Impact Analysis and Migration Tracking
Before any destructive action, impact analysis traces downstream effects across the Intent Graph. Two migration paths (immediate and deferred) generate task board cards automatically, with dependency checklists and progress tracking.
Renaming an entity, deleting a schema, or changing a field type might seem like a small change, but in a connected architecture the downstream effects can be significant. A renamed model entity might be referenced by 5 schemas, 12 endpoints, 3 diagrams, and 8 governance blocks. Making the change without understanding this blast radius creates broken references, orphaned documentation, and compliance gaps.
NeoArc's impact analysis uses the Intent Graph to trace these relationships before you make the change. It then offers two migration paths, each generating task board cards that track the work to completion.
How Impact Analysis Works
When you perform a destructive action (delete, rename, move, type change, or deprecate), the impact confirmation dialog appears. Behind the scenes, the system runs a breadth-first traversal from the affected node through the Intent Graph, following edges to a depth of 2 to find all dependent resources.
| Action | What Gets Traced |
|---|---|
| Delete | All inbound references: schemas mapping to this entity, views including it, pages governing it, diagrams displaying it |
| Rename | Same as delete, plus label references in dependent schemas, views, and documentation |
| Move | File path references in views, diagrams, and content pages |
| Type Change | Schema fields with lineage to properties of this entity, validation rules dependent on the type |
| Deprecate | Active entities that depend on this one, governance blocks that govern it, schemas with lineage to it |
The Impact Confirmation Dialog
The dialog shows every affected resource grouped by category (schemas, endpoints, views, pages, diagrams) with severity levels. Each item includes the affected node label, the relationship type (maps-to, references, governs, view-of), and an explanation of why it is affected. You then choose one of two paths.
Task Board Integration
Impact cards land on the Architect Task Board, a Kanban-style board with six columns designed for architectural work.
| Column | Purpose | Receives Impact Cards When |
|---|---|---|
| Broken | High-severity items requiring immediate attention | Proceed and Track with high severity |
| Needs Review | Items requiring assessment before action | Track and Resolve First (all items), or Proceed and Track with medium severity |
| Needs Update | Low-severity items that need adjustment | Proceed and Track with low severity |
| To Do | Manual tasks and deferred action cards | Track and Resolve First (action card with checklist) |
| In Progress | Actively being worked on | Manual movement by the architect |
| Done | Completed work | Manual movement when resolved |
Impact Card Details
Each impact card carries rich metadata beyond a simple title and description.
Migration Tracking
When multiple impact cards share the same source action and source node, they form a migration group. The migration filter bar at the top of the task board shows all active migrations with progress counters (for example, "Delete CustomerOrder 3/5"). Clicking a migration filters the board to show only cards in that group, letting you focus on one migration at a time.
Completed migrations (where all cards have reached Done) are shown separately, providing a historical record of past architectural changes and their resolution.