A brief history of Enterprise architecture

The Enterprise Architecture subject field has its origins in the development of information architectures in the 1960’s. It was developed out of the work of P. Duane (Dewey) Walker, who developed the architectural documents that formed the basis for Business Systems Planning (BSP). John Zachman was a student of Walker’s and contributed to the evolution of BSP (http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Documents/Comparative_Survey_of_EA_Frameworks.pps).

His interest in architectural frameworks was brought to prominence with the publication of his seminal paper “A Framework for Information Systems Architecture” in the IBM Systems Journal (Sessions, 2007).

In 1994 the United States Department of Defense developed the Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM) which was heavily influenced by Zachman’s thinking. After the passing of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 by the United States Congress which specified that federal agencies should improve effectiveness of Information Technology investment. A CIO (chief information officers) Council was established which resulted in the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF). FEAF ultimately evolved into the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) under control of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (Sessions, 2007)

TAFIM was retired in 1998 and work performed on it turned over to The Open Group, which developed the early releases of The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) from it. (Sessions, 2007).

Today, many types of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks exist, many of them influenced by frameworks like Zachman, FEA and TOGAF.

References:

A Comparative Survey of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks, Available from http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Documents/Comparative_Survey_of_EA_Frameworks.pps, (accessed 13 August 2009)

Sessions, R. (2007), A Comparison of the Top Four Enterprise-Architecture Methodologies, Available from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb466232.aspx, (accessed 13 August 2009)