Practical Model-Driven Enterprise Architecture

Mudar Bahri, Joe Williams

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781801072762
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Entreprise Applications
• Index: Computer Science

Bridge the gap between theory and reality by implementing real-world examples using the Sparx EA tool and ArchiMate® 3.1 specification to develop sophisticated enterprise architecture models serving every unit in your organizationKey Features• Discover the various artifacts that enterprise architects need to develop for stakeholders to make sound decisions• Build a functional enterprise architecture repository that is rich in information, references, and metamodels• Learn how to use Sparx Enterprise Architect from scratchBook DescriptionMost organizations face challenges in defining and achieving evolved enterprise architecture practices, which can be a very lengthy process even if implemented correctly. Developers, for example, can build better solutions only if they receive the necessary design information from architects, and decision-makers can make appropriate changes within the organization only if they know the implications of doing so.The book starts by addressing the problems faced by enterprise architecture practitioners and provides solutions based on an agile approach to enterprise architecture, using ArchiMate® 3.1 as an industry standard and Sparx EA as the modeling tool. You'll learn with the help of a fictional organization that has three business units, each expecting something different from you as the enterprise architect. You'll build the practice, satisfy the different requirements of each business unit, and share the knowledge with others so they can follow your steps. Toward the end, you'll learn how to put the diagrams and the content that you have developed into documents, presentations, and web pages that can be published and shared with any stakeholder.By the end of this book, you'll be able to build a functional enterprise architecture practice that supports every part of your organization. You'll also have developed the necessary skills to populate your enterprise architecture repository with references and artifacts.What you will learn• Discover how enterprise architects can contribute to projects and departments within organizations• Use Sparx Enterprise Architect to build a rich architecture repository• Learn about the ArchiMate® 3.1 specification as you apply it in real-world projects• Use the focused metamodel technique to build the information necessary for maintaining your repository's consistency and accuracy• Understand the importance of keeping architectural artifacts simple yet eye-catching• Define an operational model that fits your initial needs and expands as requiredWho this book is forThis book is for enterprise architects at all architectural layers and practices of any maturity level. Many of the artifacts suggested in this book are inspired by The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF®); however, familiarity with TOGAF® is not required. Whether you work within the business, applications, data, or technology layers, this book covers examples that apply to your work. Although not mandatory, experience modeling in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect using any modeling language will be helpful. No prior knowledge of ArchiMate® is required to get started with this book.

Section 1: Enterprise Architecture with Sparx Enterprise Architect

This section briefly introduces Enterprise Architecture (EA) and TOGAF®, and explains why this book can be of value to you and how we have structured it to be easy to follow.

This section addresses the problems that are faced by EA practitioners and introduces you to the methodology, the modeling notation, and the modeling tool that will be used as components of a solution. It addresses why some organizations have lost interest in EA, but more importantly, it introduces solutions to regain business trust in it again.

Since this book is mainly concerned with making EA practical, we will introduce three fictional problem scenarios that can guide you to create useful artifacts and show some tangible values of EA in your workplace.

This section comprises the following chapters:

• Chapter 1, Enterprise Architecture and Its Practicality
• Chapter 2, Introducing the Practice Scenarios

Chapter 1: Enterprise Architecture and Its Practicality

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a discipline that many organizations have adopted or have been motivated to adopt over the last two decades or so due to its promises to bridge the gaps between business and technology. EA is the art of defining and categorizing the elements that compose an enterprise and defining the relationships among these elements to get useful information that supports making strategic and tactical decisions. There are several frameworks that guide EA implementation, but the most popular one is TOGAF®.

This chapter starts by highlighting what made TOGAF® the de facto standard for implementing EA and puts the spotlight on the problems that most TOGAF® practitioners face – some (if not all) of which I am quite sure you will have faced. As I have learned, talking about problems is never helpful without providing solutions, so we will introduce a hands-on approach that has been extracted from years of practical experience in the EA domain to help you in aligning the theory with the practice smoothly and more productively.

Please remember that this book is not about teaching TOGAF®; I expect that you already have some knowledge of and experience with the framework and are looking for solutions to the problems that you may have already faced. It is also not about making comparisons between TOGAF® and other frameworks to show the advantages versus disadvantages of each. This book is based on TOGAF® and ArchiMate® only and will explain how to use them in a way that can help your organization to get quick, tangible outcomes from adopting them.

