Welcome to OnyxJar

Last updated 2026-10-10

Welcome to OnyxJar

OnyxJar helps you build, maintain and explore models of complex work.

A model brings together the important things in an area of work and describes how they relate. Instead of relying on separate lists, diagrams and documents, you can build a connected view that helps you understand how the pieces fit together.

You might model a business, a programme of work, an application landscape, an operating model or a particular service. The subject can vary; the purpose is the same: make the structure visible and easier to understand.

What is a model?

An OnyxJar model is a structured representation of a subject area. It contains the things that matter, the information recorded about them, and the relationships that connect them.

For example, a project might contain workstreams, each responsible for changes that produce deliverables. Those deliverables may need to be tested before a release can proceed.

The value is not simply in recording each item. It is in making the connections explicit, so you can explore dependencies, understand context and see how the overall picture fits together.

A model doesn't need to describe everything. Start with the part of the world you need to understand, and build from there.

The building blocks

OnyxJar uses a few core concepts to organise your model.

• Object types define the kinds of things your model can contain, such as projects, applications, teams or business processes.
• Objects are the individual things represented in the model. An application type might define what an application is; an object represents a particular application.
• Attributes record details about an object, such as its purpose, status or criticality.
• Relationships connect objects and describe how they relate to one another. For example, a project may contain a workstream, or a change may deliver a particular outcome.

Together, these elements provide a consistent structure for describing your subject area.

Explore your model

The graph provides a visual view of the objects and relationships in your model. It can help you see clusters of related items, follow connections and notice dependencies that may be difficult to spot in a list.

The graph is one way to view the model, rather than the model itself.

Use the Model Explorer to find objects, narrow the view using the available filters, and select an item to inspect its details. Its attributes and connections provide the context behind what you see in the graph.

Following a relationship can be just as useful as inspecting an individual object: it helps explain how one part of the model connects to another.

Build and maintain your model

When creating a model, start with a suitable starting point. Choose an available template that resembles the kind of work you want to represent, then adapt the structure to your needs.

Add the objects that matter, record useful attributes, and create relationships where the connection is meaningful. Keep the model focused on the questions it needs to answer.

As the subject changes, maintain the model so its objects, attributes and relationships continue to represent the situation you want to understand.

You don't need to model every detail at once. A clear, useful model is a better starting point than a large collection of disconnected information.

Export and publish

OnyxJar supports different ways to take your model beyond the editing experience.

Exporting lets you take supported model data out for use elsewhere or for further handling.

Publishing creates an interactive, read-only HTML snapshot that others can explore independently, including offline. The published snapshot represents the model at the time it was created; it doesn't automatically update when you later change the underlying model.

This makes it possible to share a view of your model with people who need to understand it but don't need to edit it.

Where to start

If you're new to OnyxJar, begin by opening a model or creating one from an available starting point.

Explore its object types, select a few objects, and follow their relationships. This is a simple way to understand how the model is organised before you start making changes.

As you become familiar with the structure, you can add or update objects and relationships, work with your model data, and publish a view when you're ready to share it.

The aim is to build a model that makes complex work easier to understand—and useful to the people who need to work with it.