Metastorm, provider of architecture software, today announced M3, cloud-based collaborative modeling software that can be used by anyone regardless of IT skills or formal training.

With sharing, chat and model annotation collaboration tools, users can communicate with others in an organization while seeing changes to the architecture in real time. A record-and-playback feature also allows users to call up previous collaboration sessions if a live one is missed, said Greg Carter, Metastorm executive vice president and CTO.

“We took ProVision, our tool for enterprise architecture, and created a lightweight modeling tool,” he said.

“We also wanted to capture a bigger audience and allow those who don’t model to model,” he said, adding that built-in modeling guides as well as real-time help are provided for those with little or no modeling experience.

Metastorm M3 also includes 11 different modeling types, such as goal, organization, system, workflow and requirement. “Users can use these models to describe attributes and activities in organizations and map out strategies,” Carter said.

After using Metastorm M3, live models can also be integrated into Metastorm’s enterprise architecture, business process analysis and business process management software for further additions by those with higher levels of modeling skills, he added.

Running on Microsoft Windows Azure, Metastorm M3 is available today for free.