Read and export a relationship matrix

Goal

Find a Prolaborate relationship matrix, read it into a correct grid, and report what its cells mean, exporting or sharing it only if you ask. This is for an architect, analyst or compliance reviewer who needs to know which elements are linked to which. You end with an accurate grid (or a direct answer from the profile settings), with the number of connectors and any connectors that could not be placed, plus a share link or file only if you asked.

Where it runs

This scenario needs browser control. It uses no MCP server operation.

How it works

A reviewer at Westbrook Bank wants to know which regulated functions each business application supports. The relationship matrix profile already exists in Prolaborate; it was authored in Enterprise Architect. The assistant lists the matrix profiles, reads what the chosen profile compares, joins the returned data into a grid by set membership, and explains what the cells mean.

The scenario is read-only. If you ask to create a matrix, or to tick or clear a cell, the assistant says that is EA work and routes it to the EA skills.

Before you start

• Browser control (a built-in browser or Chrome) and a signed-in Prolaborate session. No server is needed.
• A matrix profile already exists on the Prolaborate repository. A profile is authored in EA and appears in Prolaborate once it exists.
• The repository is active, and you have access to the matrix.
• For a share link, the repository's share setting is already enabled. The assistant never enables it.

Steps

1. You Sign in to Prolaborate in the browser.
2. AI Power Tools prol-start-here runs the preflight: identity, version and repositories. You confirm the repository.
3. AI prol-matrix routes the request: read, share, export, or refuse a write. You if you asked to create a matrix or write a cell, the assistant refuses and hands the request to the EA skills.
4. AI Power Tools prol-matrix finds the profile by listing the matrix profiles and skipping any that are marked unsupported. You pick the profile when several are plausible.
5. AI Power Tools prol-matrix reads what the profile compares: its source, target and link configuration. These correspond to the header controls (source, type, target, type, relationship, direction). If your question is only "what does this matrix show?", the scenario can end here.
6. AI prol-matrix warns about size. It reads the selector sizes from step 5, because the data call has no paging and returns every element record. You for a very large profile, decide whether to pull it.
7. AI Power Tools prol-matrix fetches the data: the source elements, the target elements and the connectors.
8. AI Power Tools prol-matrix joins the data into a grid by set membership. For each connector it tests both ends against both element lists. It never branches on a direction field. What cannot be placed is kept and counted. It also tests the two lists for shared elements.
9. AI Power Tools prol-matrix checks the invariant: every row key is in the source list, every column key is in the target list, and the count of unplaced connectors is reported.
10. AI prol-matrix reports what the cells mean: the profile's source, target and relationship; connectors versus filled cells; unplaced connectors; any overlap between the two lists; display toggles.
11. AI Only if asked, prol-matrix shares or exports, driving Prolaborate's own Share and Download controls. You confirm each, and the assistant states the file name for a download. It never enables the repository share setting.

Step 3. Creating a profile, ticking a cell, linking two elements and clearing a cell are all EA model writes. A cell is a connector. The skill recognizes these requests only in order to refuse them. The assistant does not write matrix cells with a baseline, with confirmation, or "just one". The EA skills own the baseline that must precede a model change (ea-change-management).

Step 4. The profile id is the matrix name. The view address encodes the name twice, so the assistant navigates from the list instead of building the link. Renaming a profile in EA breaks every saved link to it.

Step 5. A technology shown beside a connector stereotype in the profile's settings is not by itself evidence that the technology declares that stereotype. Check the technology before concluding either way.

Step 8. No direction field predicts which end of a connector is the row. A profile that declares "Both" can contain connectors in either orientation, and one measured profile declared "Both" while all 550 of its connectors started in the target list. A join that guesses from direction does not error: it produces a plausible, transposed grid. If both ends of a connector lie in both lists, both tests succeed and the orientation is a guess. The assistant then reports that the grid's orientation is not determined by the data, instead of presenting it as certain.

Step 10. A cell can hold several connectors. The assistant says whether a total counts connectors or filled cells. The "hide empty source" and "hide empty target" toggles are display-only and do not shrink the data pulled.

Prompts to use

Opening:

Follow-ups that drive each phase:

• "Which regulated functions does the Payments Gateway support?" (steps 7 to 10)
• "How many relationships does that matrix hold? Are you counting connectors or filled cells?" (step 10)
• "Did any connectors fail to place, and do the source and target lists overlap?" (steps 8 to 9)
• "That matrix looks big. How much data will you pull?" (step 6)
• "Export it." or "Create a share link for the compliance team." (step 11)
• "Create a matrix of applications against capabilities." (step 3; expect a refusal and a route to the EA skills)

Recommended models

Ratings are guidance based on the kind of reasoning the scenario needs, not measured benchmarks.

Checking the result

• Correct. The three-clause invariant holds (rows from the source list, columns from the target list, unplaced connectors counted). Spot-check several filled cells against the matrix as drawn in Prolaborate, with the hide-empty toggles off. Test the join on a profile whose connectors are all reversed and on one where direction is "Both" throughout; both must pass. Red flag: a grid that comes out transposed.
• Complete. The number of connectors placed plus the unplaced count equals the number of connectors returned. The report states whether totals count connectors or cells, and whether the two element lists overlap.
• Nothing unintended changed. The scenario writes nothing to the model. No connector was created or deleted, and no matrix was created. No share link was created and no file was downloaded unless you asked.
• Honest about identity and scope. The report says verification was as a Super Admin, and that a restricted user may see less, because every element record carries notes and author.

Variations

• Settings only. "What does this matrix show?" ends at step 5, with no data fetched.
• A question about one element. Read the grid and answer for one row or column.
• Share or export. Step 11 with the confirmations above. The assistant reads the screen as it goes.
• A hand-off to impact analysis. If the real question is "what depends on this element?", switch to Trace the impact of a change in Prolaborate.

Limitations

• The skill cannot create a profile or write a cell. Both are EA work.
• No paging. A profile with a thousand rows returns every element record (about 27 fields each). Hiding empty rows does not reduce it.
• Overlapping element lists cannot be resolved by the data. The assistant reports them.
• Share and download happen only when you ask.
• Matrix and Analyzer objects behave oppositely. A matrix is keyed by name and authored in EA. An Analyzer view is keyed by identifier and created in Prolaborate.