The TOGAF® Standard, 10th Edition — Introduction and Core Concepts

The Open Group

• Publisher: Van Haren Publishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9789401808613
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Architecture General

This document is the TOGAF Standard — Introduction and Core Concepts. It has been developed and approved by The Open Group, and is part of the TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition.This document introduces the standard, including an executive overview of Enterprise Architecture, a description of how the standard is organized, and a summary of core concepts. It also contains the material common to the individual documents that comprise the standard, such as the definitions, as well as document references and abbreviations. It covers the following topics:
•An introduction to the standard, including an executive overview of Enterprise Architecture
•A description of the TOGAF documentation set, describing the contents of the standard and the supporting TOGAF Library
•The core concepts that apply across the TOGAF Standard
•The terms and definitions that apply across the TOGAF Standard
•A glossary of supplementary definitionsThe TOGAF Standard is intended for Enterprise Architects, Business Architects, IT Architects, Data Architects, Systems Architects, Solution Architects, and anyone responsible for the architecture function within an organization. Other audiences are Digital and Agile Practitioners, Product Managers, and C-Suite. These audiences will find more detailed guidance on how to apply the standard to fulfill specific needs in the TOGAF Series Guides.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The TOGAF Standard is a framework for Enterprise Architecture. It may be used freely by any organization wishing to develop an Enterprise Architecture for use within that organization (see Section 1.3.1).

The TOGAF Standard is developed and maintained by members of The Open Group, working within the Architecture Forum (refer to www.opengroup.org/architecture). 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 DoD gave The Open Group explicit permission and encouragement to create Version 1 of the TOGAF Standard by building on the TAFIM, which itself was the result of many years of development effort and many millions of dollars of US Government investment.

Starting from this sound foundation, the members of The Open Group Architecture Forum have developed successive versions of the TOGAF Standard and published each one on The Open Group public website.

This version builds on previous versions of the TOGAF Standard and updates the material available to architecture practitioners to assist them in building a sustainable Enterprise Architecture. Work on White Papers and Guides describing how to integrate and use this standard with other frameworks and architectural styles has highlighted the universal framework parts of the standard, as well as industry, architecture style, and purpose-specific tools, techniques, and guidance. This work is embodied in the TOGAF Library.¹

Although all of the TOGAF documentation works together as a whole, it is expected that organizations will customize it during adoption, and deliberately choose some elements, customize some, exclude some, and create others. For example, an organization may wish to adopt the TOGAF metamodel, but elect not to use any of the guidance on how to develop an in-house Technology Architecture because they are heavy consumers of cloud services.

You are recommended to first read the Executive Overview (see Section 1.1), which includes an outline of The Open Group understanding of Enterprise Architecture and answers to fundamental questions, such as:

■ Why is an Enterprise Architecture needed?

■ Why use the TOGAF Standard as a framework for Enterprise Architecture?

1.1 Executive Overview

This section provides an executive overview of Enterprise Architecture, the basic concepts of what it is (not just another name for IT Architecture), and why it is needed. It provides a summary of the benefits of establishing an Enterprise Architecture and adopting the TOGAF approach to achieve that.

What is an enterprise?

The TOGAF Standard considers an "enterprise" to be any collection of organizations that have common goals.

For example, an enterprise could be:

■ A whole corporation or a division of a corporation

■ A government agency or a single government department

■ A chain of geographically distant organizations linked together by common ownership

■ Groups of countries, governments, or governmental organizations (such as militaries) working together to create common or shareable deliverables or infrastructures

■ Partnerships and alliances of businesses working together, such as a consortium or supply chain

The term "Enterprise" in the context of "Enterprise Architecture" can be applied to either an entire enterprise, encompassing all of its business activities and capabilities, information, and technology that make up the entire infrastructure and governance of the enterprise, or to one or more specific areas of interest within the enterprise. An enterprise may include partners, suppliers, and customers as well as internal business units. In all cases, the architecture crosses multiple systems, and multiple functional groups within the enterprise.

The enterprise operating model concept is useful to determine the nature and scope of the Enterprise Architecture within an organization. Many organizations may comprise multiple enterprises, and may develop and maintain a number of independent Enterprise Architectures to address each one. These enterprises often have much in common with each other including processes, functions, and their information systems, and there is often great potential for wider gain in the use of a common architecture framework. For example, a common framework can provide a basis for the development of common building blocks and solutions, and a shareable Architecture Repository for the integration and re-use of business models, designs, information, and data.

Why is an Enterprise Architecture needed?

The 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.

The effective management and exploitation of information and Digital Transformation are key factors to business success, and indispensable means to achieving competitive advantage. An Enterprise Architecture addresses this need, by providing a strategic context for the evolution and reach of digital capability in response to the constantly changing needs of the business environment.

Furthermore, a good Enterprise Architecture enables you to achieve the right balance between business transformation and continuous operational efficiency. It allows individual business units to innovate safely in their pursuit of evolving business goals and competitive advantage. At the same time, the Enterprise Architecture enables the needs of the organization to be met with an integrated strategy which permits the closest possible synergies across the enterprise and beyond.

And lastly, much of the global privacy legislation demands that processes around personal data are fully documented in a way that can be easily understood by untrained readers — such as the data subjects and judges and lawyers. The penalties for failing to have this can be very significant. Clearly the creation of this basic documentation arises from the changed fundamental considerations and this is now crucial.

What are the benefits of an Enterprise Architecture?

An effective Enterprise Architecture can bring important benefits to the organization. Potential benefits of an Enterprise Architecture include:

■ More effective strategic decision-making by C-Level executives and business leaders:

— Quick response to change and support for enterprise agility aligned with the organization strategy

— Organizational transformation, adopting new trends in business and technology

— Organizational change to support Digital Transformation

— Organizational and operating model changes to improve efficiency and effectiveness

■ More effective and efficient business operations:

— Lower business operation costs

— More agile organization

— Business capabilities shared across the organization

— Lower change management costs

— More flexible workforce

— Improved business productivity

— Improved organization integration in support of mergers and acquisitions

■ More effective and efficient Digital Transformation and operations:

— E...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Trademarks
• Participants
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 The TOGAF Documentation Set
• Chapter 3 Core Concepts
• Chapter 4 Definitions
• Appendix A Referenced Documents
• Appendix B Glossary of Supplementary Definitions
• Appendix C Abbreviations
• Index