While using Mavim it is possible for all users to apply characteristics, which can result in duplicates: characteristics with the same name and/or meaning. This can be corrected as follows:
- In the Topics screen, go to Objects, see Objects.
- Select the Parent topic (With What, Where, When etc) that contains multiple instances of the same characteristic.
- From the context menu, select Combine Characteristics.
- All characteristics with the same name and code (See Topic Properties) are combined.
Note: If the characteristics that you wish to combine have different names (but the same meaning), make all of the characteristic names the same before combining them. That includes in all active languages for your database .
Something that is important to note with regards to characteristics is that it is also possible to create certain types of characteristics from within Microsoft Visio when modelling your processes. For instance, when you create an Archimate chart and change the properties of a connector between two shapes. From a technical standpoint, the characteristics created in this way differ from those created in Mavim Manager. For this reason, they cannot be merged with characteristics that have been created in Mavim Manager and have the same name. You can identify which characteristics have been created in Visio by the sub-icon in the top left corner of the characteristic icon as shown below:
In this example, these two characteristics cannot be merged.
