|
IFEAD is an independent research and information
exchange organization working on the future state of Enterprise
Architecture.
|
|
|
|
Enterprise
Architecture Methods
|
Extended
Enterprise Architecture [IFEAD]
|
The
Extended Enterprise Architecture (E2A) in the world
of organizations and Technology is addressing 3 major
elements at a holistic way: The element of construction,
the element of function and the element of style.
Style is reflecting the culture, values, norms and
principles of an organization. Most of the time, the
term enterprise architecture is dealing with construction
and function, without any attention of the style aspect,
while the style aspect reflects the cultural behavior,
values, norms and principles of that organization
in such a way that it reflects the corporate values
of that organization. At the same time, the Enterprise
Architecture addresses the aspects of Business, Information,
Information-Systems and Technology Infrastructure
in a holistic way covering the organization and its
environment at zoning plan and city plan level.
Some
Enterprise Architecture
Guiding Principles
- No
Strategic Vison, No EA; If
you know where you are, but you don't know where
to go. Don't plan a journey.
- Good
is Good Enough;
An
Enterprise Architect knows he has achieved the perfect
solution not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is, nothing left to take away.
- The
Only Constant is Dynamics;
Dynamics is the only constant while adaptiveness
is the natural variable, so plan for this constant.
- Pure
Logic is the ruin of the Spirit; Pure
logic is the ruin of the spirit and creativity delivers
unexpected opportunities, so use your creativity.
- Be
Enterprising; If you want to create an
Enterprise Architecture, don't drum up the architects
to collect information and don't assign them tasks
and work, but rather teach them to long for the
endless value creating possibilities of the enterprise.
Some
major EA principles from IFEAD's Best Practices
NEW
2006
The
Enterprise Architecture Implementation Guide
version 2.1
Based
on our best practices and earlier published
implementation experiences and guides in the
EA domain, IFEAD has refined and updated the
Enterprise Architecture Implementation Guide
v2.1. A 120 pages EA implementation guide addressing
all the elements organizations has to think
about when implementing EA. This guide is not
available as a for free publication but is part
of IFEAD's EA implementation strategy and is
used by our researchers and partners, supporting
organisations with the implementation of EA
preventing them for the pitfalls and mistakes
that unexperienced organisations often will
make. Verdonck, Klooster & Associates is
one of the partners of IFEAD that delivers EA
implementation services based on our books &
guides.
|
Another
View at Extended Enterprise Architecture
Viewpoints
This
article is trying to explain the important role
of Extended Enterprise Architecture Viewpoints
in the context of today's social-economic circumstances.
It
describes and shows another view at Extended
Enterprise Architecture Viewpoints and how to
deal with the (extended) enterprise stakeholders
concerns. Based on the ideas described in IEEE
1471-2000 about views and viewpoints, a transformation
of these concepts into the Enterprise architecture
domain delivers another view at viewpoints and
views.
Looking
from the outside world to an Enterprise, several
groups of (extended) enterprise stakeholders
are influencing the goals, objectives and behavior
of the Enterprise. Even so these groups of Enterprise
stakeholders have different concerns and therefore
different sets of viewpoints when we analyze
these extended enterprise stakeholders.
Clustering
their concerns in four generic categories is
showing the drivers of the Enterprise and delivers
the understanding of what motivates your (extended)
enterprise stakeholders.
Download
this article 370KB PDF
|
|
Version
1.5
Extended
Enterprise Architecture Framework Essentials
Guide
Extended
Enterprise Architecture (E2A)
Framework SM
Extended
Enterprise Architecture is dealing with the
processes and activities of extending the Enterprise
Architecture beyond its original boundaries,
defining a collaborative environment for all
entities involved in a collaborative process.
Download
the A0 format full version of the E2A framework
Version 1.4 (115Kb) 
Enterprise
Architecture Definition:
'Enterprise
Architecture is about understanding all of the different
elements that go to make up the enterprise and how
those elements interrelate'.
A
good definition of "enterprise"
in this context is any collection of organizations
that has a common set of goals/principles and/or single
bottom line. In that sense, an enterprise can be a
whole corporation, a division of a corporation, a
government organization, a single department, or a
network of geographically distant organizations linked
together by common objectives.
A
good definition of "elements"
in this context is all the elements that enclose the
areas of People, Processes, Business and Technology.
In that sense, examples of elements are: strategies,
business drivers, principles, stakeholders, units,
locations, budgets, domains, functions, activities,
processes, services, products, information, communications,
applications, systems, infrastructure, etc.
Integrating the business as well as information aspects at a holistic
way, guarantees a natural alignment of Business and
Technology.
