Capabilities of ServiceMap 2.0

In my previous blog I have written about what is ServiceMap and its brief history.  This blog describes various capabilities of ServiceMap 2.0.  Basic purpose of servicemap designer is to enable user to create / modify a service map and save it.  Above this, the designer supports variety of features.

- File based operations

This includes creating new service map, opening existing map from file system, saving new map to file location, saving modfication to opened file, saving an existing map to another location (user may wish to do modification to the opened file, but not directly save changes to opened file as they may wish to have the older copy as is and hence allowing them to save into different location), close existing map, printing a service map etc.  These functionalities exists in all Office applications and this designer replicates these mentioned features in almost the same way word or visio does.

- Add / Modify / Delete shapes

Service map is a drawing which contains collection of related (or connected) shapes.  These shapes are fundamentally service map entities.  The following are the components which form these entities - service map, stream, child value.  Service map node forms the root node or the main node.  A stream can be added to a service map node.  A stream or child value can be added to a stream node.  A child value can be leaf node or can have child value(s).  Following the hierarchy user can create an entire service map by adding / deleting shapes and modify their name, assign attributes & legends etc.

- Export facility

User can use this feature to export the service map drawing to other formats like JPEG or a Visio File (.vdx or .vsd).  This feature helps to view / host a service map created in the designer on website, share via email, copy to a powerpoint presentation or view in a Visio Viewer etc.

- Attributes and Legends

The shapes of the service map drawing represent service map entities.  These entities have list of attributes associated.  User can add custom attributes and assign values to those.  Also, the entities may have predefined set of attributes for which user can assign respective values.  These attributes and their values are persisted along with the shape inside the drawing when saved.  Legend represents a way of grouping of service map entities in a drawing.  User can create legend item by providing a group name and assign a unique color to it.  Shapes can then be assigned a legend from list of available group names.  There is a dedicated mini-window inside the ServiceMap designer called Properties window through which user can easily add / modify / delete attribute and manage legend items.

- Pan & Zoom

User can zoom in/out service map drawing and scroll across the canvas (aka. drawing surface) using Pan & Zoom window. 

- Layout management

User can either prefer to manage positioning of shapes in smap by oneself or opt to give control to layout management to designer.  User can select this as a choice available using Settings menu item under Design menu tab.  User can configure various layout options by selecting suitable style (like Hierarchy, flowchat, compact tree) and direction (like top to down, right to left).  Layout management is a value-add feature which makes drawing in the designer surface to effective and increases usability.

- Hyperlinking

Hyperlink(s) can be added to a shape.  The link can be a website url, or file path for another service map drawing, etc.  User will be able to add / modify / delete hyperlinks.  Upon right clicking a shape, added hyperlinks will be visible in the context menu from where user can open the link.

- Collapse / Expand shapes

Service map drawing grow huge in size depending on complexity and nature of the original system.  When a map contains multiple shapes, managing it becomes harder.  Collapse / Expand feature is handy during these scenarios.  User can right click on a shape and select 'collapse' to hide all the children shapes (at all level below the selected shape).  Upon collapsing, the selected shape is uniquely differentiated representing that shape is collapsed and has child(ren) node under it.  A collapsed shape and then be expanded by selecting 'expand' available on right click context menu.

<note to the readers - I will keep this blog post updated with upcoming features of servicemap 2.0>