Create Relationships

Create Relationships by Linking Elements

Designer's Architecture Views support two ways of creating links between elements:

Dragging and dropping one element onto another creates a hiearchical relationship (a breakdown structure) etween the two (or more)
Drawing a link between two members create a lateral relationship such as a contract or dependency

Dragging and Dropping

Some project elements, for example a Product, Phase, or Team, can be dragged and dropped onto another project element of the same type to create a hierarchy . The hierarchy is a parent-child relationship; the child is dropped onto the parent element. These heiarchies in project management are know as breakdown structures, including the PBS, WBS, and PBS.

Dragging and dropping to create hierarchy can include more than one child element if all are the same type. For example, multiple activities can be selected and then dragged onto a phase to change the phase in which these activities will occur.

Drawing a Contract or Dependency

A link can also be drawn between two model elements, if that relationship has meaning in the project model. To start a link hover the cursor over the top center of an icon until it changes to a pointing finger. Drag away from the icon and a line will start to form. This line will snap in the direction of other model elements for which a relationship has meaning in the model.

Summary Table

These two different ways of connecting Elements are shown in a summary table below:

Source

Target

Drag and Drop

Draw a Line

Team

Creates Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). The target becomes the parent

Team

Activity

Creates a Contract. A line is drawn from the top of the team icon to an activity. A contract is the relationship between a Team and an Activity that represents work

Product

Creates Product Breakdown Structure (PBS). The target becomes the parent product in the hierarchy.

Activity or Phase

Phase

Creates Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The target becomes the parent phase in the hierarchy.

Creates a Dependency. A line is drawn from the top of the source (or upstream) activity or phase to the sink (or downstream) phase. This dependency implies many dependencies from all activities upstream to all activities in the downstream phase. Not recommended, see note below.

Activity

Creates a Dependency. A line is drawn from the top of the source (or upstream) activty to the sink (or downstream) activity.

Phase

Activity or Phase

If both elements are phases, the phase dropped onto another phase become a child in the WBS.

Creates a Dependency. A line is drawn from the top of the source (or upstream) phase to the sink (or downstream) activity or phase. This dependency implies many dependencies from all activities upstream to all activities in the downstream phase. Not recommended, see note below.

Activity

Product

Changes the product parent of the source activity to the target product.

Note: Dependencies involving phases can create over representation of dependence, creating surprising over coordination and delay results in simulation. Typically one does not intend to model the full set of activities dependent upon another full set of activities, which is what creating dependencies involving phases implies.