Enterprise architecture framework: Difference between revisions

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[[File:NIST Enterprise Architecture Model.jpg|thumb|240px|[[NIST Enterprise Architecture Model]] initiated in 1989, one of the earliest frameworks for [[enterprise architecture]].<ref name="CIOC99">The Chief Information Officers Council (1999). [http://www.cio.gov/documents/fedarch1.pdf Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework Version 1.1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213215829/http://www.cio.gov/Documents/fedarch1.pdf |date=2012-02-13 }}. September 1999.</ref>]]

An '''enterprise architecture framework''' ('''EA framework''') defines how to create and use an [[enterprise architecture]]. An [[architecture framework]] provides principles and practices for creating and using the architecture description of a system. It structures architects' thinking by dividing the architecture description into domains, layers, or views, and offers models -– typically matrices and diagrams -– for documenting each view. This allows for making systemic design decisions on all the components of the system and making long-term decisions around new design requirements, sustainability, and support.<ref name="Enterprise Architecture Purpose">{{Cite web |url=http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/enterprise-architecture |title=Tech Target |publisher=SearchCIO}}</ref>

== Overview ==

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[[File:Evolution of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks.jpg|240px|thumb|Overview of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks evolution (1987–2003).<ref name="SM03"/><ref>[[Jaap Schekkerman]] (2004) ''How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks''. p.89 gives a similar scheme.</ref> On the left: The [[Zachman Framework]] 1987, [[NIST Enterprise Architecture Model|NIST Enterprise Architecture]] 1989, [[Enterprise Architecture Planning|EAP]] 1992, [[TISAF]] 1997, [[Federal Enterprise Architecture|FEAF]] 1999 and [[Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework|TEAF]] 2000. On the right: [[TAFIM]] influenced by [[POSIX]], JTA, JTAA, [[TOGAF]] 1995, DoD TRM<ref>US Department of Defense (2001) ''[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.196.5206&rep=rep1&type=pdf Department of Defense Technical Reference Model]''. Version 2.0. 9 April 2001. p. 11, mentioned that also the DoD TRM is influenced by POSIX.</ref> and [[C4ISTAR|C4ISR]] 1996, and [[DoDAF]] 2003.]]

The earliest rudiments of the step-wise planning methodology currently advocated by [[The Open Group Architecture Framework]] (TOGAF) and other EA frameworks can be traced back to the article of Marshall K. Evans and Lou R. Hague titled "Master Plan for Information Systems"<ref>Evans, M. K. and Hague, L. R. (1962) ''Master Plan for Information Systems'', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 92-103.</ref> published in 1962 in Harvard Business Review.<ref name="The_Practice_of_EA">Kotusev, Svyatoslav (2021) ''The Practice of Enterprise Architecture: A Modern Approach to Business and IT Alignment (2nd Edition)''. Melbourne, Australia: SK Publishing.</ref>

Since the 1970s people working in IS/IT have looked for ways to engage business people – to enable business roles and processes - and to influence investment in business information systems and technologies – with a view to the wide and long term benefits of the enterprise. Many of the aims, principles, concepts and methods now employed in EA frameworks were established in the 1980s, and can be found in IS and IT architecture frameworks published in that decade and the next.<ref name="GB 2013">Graham Berrisford (2008-13) "[http://grahamberrisford.com/A%20brief%20history%20of%20EA.htm A brief history of EA: what is in it and what is not] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130918061630/http://grahamberrisford.com/A%20brief%20history%20of%20EA.htm |date=2013-09-18 }}" on ''grahamberrisford.com'', last update 16/07/2013. Accessed 16/07?2003</ref>

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In 1982, when working for IBM and with BSP, John Zachman outlined his framework for enterprise-level "Information Systems Architecture". Then and in later papers, Zachman used the word enterprise as a synonym for business. "Although many popular information systems planning methodologies, design approaches, and various tools and techniques do not preclude or are not inconsistent with enterprise-level analysis, few of them explicitly address or attempt to define enterprise architectures."<ref name="JZ 1982">[[John Zachman]] (1982) ''Business Systems Planning and Business Information Control Study: A comparison'' in IBM Systems Journal 21(1). p32.</ref> However, in this article the term "Enterprise Architecture" was mentioned only once without any specific definition and all subsequent works of Zachman used the term "Information Systems Architecture".<ref name="JZ 1987" /><ref name="JZ 1992"/>

