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Best Practices for Structuring and Managing Diagrams, Templates, and Collections in LeanIX

  • November 17, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 58 views

Hi LeanIX Community,


We are trying to establish an enterprise-wide standard for organizing diagrams and architectural documentation in LeanIX. Our goal is to bring consistency and avoid duplication, especially where a single application supports multiple business capabilities.

We are looking for guidance in the following areas:

  1. Naming conventions:
    What naming standards do you use for diagrams to ensure uniformity across domains, capabilities, and applications?

  2. Folder/collection structure:
    Since LeanIX doesn't have traditional folders, what is the recommended way to structure Collections for domains, capabilities, and applications?
    Is there an industry-standard approach for ensuring that each application has a single authoritative home?

  3. Classification metadata:
    Do you primarily use tags to classify diagram types, maturity, and architecture states (current/future), or are there better methods?

  4. Managing collections & avoiding duplication:
    How do you handle cases where applications support multiple capabilities without scattering diagrams across multiple collections?

  5. Reuse of templates and stencils:
    How do you centrally store and manage reusable templates, legends, and stencils so that architects across teams can maintain consistency?

Any examples, screenshots, or governance frameworks from your organization would be extremely valuable.
Thanks in advance for your advice!

1 reply

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  • Royalty For Loyalty
  • 41 replies
  • November 17, 2025

@subhra on our side, we have created a top level collection for templates, and another one where we have folders grouped by L1 capabilities (or L2 sometimes). We are trying to group documentation around those areas, as business users find it easier to relate to.

 

For naming conventions diagrams :

- Prefix based on the diagram type (based on level of architecture concept) 

- Report name is based by L1 area - report type, base fact sheet and report content

 

For point 4, I personally prefer having the same diagram or report span on many collections and have only one to manage.

 

For point 5, as mentioned we created a folder for templates and in each folder we maintain templates to be used depending on the diagram to be created. Then architects start from that template and save as their copy. Then they add it to their collection(s).

 

@Thomas Schreiner this could be an interesting topic to add on Dec. 2nd agenda. There certainly are best practices and pitfalls to avoid!