The following is a list of topics that will be covered in this chapter:

• Understanding TOGAF®
• Introducing agile EA
• Introducing ArchiMate®
• Introducing Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Let's start by talking about the benefits and drawbacks of TOGAF®.

Understanding TOGAF®

Even though TOGAF® came nearly two decades after the Zachman Framework (https://www.zachman.com/about-the-zachman-framework) was introduced, it dominated the market very quickly and became one of the most important standards in the EA domain. John Zachman was the first to introduce the concept of EA in the mid-eighties and defined an EA framework carrying his name. For many reasons, the Zachman Framework was not adopted by many architects, but the idea remained in many people's minds.

TOGAF® started to gain popularity in late 2002 when The Open Group® introduced version 8.0. From there onward, it continued to gain popularity and started to become the de facto standard in the EA domain especially when The Open Group® released version 9.0 in early 2009, followed by 9.1, and finally 9.2 in 2018. TOGAF® became popular because it provided enterprise architects with rich content that guides their development journeys and makes implementing EA achievable.

Architects chose to follow TOGAF® for many reasons, which we will talk about later in this section. However, implementing TOGAF® was not a straightforward journey for many, and it brought new challenges and difficulties to the architects. As a result, many EA projects ended up with massive scope creep, unneeded outcomes, and useless acronyms. Therefore, many EA projects got terminated due to low return on investment and more people lost faith in EA as a practical approach even with TOGAF®. In this section, we will talk about the following:

• The benefits of using TOGAF® as a framework for implementing EA projects
• The drawbacks that make implementing TOGAF® challenging

While you read this section, I am sure that you will recall similar situations that you or your team have faced in your EA implementation journey.

TOGAF® implementation benefits

The following features are some advantages that made TOGAF® the preferred choice over other frameworks for many architects:

• Complete online documentation that is freely available.
• An easy-to-follow process.
• It fits architects with different experience.
• A rich content metamodel.
• It's loaded with guidelines and techniques.
• It encourages learning.

We will look at each benefit individually in the following subsections and see why more than 111,000 individuals from over 144 countries have chosen to use TOGAF® and be certified in it (according to https://togaf9-cert.opengroup.org/certified-individuals on the date of writing this paragraph).

Complete online documentation that is freely available

The Open Group® has provided all the TOGAF® versions online and for free with anonymous access. This makes it possible for people at all levels of experience to explore, read, and learn the framework at their own pace without feeling constrained by costly subscriptions or time-limited trials. You do not even need to register on the website to be granted access to the content, which is something that not all frameworks provide. Some frameworks require paid memberships, and some require at least creating a profile, but this is not the case with TOGAF®. EA practitioners also find it very convenient to have the material online and accessible anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

Note

Even after being TOGAF® certified for years and practicing it continuously for about 15 years, I always have the website bookmarked in my browser.

An easy-to-follow process

One of the core TOGAF® components is the Architecture Development Method (ADM), which is a series of phases, each with a defined set of inputs, steps, and outputs. Architects find it easy to follow the ADM, especially architects coming from an IT background. They all know that if you want to build a solution, you need to first envision it, define its requirements, plan it, design it, build it, deploy it, and then operate it, which is very well known as the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The ADM has a similar concept to the SDLC, but the objective is to architect the entire enterprise and not a single IT solution.

The following diagram represents the ADM cycle as defined by TOGAF® here: https://pubs.opengro...

Table of contents

• Practical Model-Driven Enterprise Architecture
• Contributors
• Preface
• Section 1: Enterprise Architecture with Sparx Enterprise Architect
• Chapter 1: Enterprise Architecture and Its Practicality
• Chapter 2: Introducing the Practice Scenarios
• Section 2: Building the Enterprise Architecture Repository
• Chapter 3: Kick-Starting Your Enterprise Architecture Repository
• Chapter 4: Maintaining Quality and Consistency in the Repository
• Chapter 5: Advanced Application Architecture Modeling
• Chapter 6: Modeling in the Technology Layer
• Chapter 7: Enterprise-Level Technology Architecture Models
• Chapter 8: Business Architecture Models
• Chapter 9: Modeling Strategy and Implementation
• Section 3: Managing the Repository
• Chapter 10: Operating the EA Repository
• Chapter 11: Publishing Model Content
• Other Books You May Enjoy