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)

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise architecture describes the underlying principles, organization and relationship between components of the enterprise. It can be seen as the blueprint of an organization that either emerges over time as the enterprise grows and changes, or one that is carefully planned and implemented. (O’Rourke, Fishman and Selkow, 2003).

Although enterprise architecture has humble beginnings, dating from the information system architectures in the 1960’s, it leapt to prominence in the 1980’s with the publication of the Zachman framework. Since then Enterprise Architecture has grown in importance with a number of formal Enterprise Architecture frameworks developed in recent years.

Examples of such frameworks are the DoDAF (United States Department of Defense Architecture Framework), the MoDAF (The British Ministry of Defence Architectural Framework), TOGAF (The Open Group Architectural Framework), the Zachman framework and numerous other frameworks.

Enterprise architecture provides a coherent link that ties together the different aspects of strategy, business, information systems requirements, information systems design and technology. It is useful to enterprises as it describes how the enterprise is designed, creates understanding in terms of how work interoperate and is coordinated , it expresses the architectural and governing principles and assists with achieving regulatory and legal compliance (Giachetti, 2009). It also aims to align the enterprise strategy with business operations and the information and other technologies that support business operation (Daniel, 2007).

A review of the top issues faced by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) reveals that they are increasingly concerned about the enterprise’s speed, flexibility and adaptability to change (IOMA, 2009).

As organizations architectural maturity increases they also become more agile. Formalized enterprise architecture aids agility by providing understanding about impact of change and where most benefit of change may be leveraged. (Ross, Weil and Robertson, 2006).

Although enterprise architecture has been around for a long time, establishing enterprise architecture is a relatively new skill in organizations and a lack of resources exist (AFFIRM, 2006). The available frameworks are often complex, requires extensive education and experimentation and are proving difficult to implement in practice.

This blog will aim to discuss the development of simple enterprise architecture frameworks by identifying required enterprise architecture artifacts, leveraging the enterprise architecture assets that already exist and from this define simplified and rapid approaches to the establishment of formal enterprise architecture.

Simplifying enterprise architectures should provide wider and easier establishment of formal architectures in the organization, thereby providing the foundation and tools for organizational agility and change.

References

AFFIRM (Association for Federal Information Resources Management) (2006). Eleventh Annual Top Ten Challenges Survey, Available from http://www.affirm.org/publications/cio-challenges-surveys-reports/AFFIRM2006SurveyReport.pdf, Accessed 24 July 2009

Daniel D. (2007), The Rising Importance of the Enterprise Architect, Available from http://www.cio.com/article/101401/The_Rising_Importance_of_the_Enterprise_Architect, Accessed 23 July 2009

Giachetti R.E. (2009), Design for the Entire Business, Industrial Engineer, 41(6):39-43

IOMA (2009), Steer Your Company through Uncertainty, HRFocus, 86(2):1-15

O’Rourke C., Fishman N., Selkow W. (2003), Enterprise Architecture using the Zachman Framework, Boston: Course Technology

Ross J.W., Weil P., Robertson D.C. (2006), Enterprise Architecture as Strategy, Boston: Harvard Business School Press