So, my statement is that you can't speak about Enterprise Architecture,
when the Business and Information aspects are not
incorporated in the approach at a holistic way, aligning
the needs of the Business with the possibilities of
the Technology.
 There
are a lot of organization today speaking and
writing about Enterprise Architecture, however
most of the time they only address the Technological
aspects of the Enterprise. Enterprise Architects
who are able to address all the aspects of the
Enterprise at a holistic way, will get the trust
of the top management for supporting change
of the organization by reducing and managing
the complexity and creating an atlas for change
in all aspect areas.
So
Enterprise Architects are not Techies with a blind
focus on technology, but very experienced people with
a broad Business and Technology vision, able to create
Enterprise value by translating business opportunities
and technology possibilities at a holistic way into
a continously change cycle guided by the Extended
Enterprise Architecture.
Enterprise
Architecture Process Cycle
The
Enterprise Architecture Process Cycle is describing
the stakeholders Win-Win processes and the role of
the Enterprise Architect in an ever challanging environment,
based on the use of an Enterprise Architecture Framework.
This article is written in 2001 and has to be updated,
however several requests from readers forced us to
publish the original article again.
|
|
Enterprise
Architecture Deliverables Guide
Version 2.6
The
Enterprise Architecture Deliverables Guide is
giving an overview of the most common used EA
deliverables and models and is used in combination
with the EA Implementation Guide to implement
the EA function in organizations.
This
guide is not available as a for free publication
but is part of IFEAD's EA implementation strategy
and is used by our researchers and partners,
supporting organisations with the implementation
of EA preventing them for the pitfalls and mistakes
that unexperienced organisations often will
make. Verdonck, Klooster & Associates is
one of the partners of IFEAD that delivers EA
implementation services based on our books &
guides.
|
|
|
 
Enterprise
Architecture Validation SM
Recent
Surveys of CEO's, CIO's and other executives provide
some evidence of the growing importance of Enterprise
Architecture over the last few years. In one of the
most recent studies of the Institute For Enterprise
Architecture Developments (IFEAD), Enterprise Architecture
was ranked near the top of the list of most important
issues considered by top management, CEO's and CIO's.
The
precise, high-quality information an EA program provides
also make it much easier for the organization to respond
to the forces of change and make better decisions.
And finally, because an EA program enables organizations
to reduce duplication and inconsistencies in information,
they can dramatically improve ROI for future Business
& IT implementations.
Download
the full version of the 'Enterprise Architecture Validation'
article (1.420 Kb PDF)
|
|
Enterprise
Architecture Assessment Guide
Version
2.2
Today
the area of (enterprise) architecture in the virtual
digital world will become more and more full-grown.
So the focus is changing to the quality of the work
of enterprise architects. How can we review the results
of the work of (enterprise) architects and how can
we review their process. Can we define quality criteria
to validate the products and results from other architects?
This
document describes the main line of a methodology
/ approach in by several organisation to assess the
activities and results of enterprise architects.
The
effect of knowing that the results will be reviewed
is that enterprise architects are taking more time
and effort to implement and manage their enterprise
architecture processes effectively as well as the
take more attention to the quality of their results
and decision-making.
|
 |
| European
Union - IDABC & European Interoperability
Framework |
| 
IDABC
stands for Interoperable Delivery of European
eGovernment Services to public Administrations,
Businesses and Citizens. It uses the opportunities
offered by information and communication technologies
to encourage and support the delivery of cross-border
public sector services to citizens and enterprises
in Europe, to improve efficiency and collaboration
between European public administrations and
to contribute to making Europe an attractive
place to live, work and invest.
IDABC
has published a set of 9 Horizontal Measures
fact sheets. The fact sheets provide
information on a series of key IDABC Infrastructure
Services such as CIRCA, eLink, Machine Translation,
PKI, eProcurement, eServices Toolkit and TESTA.
Two forerunners of the future European eGovernment
Services, Your Europe and IPM complete the series.
The fact sheets are available as a set or as
individual projects and free copies can be requested
by sending an e-mail to idabc@cec.eu.int. French,
German, Italian and Spanish translations are
being prepared and will be available in the
following months.
The
'European Interoperability Framework
for pan-European eGovernment Services now available
The EIF is the reference document on interoperability
for the IDABC programme. It is the result of
an extensive consultation process with the Member
States and thus represents the highest ranking
module for the implementation of European e-government
services.
This first version provides a series of recommendations
and defines generic standards with regard to
organizational, semantic and technical aspects
of interoperability, offering a comprehensive
set of principles for European co-operation
in e-government. The EIF will be periodically
revised to take into account the latest developments.
The EIF is the first publication using the logo
and visual identity of the new IDABC programme.