In 1986, the [[PRISM architecture framework]] was developed as a result of the research project sponsored by a group of companies, including IBM, which was seemingly the first published EA framework.<ref name="HISTORY">Svyatoslav Kotusev (2016). ''The History of Enterprise Architecture: An Evidence-Based Review''. In: Journal of Enterprise Architecture, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 29-37.</ref>

In 1987, John Zachman, who was a marketing specialist at IBM, published the paper, ''A Framework for Information Systems Architecture''.<ref name="JZ 1987">[[John A. Zachman]] (1987). '' A Framework for Information Systems Architecture''. In: IBM Systems Journal, vol 26, no 3. IBM Publication G321-5298.</ref> The paper provided a classification scheme for [[Enterprise architecture artifacts|artifacts]] that describe (at several levels of abstraction) the what, how, where, who, when and why of information systems. Given IBM already employed BSP, Zachman had no need to provide planning process. The paper did not mention enterprise architecture.

In 1989, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published the [[NIST Enterprise Architecture Model]].<ref>W.B. Rigdon (1989). ''Architectures and Standards''. In Information Management Directions: The Integration Challenge (NIST Special Publication 500-167), E.N. Fong, A.H. Goldfine (Eds.), Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), pp.135-150.</ref> This was a five-layer reference model that illustrates the interrelationship of business, information system, and technology domains. It was promoted within the U.S. federal government. It was not an EA framework as we see it now, but it helped to establish the notion of dividing EA into architecture domains or layers. The NIST Enterprise Architecture Model seemingly was the first publication that consistently used the term "Enterprise Architecture".<ref name="HISTORY" />

In 1990, the term "Enterprise Architecture" was formally defined for the first time as an architecture that "defines and interrelates data, hardware, software, and communications resources, as well as the supporting organization required to maintain the overall physical structure required by the architecture".<ref name="HISTORY" /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Richardson | first1 = G.L. | last2 = Jackson | first2 = B.M. | last3 = Dickson | first3 = G.W. | year = 1990 | title = A Principles-Based Enterprise Architecture: Lessons from Texaco and Star Enterprise | journal = MIS Quarterly | volume = 14 | issue = 4| pages = 385–403 | doi=10.2307/249787| jstor = 249787 }}</ref>

In 1992, a paper by Zachman and Sowa<ref name="JZ 1992">Zachman and Sowa (1992) ''Extending and formalising the framework of information systems architecture'' IBM Systems Journal, Vol 31, No 3</ref> started thus "John Zachman introduced a framework for information systems architecture (ISA) that has been widely adopted by systems analysts and database designers." The term enterprise architecture did not appear. The paper was about using the ISA framework to describe, “...the overall information system and how it relates to the enterprise and its surrounding environment.” The word enterprise was used as a synonym for business.

In 1993, Stephen Spewak's book [[Enterprise Architecture Planning]] (EAP) defined a process for defining architectures for the use of information in support of the business and the plan for implementing those architectures. The business mission is the primary driver. Then the data required to satisfy the mission. Then the applications built to store and provide that data. Finally the technology to implement the applications. Enterprise Architecture Planning is a data-centric approach to architecture planning. An aim is to improve data quality, access to data, adaptability to changing requirements, data interoperability and sharing, and cost containment. EAP has its roots in IBM's [[Business Systems Planning]] (BSP).<ref name="HISTORY" />

In 1994, the Open Group selected [[TAFIM]] from the US DoD as a basis for development of TOGAF, where architecture meant IT architecture. TOGAF started out taking a strategic and enterprise-wide, but technology-oriented, view. It emerged from the desire to rationalize a messy IT estate. Right up to version 7, TOGAF was still focused on defining and using a Technical Reference Model (or foundation architecture) to define the platform services required from the technologies that an entire enterprise uses to support business applications.<ref name="GB 2013"/>

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== Types of enterprise architecture framework ==

[[File:Enterprise Architecture frameworks utilized 2011.jpg|thumb|240px|Just a few of the Enterprise Architecture frameworks utilized today, 2011<ref>[[Dennis E. Wisnosky]] (2011) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120921044933/http://dcmo.defense.gov/products-and-services/business-enterprise-architecture/8.1/products/BusOpsTransformation_EA_BI/7_cdq_issue9_january2011.pdf Engineering Enterprise Architecture: Call to Action]''. in: ''Common Defense Quarterly''. January 2011, p. 9</ref>]]

Nowadays there are now countless EA frameworks, many more than in the following listing.

