System Architecture diagrams help you design and visualize the systems, services, and integration points that make up your architecture. They extend the standard architecture diagram type with new styling, behaviors, and default shapes tailored for system-level design.
What is a System Architecture Diagram?
A System Architecture diagram illustrates the technical components that enable business processes and capabilities. It is ideal for:
Mapping systems, platforms, and services in your environment
Showing how integrations connect different systems
Highlighting dependencies and touchpoints between applications
Providing a foundation for system design, impact analysis, and transformation planning
Each component can include attributes and descriptions to provide technical context for your team.
Who is this feature for?
This diagram type is especially useful for:
System Architects: To design and document the structure of enterprise systems
Enterprise Architects: To align technology with business strategy
Business Analysts: To understand system dependencies and support solution design
Prerequisites
A free Elements workspace
Permission to create and edit diagrams in your workspace
How to Create a System Architecture Diagram
To create a System Architecture diagram:
Click the “New” button in the diagrams menu.
Select “Create blank diagram”, then choose System Architecture from the list of diagram types.
Give your diagram a name and description to capture its scope.
💡 Tip: Use consistent naming for systems (e.g. “Salesforce Sales Cloud” vs. “SFDC Sales Cloud”) to keep your architecture clear.
Supported Card Types
The system architecture canvas supports multiple system-level cards, designed for architecture modeling:
System Component (default): Represents a system, platform, or integration point. For instance "Sales Cloud", "Industries Cloud", "Agentforce" etc.
Salesforce Objects: Cards representing main Salesforce objects (Case, Opportunity, Lead, Contact and others).
There are 35 default, most popular shapes for Salesforce system architecture design. However, to model other use-cases, you can add the standard card (double click on the canvas or drag and drop from the left panel) and add a custom resource.
Drill Down to Detailed Diagrams
Each system card can link to a child diagram for more detail. Supported drill-down types include:
Another System Architecture diagram
Interaction Flow
Data Model
This makes it easy to zoom into detail without cluttering the main diagram.
Best Practices for Building System Architecture Diagrams
To get the most value from your diagrams:
Use consistent system naming conventions across diagrams.
Start with the most critical systems, then expand to integrations and supporting platforms.
Add descriptions and attributes so that stakeholders can understand system roles without asking for clarification.
Use drill-downs to avoid clutter and to connect technical architecture to business context.
Drawing containers
To make a card a parent container, right click the card and select "Make a container".
You will then be able to place other non-container cards within the container, and they will move with the container.
You can right-click and select "Make a normal card" on containers so they return to normal card behaviour.
You can also right-click and select "Placement" to bring a card to the front/back or lock it's level in the canvas.
To create a lower level drilldown on a card, right-click and select Drilldown --> New drilldown. You can also import existing maps, or send the currently selected cards to into the lower level, generating a new parent card.
TIP Hold Ctrl down (cmd on Mac) when you click and drag from a card handle to reverse the direction of the line.
TIP line text does NOT auto-wrap and cannot be sized by dragging. You need to put in (or remove) any returns manually.
Drawing flowlines
Roll over an activity box (don’t click), and you'll see blue "x" line handles appear outside the edge of the box. Hover over an "x" so it turns green, and click and drag to draw a line.
From this line you'll be able to complete further actions. You can just click on the canvas to leave a floating line.
To link existing boxes, drag the end of the line into the center of another activity box or to a specific anchor point.
Another way to drag lines out, add boxes, or link boxes, is first to select an existing box, click on the "+", then drag, let go, and select “Add card”.
Click on the line to add text to the center, or you can right click --> Add to line to add start text, end text, or an interaction number.
Adding text to cards
Right-click and select "Add to box" to add attributes and footer text.
Using resources
To add resources, either right-click on the card and select "Add to box" --> "Add resources" or select the resource tab from the right-panel and click "Add resource".
From here you can select multiple resources to display as icons at the footer of the card, or toggle "Header icon" on to select one resource icon to show at the top.
You can also choose the placement of the resources at the bottom of the card, allowing you to design the cards as having resources all in one row, 2 per row or 4 per row. This helps you to follow the Salesforce Architecture diagrams formatting as closely as you wish, making the diagrams well formatted and easy to understand.
Adding documentation
If you are in a paid Professional or Enterprise space, Elements provides you with the ability to link your Salesforce and other systems' metadata to the diagrams you draw. This is not available in a Free space.
To do this with architecture diagrams, you will first want to have open the Salesforce Org model node or Reference model node that you want to connect. Copy that node reference either by right-clicking on it, or selecting "Copy node" from the Impact analysis tab in the right panel.
Then, in your architecture diagram, find the card you would like to link to the metadata. Right-click the card, open the "Add documentation" context menu, and select "Org model node" (or Ref model node if applicable).
A window will open allowing you to add a description of the reason for the link. Be as descriptive as you can for the benefit of other stakeholders using this diagram. You can also edit the groups this connection is visible to at the bottom.
Once attached, the link will be available in the right panel to view, and accessible from the cloud icon in the top-right corner of the card.
Using the legend
Click the "H" icon in the toolbar (next to the diagram name) to show/hide the legend.
To add items to the legend, right-click the item on the canvas and select "Add to legend". Then add name a description for the item and click "OK" to add it.
