Data Architecture
Document your data models, schemas, data flows, and data governance. Covers entity relationships, data lifecycles, and data quality standards.
The Data Architecture directory is where you document your data models, data flows, storage strategies, and data governance policies. This is essential for data-driven organisations and compliance requirements.
What Belongs Here
This directory covers all aspects of how your organisation manages data:
Recommended Content Blocks
Data architecture documentation benefits from these content blocks:
| Block Type | Use For |
|---|---|
| Diagram (ERD) | Entity-relationship diagrams with tables, fields, and relationships |
| Schema Definition | Embedding live schema documentation from your schema definitions |
| Data Lifecycle | Documenting how data is created, used, retained, and deleted |
| Graph Diagram | Force-directed visualisations of entity relationships and data lineage |
| Constraint | Data residency requirements, format standards, integration constraints |
| NFR | Data quality targets, performance requirements, availability SLAs |
| Principle | Data architecture principles and standards |
| Risk | Data quality risks, privacy risks, compliance risks |
Diagram Capabilities
NeoArc provides specialised features for data architecture diagrams:
Example Directory Structure
data-architecture/
├── data-models/
│ ├── customer-domain.cf.page.json
│ ├── order-domain.cf.page.json
│ └── product-domain.cf.page.json
├── schemas/
│ ├── customer.cf.schema.json
│ ├── order.cf.schema.json
│ └── product.cf.schema.json
├── data-flows/
│ ├── order-processing-pipeline.cf.page.json
│ ├── customer-data-sync.cf.page.json
│ └── analytics-data-warehouse.cf.page.json
├── data-governance/
│ ├── data-classification.cf.page.json
│ ├── retention-policies.cf.page.json
│ └── access-control-matrix.cf.page.json
└── master-data/
├── customer-mdm.cf.page.json
└── product-reference-data.cf.page.jsonExample: Content Management Schema
The following ERD shows a typical content management system with authors, articles, tags, and comments. Note the many-to-many relationship between articles and tags implemented via a junction table, and the self-referencing comment structure for nested replies.
Loading diagram: cms-schema.diagram.json
Learn more
Use persistence mode Data Views to visualise conceptual, logical, and physical data models from a single central model. Assign database profiles from 13 vendor templates (including cloud and NoSQL databases) or create custom profiles. Click any node to open the Entity Overlay with the full property table.
Define entities, properties, relationships, and key roles in the central data model (model.neoarc). Create ERD views and graph views to visualise the model for different audiences and database platforms.
Create data flow diagrams (DFD) and data lineage diagrams to document how data moves through systems. Use process shapes, data stores, and directional connections.
Create data schemas to define the structure of your APIs and documents. Learn about the four schema types and how to build your first schema.
Complete reference for the schema editor including schema types, field types, validation rules, and lineage tracking.
A template for data architecture documentation including data models, governance, lineage, and lifecycle management.