actor

ArchiMate 3.2 Equivalent: Business Actor (Business Layer - Active Structure)

Represents a human persona, organizational unit, customer archetype, or external partner interacting with enterprise systems and business processes.

Visual Styling

To apply custom icons, colors, or CSS classes to actors, use a Style Rule (e.g. style actor where role == "Consumer" { icon "user" }).

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Syntax

actor <id> "<Display Name>" {
    description "<text>"
    owner "<team_or_person>"
    tags ["tag1", "tag2"]
    role "<role_title>"
    is_external true | false
    
    # Custom attributes
    attr access_level "Privileged" | "Standard" | "Read-Only" | "Service Account"

    relationships { ... }
}

---

Properties

Property	Type	Allowed Values	Description
description	string	Free text	Explanation of the actor's responsibilities and archetype
owner	string	Free text	Accountable business unit
tags	string[]	Array of strings	Categorization tags
role	string	e.g. "Customer", "Branch Manager", "Support Agent"	Functional archetype
is_external / isExternal	boolean	true | false	Indicates whether the actor is external to the enterprise

---

Allowed Relationship Verbs & Targets

Verb	ArchiMate Relation	Allowed Target Entity Types
reads, writes	Access	data_object, system, app, component, infrastructure
serves	Serving	actor, process, system, app, agent
triggers	Triggering	process, agent
influences	Influence	goal, kpi
governed_by	Governance	policy, standard

---

Complete Example

actor customer_vip "Premium Banking Customer" {
    description "High-net-worth individual using wealth management portals"
    role "Retail Customer"
    is_external true
    tags ["vip", "wealth-management"]

    attr access_level "Standard"

    relationships {
        this triggers proc_wire_transfer "Initiates international wire"
        this reads data_account_statement "Views monthly statement"
        this governed_by pol_kyc_aml "Subject to KYC/AML regulations"
    }
}