Enterprise Architecture Frameworks

Frameworks are a vital part of any IT Architecture effort. They help to ensure quality deliverables, support management of the effort and are key to enabling re-use.

Enterprise Architecture, being of its very nature a more nebulous topic, is in even greater need of the structure provided by a framework. The problem is that there are quite a few of them out there, and they are not always alike.

To help you find your way through this here are some useful articles.

A general discussion of EA frameworks - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb466232.aspx

A comparison of frameworks - http://sergethorn.blogspot.com/2008/12/comparing-various-enterprise.html

The Frameworks

FEAF
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/a-1-fea.html

DODAF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoDAF
(yes it is Wikipedia but the best article I could find)

TOGAF
http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/

Zachman
http://zachmaninternational.com/

PEAF
http://www.pragmaticea.com/peaf0-framework.htm

And no doubt there will be others I haven't mentioned here. So please let me know if you are aware of anything else that should be on the list.

Reference Models

Another area that can trip up new EA initiatives is reference models. Check lists, taxonomies and other lists of "stuff" that we need to use are vital crutches. These help to ensure that we have coverage in the EA effort and provide the foundation of the language we will use to talk about the Enterprise Architecture.

It is important to remember that we are not just talking about lists of technology components here. In the world of Enterprise Architecture we need to consider business objectives, capabilities, processes, organisation, information and operations as well.

If you are looking for information to help you seed your efforts then some good sources are these.

FEAF - FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document Version 2.3
This is very government focused but does have a hierarchical breakdown of functional, data and technology elements

TOGAF - Technical Reference Model
This is a useful check list of technical services but is a very flat structure. Really needs to be used in conjunction with the Enterprise Continuum

COBIT - Control Framework provides a taxonomy of IT processes of controls which is useful when developing a set of IT services rather than just technologies (free registration required).

All of these help to prompt thinking but you need to look at this for your own situation. Many of these taxonomies will have areas which are simply not relevant to your specific organisation.

Building Blocks

One concept I would recommend is the TOGAF building block idea. This describes a split between the generic building blocks, such as a database, and the specific solutions that are implemented. In practical terms you will probably have the need for a relational database in your organisation and will for various reasons have more than one product on the ground. The building block concept helps you to describe this and capture the criteria that help individual projects decide which specific product they will use. This concept can also be extended to large solution which may contain many products and custom development. Not dissimilar to patterns really which just goes to show that there are only so many good ideas in the world.