Download
the EIF Publication
EIF
publication (PDF) [1449 Kb]
Free copies of the EIF can be requested at idabc@cec.eu.int
More
information on about the EIF related activities
of the IDABC programme can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/2319/5644
What
are ARCHITECTURE GUIDELINES?
The
Architecture Guidelines are an IDABC service
offering a framework for the establishment of
other IDA services, namely TESTA, CIRCA
and PKI,
and for users who wish to interoperate with
IDA and IDABC networks. It also offers general
advice on issues related to interoperability
between these services and with national applications
of the Member States.
The
Guidelines supplement the generic rules and
specifications of the European
Interoperability Framework (EIF)
on a technical level.
The
IDA
Architecture Guidelines describe
concepts and references to standards and specifications
for a trans-European eGovernment service built
on a well-defined common architecture. This
architecture is the basis for a trans-European
infrastructure that will enable easy and reliable
interchange of data and achieve a high interoperability
within and across different administrative sectors
and, also, with the private sector and the citizens.
The guidelines are regularly updated changing
along with the constantly evolving architecture
and its components. The current version 7.1
offers a large amount of information on middleware
technologies, an area that will be further extended
in the next version. As a central platform and
publishing tool, the guidelines offer access
to a variety of information sources and documents
that are related to the architecture. As HTML
and PDF formats, these references are facilitated
by hyperlinks. Divided into a number of sections,
part 1 (Main document) contains general guidance
and part 2 (Annexes) is the technical handbook
.
Download
the Architecture Guidelines:
|
|
| Business
Process Management Initiative (BPMI.ORG) |
| 
http://www.bpmi.org
BPML
The Business Process Modeling Language (BPML)
is a meta-language for the modeling of business
processes, just as XML is a meta-language for
the modeling of business data. BPML provides
an abstracted execution model for collaborative
& transactional business processes based
on the concept of a transactional finite-state
machine. More on BPML...
Download
the BPML 1.0 Specification (335Kb) 
BPMN
The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
specification provides a graphical notation
for expressing business processes in a Business
Process Diagram (BPD). The BPMN specification
also provides a binding between the notation's
graphical elements and the constructs of block-structured
process execution languages, including BPML
and BPEL4WS. The first draft of BPMN was made
available to the public on November 13, 2002.
Download
the BPMN 1.0 Draft Specification (1260Kb)
BPQL
The Business Process Query Language (BPQL) defines
a standard interface to forthcoming Business
Process Management Systems (BPMS). It allows
system administrators to manage the BPMS and
business analysts to query the instances of
business processes it executes. The Business
Process Query Language (BPQL) is a management
interface to a business process management infrastructure
that includes a process execution facility (Process
Server) and a process deployment facility (Process
Repository).
The
BPQL interface to a Process Server enables business
analysts to query the state and control the
execution of process instances managed by the
Process Server. This interface is based on the
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
The
BPQL interface to a Process Repository enables
business analysts to manage the deployment of
process models managed by the Process Repository.
This interface is based on the Distributed Authoring
and Versioning Protocol (WebDAV).
Process
models managed by the Process Repository through
the BPQL interface can be exposed as UDDI services
for process registration, advertising, and discovery
purposes.
|
|
|
OMB
releases EA Assessment
The
Office of Management and Budget has the second
version of its Enterprise Architecture Assessment
Framework. Agencies have until Feb. 28 2006
to submit their EA materials under this guideline,
according to a memo issued by Richard Burk,
director of the Federal Enterprise Architecture
Program Management Office.
Last
year, OMB announced it would evaluate
how well agencies complete and utilize their
EAs to save money, improve services and meet
their missions overall. OMB will use this
assessment to evaluate agency EAs as part
of the second quarter 2006. President’s
Management Agenda Scorecard.
Version
2.0 of the assessment framework supersedes
Version 1.5, published last year. While Version
1.5 focused on gauging how well agencies completed
their baseline EAs, Version 2 looks at how
well an agency actually uses its EA, and what
results the agency gets from the EA.
Download
OMB EA Assessment Framework Version 2.0 here. |
| 
WHAT
IS THE USA FEDERAL ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE(FEA)
To facilitate
efforts to transform theUSA Federal Government
to one that is citizen-centered, results-oriented,
and market-based, the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) is developing the Federal Enterprise
Architecture (FEA), a business-based framework
for Government-wide improvement. The FEA is
being constructed through a collection of interrelated
"reference models" designed to facilitate cross-agency
analysis and the identification of duplicative
investments, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration
within and across Federal Agencies.
