TOGAF and Enterprise Architecture

From the TOGAF

TOGAF is a framework – a detailed method and a set of supporting tools – for developing an enterprise architecture.

TOGAF stands for The Open Architecture Network.

The original development of TOGAF Version 1 in 1995 was based on the Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM), developed by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

The structure of the TOGAF documentation reflects the structure and content of an Architecture Capability within an enterprise:

Enterprise Architecture

TOGAF defines “enterprise” as any collection of organizations that has a common set of goals. For example, an enterprise could be a government agency, a whole corporation, a division of a corporation, a single department, or a chain of geographically distant organizations linked together by common ownership.

purpose of enterprise architecture is to optimize across the enterprise the often fragmented legacy of processes (both manual and automated) into an integrated environment that is responsive to change and supportive of the delivery of the business strategy.

Often key people identify areas of change required in order for new business goals to be met. Such people are commonly referred to as the “stakeholders” in the change. The role of the architect is to address their concerns by:

• Identifying and refining the requirements that the stakeholders have
• Developing views of the architecture that show how the concerns and requirements are going to be addressed
• Showing the trade-offs that are going to be made in reconciling the potentially conflicting concerns of different stakeholders

Without the enterprise architecture, it is highly unlikely that all the concerns and requirements will be considered and met.

Source:

http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/