===Consortia-developed frameworks ===

* ARCON – A Reference Architecture for Collaborative Networks – not focused on a single enterprise but rather on networks of enterprises<ref name="ARCON00">L.M. Camarinha-Matos, H. Afsarmanesh, Collaborative Networks: Reference Modeling, Springer, 2008.</ref><ref name="ARCON01">{{cite journal | last1 = Camarinha-Matos | first1 = L.M. | last2 = Afsarmanesh | first2 = H. | year = 2008 | title = On reference models for collaborative networked organizations | journal = International Journal Production Research | volume = 46 | issue = 9| pages = 2453–2469 | doi=10.1080/00207540701737666| s2cid = 51802872 }}</ref>

* The [[Cloud Security Alliance]] (Trusted Cloud Initiative) TCI reference architecture.<ref name="CSATCI">{{cite web |title=The CSA TCI reference architecture |url=https://ea.cloudsecurityalliance.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106161638/https://downloads.cloudsecurityalliance.org/initiatives/tci/TCI_Reference_Architecture_v2.0.pdf |website=[[Cloud Security Alliance]] |archive-date=116 JuneNovember 2016 |access-date=7 July 2020 |quote=""}}</ref>

* [[Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology]] (GERAM)

* [[RM-ODP]] – the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (ITU-T Rec. X.901-X.904 | ISO/IEC 10746) defines an enterprise architecture framework for structuring the specifications of [[Open system (computing)|open]] [[distributed systems]].

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* [[NIST Enterprise Architecture Model]]

* [[Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework]] (TEAF) – a framework for [[treasury]], published by the [[US Department of the Treasury]] in July 2000.<ref name="TEAF00">US Department of the Treasury Chief Information Officer Council (2000). [http://www.eaframeworks.com/TEAF/teaf.doc Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318003653/http://www.eaframeworks.com/TEAF/teaf.doc |date=2009-03-18 }}. Version 1, July 2000.</ref>

* [[Colombian Enterprise Architecture Framework]] - MRAE - [https://www.mintic.gov.co/arquitecturati/630/w3-propertyvalue-8114.html Marco de Referencia de Arquitectura Empresarial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510163329/https://www.mintic.gov.co/arquitecturati/630/w3-propertyvalue-8114.html |date=2021-05-10 }} a framework for all the Colombian Public Agencies

*India Enterprise Architecture (IndEA) framework - [https://negd.gov.in/india-enterprise-architecture IndEA] is a reference framework from Government of India.

*[https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/data-systems/medicaid-information-technology-architecture/index.html Medicaid Information Technology Architecture] (MITA) - US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) framework to foster integrated business and information technology transformation for Medicaid

===Open-source frameworks===

Enterprise architecture frameworks that are released as [[Open Source Definition|open source]]:

* [[ArchiMate]]

* [[Lean Architecture Framework]] (LAF)<ref>https://lafinstitute.org/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2025}}</ref> is a collection of good practices thanks to which the IT environment will respond consistently and quickly to a changing business situation while maintaining its consistent form.

* MEGAF (Mega-modeling Architecture Framework)<ref>[http://megaf.di.univaq.it/ MEGAF]</ref> is an infrastructure for realizing architecture frameworks that conform to the definition of architecture framework provided in [[ISO/IEC 42010|ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010]].

* [[Praxeme]], an open enterprise methodology, contains an enterprise architecture framework called the Enterprise System Topology (EST)

* [[TRAK]] – a general systems-oriented framework based on [[MODAF]] 1.2 and released under [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]/[[GFDL]].

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* Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture Framework (PEAF)<ref name="Pragmatic EA">Pragmatic EA ''[http://www.pragmaticea.com/]''</ref> - part of Pragmatic Family of Frameworks developed by Kevin Lee Smith, Pragmatic EA, from 2008

* [[Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture]] developed by [[Theodore J. Williams]] at the Purdue University early 1990s.

* [https://www.cgi.com/en/solutions/RCDA-agile-architecture Risk- and Cost-Driven Architecture] (RCDA), developed by CGI since 2015.

* [[SAP Enterprise Architecture Framework]]

* [[service-oriented modeling#Service-oriented modeling framework|Service-oriented modeling framework (SOMF)]], based on the work of [[Michael B.T. Bell|Michael Bell]]