Mindmappers' Forum

mudsurfer

I'm in search of a software to assist me with mapping of web environments. I'm inspired by the concepts behind ITIL Configuration Management Data Bases. I have a couple of use cases in mind, but as an example:

I have "entities" of different categories: Domain Name Registrars, Domain Names, Web Host Companies, DNS providers.

I have "Relationship" connection types between these nodes: External, Internal.

I would like to construct a map where I can map the interrelationships of all the entities and all their types of relationships - but then be able to filter on a specific relationship type - ie: select an entity, filter for a specific relationship type, and only see the entities related to the selected entities via that type of relationship.

Has anyone seen such a tool, or anything that smells like that?

NMarcel

Hello, can you tell me what is your timeframe to find a software like that?

Currently I'm building a concept/mind-mapping and diagramming tool (now in pre-Beta).

It let's the user define his own types of concepts (nodes) and relationships, with their own appareance and information (fields, tables, images, attachments, links), for a customizable business "Domain". I can show you some screenshots:

http://conceptmodeler.wordpress.com/tag/thinkcomposer/

I hope some it can help users like you.

vicforum

Thanks for stepping in @NMarcel we look forward to seeing that when it gets into public beta.

For now, though @mudsurfer, you would need 'net' or 'graph' topology, I suppose, so a concept mapper rather than mind map software. That would avoid being tied to the tree hierarchy.

A concept mapper would also let you describe the relationships. It's filtering on type of relationship that is the most demanding part. You need some sort of tag filter.

CMAP might go part of the way but not the filtering AFAIK, but PersonalBrain would be worth looking at - it has graph topology, relationship phrases, ability to choose relationship and node colours, and tags. I haven't used it recently, so I'm not sure if it can do the filtering part.

Vic

mudsurfer

Thanks @VicGee, and thanks the other commenters as well.

I'll give PersonalBrain a go and see how far that gets me.

Had not heard of CMAP before, so I will have a look at that too - at first glance the CMAP format looks great, but as mentioned, will have to see how I go about the filtering.

@NMarcel - your screenshots look really good, I'd be very interested in following your progress, and I might be intested in being involved in some early testing... especially liking the way you can define/customise the entities and relationship types.

NMarcel

Maybe is too late for @mudsurfer, its been a long time since this comment.

I have a public Beta version of ThinkComposer and the PDF documentation half finished (it has the theory of the product, with the application guide pending). See http://www.thinkcomposer.com

Merry Christmas.

vicforum

Hi @NMarcel,

From the screenshots this looks promising, but it won't install for me on WinXP SP3.

If I use the setup.exe I get "setup.exe is not a valid Win32 application." and from the .msi, I get "The installer was interrupted before ThinkComposer could be installed." This happens on repeated tries and I don't interrupt it.

I had .NET Framework 4.0 installed, but I went to the link you gave, downloaded and did a repair install. That made no difference. The PC is a Core2 2.4GHz with 2 GB RAM.

Any ideas?

Vic

NMarcel

Hello @VicGee, thanks for try to try ThinkComposer.

There are troubles to make work the combination old-installer + WPF + .NET 4.0 on Win XP.

I'm evaluating to replace the installer for a new one or even drop XP support.

I will inform any changes or decisions ASAP.

Thanks again!

TheExpert4444

Hi @mudsurfer,

maybe YouMinds Composer http://www.composer.youminds.com/ can help you create mindmaps and then convert them to diagrams with connectors and relationships.

Regards.

NMarcel

Hello again @VicGee, now I have an MSI installer working in XP

(at least on my Win 7 "Windows XP Mode" virtual machine).

For the @mudsurfer case, now the software has a more direct way (the "+" button over the palettes) for creating new Definitions. That is useful to make/adapt special types of Concepts (nodes) and Relationships (connectors).

I hope to finish the manual and improve the website to show the features.

Thanks for try ThinkComposer

vicforum

Thanks @NMarcel, I'll give the new installer a try and report back.

Thank you too @TheExpert4444 I'll take a look at YouMinds Composer.

Vic

mudsurfer

Thanks @VicGee for the headsup that this thread was alive again!
And thanks @NMarcel, I am still looking for an appropriate mechanism. I have actually found another use case for the same functionality: Originally I wanted it for myself to map how I have all my clients setup, but I'm doing some work at the moment mapping the 3rd party services and relationships between web developers, web services, hosting, and domain registrars in a complex public service environment. They have built up a series of adhoc vendors and relationships over time. And making sense of this spaghetti in a management-accessible diagram would be very valuable!
I'll give your ThinkComposer a go, and will report back.
Thanks!

NMarcel

Hello again @mudsurfer

I just created a new Domain thinking in your "web environment" world. I must confess that I have not much knowledge on network management, so I speculated about how that can be.

You can see the respective post on my blog:

http://conceptmodeler.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/web-env-net-management-sample-diagram/

And you can download the Domain and test if fits your needs (you can extend or change it) from:

http://instrumind.blob.core.windows.net/thinkcomposer/Web_Environment.tdom

Good luck!

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