These models are defined as:
|
 |
US-NASCIO
Enterprise
Architecture Assessment Tour Report
USA-NASCIO’s Architecture Working Group (AWG)
conducted an assessment tour to facilitate the evaluation
of government enterprise architecture programs and
create opportunities for collaboration. The NASCIO
Enterprise Architecture Maturity Model was used
as the basis for evaluating the enterprise programs
in ten states, one county, and one federal agency.
This report summarizes the tour and presents some
of the highlights from the presentations and discussions
that took place during the assessment visits.
This
report includes a list of lessons learned along
with links to websites and NASCIO’s SMART resource
library which contain most of the documentation
shared during these visits.
Download
the Enterprise Architecture Assessment Tour Report
|
US
Federal Enterprise Architecture
Program Management Office Announce
the New
DATA REFERENCE MODEL (DRM)
The
Data Reference Model (DRM) describes,
at an aggregate level, the data and information
that support government program and business
line operations. This model enables agencies
to describe the types of interaction and
exchanges that occur between the Federal
Government and citizens.
The
DRM categorizes government information
into greater levels of detail. It also
establishes a classification for Federal
data and identifies duplicative data resources.
A common data model will streamline information
exchange processes within the Federal
government and between government and
external stakeholders.
Volume
One of the DRM provides a high-level overview
of the structure, usage, and data-identification
constructs. This document:
-
Provides an introduction and high-level
overview of the contents that will be
detailed in Volumes 2-4 of the model;
-
Encourages
Community of Interest development of
the remaining volumes; and
-
Provides
the basic concepts, strategy, and structure
to be used in future development.
The
DRM is the starting point from which data
architects should develop modeling standards
and concepts. This volume establishes
the foundation, which describes essential
components, for subsequent DRM Volumes.
These combined volumes support data classification
- thus enabling horizontal and vertical
information sharing.
Download
here DRM Volume 1 (727Kb Pdf)
|
USA-OMB
releases EA Performance Reference Model
The
performance framework, defines four measurement
areas that will apply to the fiscal 2005 budget
formulation process:
Mission
and business results, for the outcomes developed
through the Government Performance and Results Act
strategic-planning process
Customer
results, for measuring the quality, accessibility
and timeliness of the services agencies provide
Processes
and activities, for rating the outcomes of IT
initiatives in terms of finances, productivity,
security, privacy and innovation
Technology,
for gauging costs and savings, quality, efficiency,
standardization, reliability and effectiveness of
the IT projects themselves.
Ultimately,
the Performance Reference Model will cover human
capital and other fixed assets, but those two measurement
areas will not be covered in the performance framework
for the fiscal 2005 budget.
Each
area contains measurement categories with generic
measurement indicators that agencies can tailor
to their own missions and IT projects.
|
|
Federal
Enterprise Architecture Framework
The
Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework provides
an organized structure and a collection of common
terms by which Federal segments can integrate their
respective architectures into the Federal Enterprise
Architecture. The CIO Council developed the Framework,
which is nonrestrictive and easily adaptable to all
Federal Agencies especially those with existing architectures.
Federal
Enterprise Architecture Framework (pdf 1817Kb) 
|
 |
|
PERFORMANCE
REFERENCE MODEL (PRM)
The
PRM is a "reference model" or standardized
framework to measure the performance of major IT investments
and their contribution to program performance. The
PRM has three main purposes:
Help produce enhanced performance information to improve
strategic and daily decision-making;
Improve the alignment-and better articulate the contribution
of-inputs to outputs and outcomes, thereby creating
a clear "line of sight" to desired results;
and
Identify performance improvement opportunities that
span traditional organizational structures and boundaries.
The PRM attempts to leverage the best of existing
approaches to performance measurement in the public
and private sectors, including the Balanced Scorecard,
Baldrige Criteria, Value Measurement Methodology,
program logic models, the value chain, and the theory
of constraints. In addition, the PRM was informed
by what agencies are currently measuring through PART
assessments, GPRA, Enterprise Architecture, and Capital
Planning and Investment Control. Agencies' use of
the PRM will populate the model over time. The PRM
is currently comprised of four measurement areas:
Download
the PRM version 2 (668Kb pdf)
Download
the DoD PRM v2 Supplement (40KB pdf)
|
Mission
and Business Results
The Mission and Business Results Measurement Area
of the PRM is intended to capture the out-comes
that agencies seek to achieve. These outcomes are
usually developed during the agency budget and strategic
planning process prescribed under GPRA.
Customer Results
The Customer Results Measurement Area of the PRM
is intended to capture how well an agency or specific
process within an agency is serving its customers.
This is a critical aspect of successful E-Government.
