Building Blocks

Everything in Atlas is made of a few simple pieces.

Points

The things in your business: people, groups, processes, systems, outcomes. Think of them like points on a map. Each has a name, a type, and optional properties (email, cost, deadline, whatever you need).

Paths

The connections between Points: who reports to whom, what process uses which system, which step comes after which. Like roads between cities. Each has a source, target, and type (like reports_to, uses_resource, followed_by).

Types

Every Point and Path has a type. Types are what make your data structured instead of just boxes and arrows. A Point typed as Person behaves differently than one typed as System. A Path typed as reports_to means something different than uses_resource. You don't need to memorize them, Navigator suggests types as you build. Full type glossary →

Properties

Extra details on a Point or Path. A person's email. A process's cycle time. A step's deadline. Properties are for info that's specific to one thing and doesn't need to connect to anything else.

Property or Path?

Create a Point and Path when the info might relate to other parts of your business. Instead of a "software tool" property on a process, create a System Point and connect it — now you can see every process that uses that same tool.

Use a property when the info is specific to one Point and doesn't need to connect to anything else.

When in doubt, make it a Path. The connections are where the value lives.