Week 4: EA Frameworks

An enterprise architecture framework (EA framework) is an architecture framework which defines how to organize the structure and views associated with enterprise architecture. An organization may wish to mandate that certain models be produced before a system design can be approved. Similarly, they may wish to specify certain views be used in the documentation of procured systems. EA frameworks are very popular now, among them the most famous are: 

1.         The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architectures—Since the 1990s the Zachman Framework has been widely used as a means of providing structure for Information Engineering-style enterprise modeling. The Zachman Framework can be applied both in commercial companies and in government agencies. Within a government organization the framework can be applied to an entire agency at an abstract level, or it can be applied to various departments, offices, programs, subunits and even to basic operational entities.

2.         The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF)—TOGAF has enjoyed considerable adoption in organizations of diverse character. Its use is seen as a potential systematization of efforts – in the wake of high-profile failures – by governments, businesses and others to apply structured enterprise architecture principles to the still somewhat ''black arts'' of software development and IT operations.

3.         The Federal Enterprise Architecture—The U.S. federal enterprise architecture (FEA) is an initiative of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget that aims to comply with the Clinger-Cohen Act and provide a common methodology for IT acquisition in the United States federal government. It is designed to ease sharing of information and resources across federal agencies, reduce costs, and improve citizen services.

4.         The Gartner Methodology—Gartner believes that enterprise architecture is about bringing together three constituents: business owners, information specialists, the technology implementer. Gartner’s reputation based on best practice and collaboration.

There are several reasons why management should consider the use of an EA framework:

1.         An enterprise is a very complex entity.  Good frameworks simplify the complexity of the entity they represent.

2.         EA needs to present a simplified version of that complexity for analysis, communication and deliverables.  Simplification of the enterprise into its elements will greatly help in breaking down areas of analysis, communicating with technical and non-technical audiences, and deciding which types of deliverables to create and how to categorize them.

3.         Frameworks help to organize the huge number of complex elements and relationships that make up an enterprise.  The complexity of an enterprise can not only be shown in size and sheer number of elements, but also the number of relationships that exist organizationally, between business processes and other processes, as well as the relationship among business processes and the supporting information, applications, and infrastructure, and finally the interrelationships among information, applications and infrastructure components.  Frameworks help in identifying and simplifying the relationships, allowing management to organize them into areas of interest for analysis, communication and deliverable access.

4.         Highlights all the areas to consider for the scope of the EA.  One of the biggest challenges for many enterprise architects is defining the scope of the EA.  Frameworks provide a way to define all of the elements to be considered "within the bounds" of the work to be done.

5.         Do not repeat work that has already been done. While a specific framework will likely not be a perfect fit for the enterprise and EA program, many of them are great references for creating your own or can be customized to fit the needs more closely.