How-to guides
Each guide covers one task end to end, using the menus and terminology the application actually uses. Where a step depends on a capability your organisation has to enable, the guide says so.
Draw and model
- How to create a solution architecture diagram Build a solution architecture diagram from an empty page: place the components, record how they connect, tidy the layout, and leave it in a state someone else can review.
- How to show how applications connect Record the integrations between applications as modelled connections, then read them back through the views that depend on them.
- How to start an architecture from a template in Yantra Studio Open the template gallery, start from a pattern close to what you are designing, and edit it into your own architecture.
- How to design a data model Build a data model at a chosen level of abstraction, give it business meaning, and check it against your standards before any SQL exists.
- How to model an interaction sequence Record an interaction as an ordered sequence over the components that take part in it, then set the order the diagram is revealed in so it can be presented as a walkthrough rather than explained over a static picture.
- How to model a use case as a path through the architecture Express a use case against the architecture rather than in a document: an ordered path across the components that have to deliver it, which makes it visible which components are load-bearing for the requirement and which steps have nothing serving them.
Bring in what already exists
- How to import a database schema into Yantra Studio Bring an existing database into Yantra Studio as a model, by whichever of the three routes matches what you can get hold of.
- How to import an architecture generated from source code Import an architecture JSON produced by Archify, correct anything it was unsure about, and understand what happens when you import an updated version later.
- How to trace a diagram back to the source code that proves it Select an imported component and read the evidence behind it: the file and line range, the commit, and a link that opens the code at that exact commit.
- How to map a source system to a target system Record how fields in a source system correspond to a target, then check what the change affects before it is scheduled.
Understand dependencies
- How to analyse the impact of an architecture change Run impact analysis against the thing you intend to change and read the result with the right degree of trust.
- How to trace data lineage Trace a data element back through the systems that produced it, and forward to everything that consumes it.
- How to compare environments in Yantra Studio Compare two environments and read the differences between them.
Generate and export
- How to generate SQL DDL from a data model Produce a DDL script from a model, for a chosen database, or produce the migration between the model and what is already deployed.
- How to export a diagram and architecture documents Get the architecture out of the tool in the format the audience needs.
- How to prepare an architecture diagram for a stakeholder discussion Turn a diagram into a walkthrough, so the audience is shown the system one idea at a time instead of confronted with all of it.
- How to share an architecture diagram read-only Give people access to a diagram at the level they actually need: a link for a reader, an embed for a page that should always show the current version, named collaborators for the people who work on it, and presentation for a live audience.
Govern the architecture
- How to document risks against an architecture Record risks against the parts of the architecture they apply to, and make them visible on the diagram itself.
- How to document non-functional requirements in an architecture Record non-functional requirements against the components they constrain, and use the tech debt report to see where the architecture is not meeting them.
- How to check a design against architecture principles Report a design against the principles and policies your organisation has defined, and act on the departures.
- How to validate a model against naming standards Check a model against your naming conventions and structural rules, then correct what it finds efficiently.
- How to version and approve an architecture diagram Put a diagram through versioning and formal approval so the picture and the decision behind it stay together.
- How to store architecture diagrams in GitHub Connect a repository and store architecture there, so the diagram travels with the code rather than beside it.
- How to set up SSO and control workspace access Connect the organisation to your identity provider, set the authentication policy, and scope access to architecture by workspace membership and role.
Analyse and assist
- How to simulate an architecture before you build it Describe a workload, run it against the modelled architecture, and read what the analysis says about where the design strains.
- How to find bottlenecks in an architecture Run bottleneck detection against a modelled architecture under a stated workload, and confirm the finding with sensitivity analysis.
- How to build a business glossary alongside a data model Record agreed business definitions with the model they describe, and keep the technical dictionary alongside them.
- How to use AI assistance to draft a model in Yantra Studio Use the assistant that matches your starting material to produce a first draft, then review it before any of it becomes the model.
- How to estimate what an architecture will cost to run Attach a budget to the model so that cost moves when the architecture does, and adopt a practice pack so the design starts inside the standards it will eventually be reviewed against.
Workshop and track
- How to run an architecture design workshop with dot voting Use a sketchboard for the stage before a model exists: get everything onto the board without worrying whether it is valid, then run a voting session that ends with a decision rather than a photograph of a wall.
- How to track architecture work next to the model Put the work that concerns an architecture on a board next to it: cards that link to the diagram, page or entity they are about, with the exports and documents each piece of work produced collected against the card.