Processes and Activities
The Processes and Activities Measurement Area is
intended to capture the outputs that are the direct
result of the process that an IT initiative supports.
These outputs are much more under the control of
federal programs and generally contribute to or
influence outcomes that are Mission and Business
Results and Customer Results. This Measurement Area
also captures key aspects of processes or activities
that need to be monitored and/or improved.
Technology
The Technology Measurement Area is designed to capture
key elements of performance that directly relate
to the IT initiative. An IT initiative generally
can include applications, infrastructure, or services
provided in support of a process or program.
|
|
|
Federal
Enterprise Architecture Guide
This
guide builds upon, complements, and is directly linked
to the GAO Information Technology Investment Management
(ITIM) framework that was developed to provide a common
structure for discussing and assessing IT capital
planning and investment control (CPIC) practices at
Federal Agencies. ITIM enhances earlier Federal IT
investment management guidance by extending the Select/Control/Evaluate
approach, mandated by the Clinger-Cohen Act, into
a growth and maturity framework. It is also directly
linked to the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework.
Federal
Enterprise Architecture Guide v1 (pdf 700Kb)
|
|
On
Enterprise Architectures, White House is Leading
When
it comes to enterprise architectures, the White
House is leading by example.
In
a recent report, the General Accounting Office rated
the Executive Office of the President’s modernization
blueprint as complete and at Stage 5 of GAO’s
tiered EA framework.
GAO
said the agency was the only one of 93 surveyed
that was wholly using an enterprise architecture
that met all the criteria of the audit agency’s
Version 1.1 maturity model.
Overall,
GAO found the government’s overall progress
stagnant when it comes to the development and use
of enterprise architectures. To help agencies, GAO
has over the past three years issued two versions
of an EA framework that defines the pertinent features
of crafting a workable enterprisewide IT plan.
|
|
|
The
Open Group Architecture Framework TOGAF
|
TOGAF
Enterprise Edition Version 8.1
December
2003
A major/minor Version numbering system has been
introduced in 2003 for the new Version of TOGAF
Enterprise Edition (from Version 8 to Version 8.1).
What's
New in TOGAF Version 8.1
The
following significant additions have been made in
Version 8.1.
Part
II:
1.
A new section describing the Requirements Management
process at the center of the ADM lifecycle.
Part
IV:
2.
A new structured section on Architecture Governance,
comprising three subsections:
- Introduction to Architecture Governance
- Architecture Governance Framework
- Architecture Governance in Practice
3.
A new section on Architecture Maturity Models.
4.
A new section on TOGAF Architecture Skills Framework.
|
|
The
Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) v7
TOGAF
is a framework - a detailed method and a set of supporting
tools - for developing an IT architecture. It is described
in a document published by The Open Group on its public
web server, and may be used freely by any organization
wishing to develop an information systems architecture
for use within that organization.
Introduction
to TOGAF v7 (pdf 192Kb)
|
TOGAF
8 - The Open Group Architecture Framework "Enterprise
Edition"
As
of December 2002, two versions of TOGAF are available:
- TOGAF
Version 8 ("Enterprise Edition"), published in
December 2002
- TOGAF
Version 7 ("Technical Edition"), published in
December 2001
TOGAF
Version 8 is a superset of the well established
framework represented by TOGAF Version 7. Version
8 uses the same underlying method for developing
IT architectures that was evolved, with a particular
focus on Technical Architectures, in the Versions
of TOGAF up to and including Version 7. However,
Version 8 applies that architecture development
method to the other domains of an overall Enterprise
Architecture - the Business Architecture, Data Architecture,
and Application Architecture, as well as the Technical
Architecture.
TOGAF
Presentation (pdf 912Kb)
|
The
new XML-based standard for IT architecture interoperability
ADML
provides interoperability of architecture information,
both between architecture tools and throughout the
systems lifecycle.
|
|
Object
Management Group - Model Driven Architecture
|
|
Zachman
Enterprise Architecture Framework
|
|
The
Zachman Framework is a framework providing a view
of the subjects and models needed to develop a complete
Enterprise architecture. A picture of this framework
is available at the ZIFA web site.
The
Zachman Framework is a widely used approach for developing
and/or documenting an enterprise-wide information
systems architecture. Zachman based his framework
on practices in traditional architecture and engineering.
This resulted in an approach which on the vertical
axis provides multiple perspectives of the overall
architecture, and on the horizontal axis a classification
of the various artifacts of the architecture.
The
purpose of the framework is to provide a basic structure
which supports the organization, access, integration,
interpretation, development, management, and changing
of a set of architectural representations of the organization's
information systems. Such objects or descriptions
of architectural representations are usually referred
to as artifacts. | | | |
