acceptance criteria

Schema Rigor

All additions include formal JSON Schema definitions:

An excerpt from trigger.schema.json:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "$id": "https://triodian.com/schemas/trigger.schema.json",
  "title": "Trigger Schema",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["triggerID", "label", "primaryCategory", "origin"],
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
    "triggerID": {
      "description": "Unique identifier for the trigger",
      "allOf": [{ "$ref": "common.schema.json#/definitions/identifier" }]
    },
    "label": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Short, human-readable name of the trigger"
    },
    "primaryCategory": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Primary classification of trigger context",
      "enum": ["regulatoryCompliance", "technologicalChange", "environmentalSafety", "operationalTransformation", "strategicRealignment", "customerStakeholder", "workforceSkills", "performanceResponse", "politicalSocial", "innovationOpportunity", "other"]
    },
    "impactLevel": {
      "description": "The potential significance of the trigger",
      "allOf": [{ "$ref": "common.schema.json#/definitions/ratingLevel" }]
    },
    "affectedEntities": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "$ref": "common.schema.json#/definitions/entityReference" }
    }
  }
}

This enables:

Validation — Automated schema compliance checking
Code generation — Generate types for any programming language
Documentation — Schema serves as specification
API contracts — OpenAPI integration

Summary

Addition Category	Key Capabilities
Extended Domains	24 domains covering modern enterprise complexity
Strategic Response Model	Trigger → Rationale → Strategic Response → Performance chain, plus proactive Strategic Intents
Relationship Modeling	Typed, directional cross-domain relationships
Inter-Unit Relationships	Formal ownership, consumption, governance modeling
Interoperability	BIAN, FIBO, SAP EAF mappings and a Well-Architected extension
Coverage Extensions	Maturity tracking and adoption measurement
Business Analysis	Requirements, requirement artefacts, elicitation, evaluation
Schema Rigor	JSON Schema definitions for all concepts

These additions make Triodian suitable for:

Enterprise tool development
Data platform integration
Automated governance
Complex multi-enterprise modeling
Regulatory traceability requirements

Summary Comparison — High-level framework comparison
Detailed Comparison — Technical comparison
Domain Coverage Explained — Why 24 domains

Design Principles​

Extended Domain Coverage​

Beyond Core Domains​

Why More Domains?​

Strategic Response Model​

SRM Components​

Traceability Chain​

Cross-Domain Relationships​

Relationship Types​

Directionality​

Inter-Unit Relationships​

Interoperability Mappings​

Financial Services​

Enterprise Architecture​

Data Platforms​

Coverage Extensions​

Business Analysis Extension​

Framework Translation​

Schema Rigor​

Summary​

Related Documentation​