Enterprise Architecture & TOGAF

Enterprise Architecture provides the strategic context to enable organizations to move from innovation to assembly line production information products, and still meet the constantly changing needs of the business environment.

The key to business success is the effectiveness of leveraging IT products within the organization. An Enterprise Architecture provides the means to prioritize IT investments, maximize performance and generate the most cost-effective solutions thereby eliminating many barriers to success.

The The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) Enterprise Edition is an architectural framework consisting of a detailed method and a set of supporting tools for developing a broad range of Enterprise Architectures. The Enterprise Edition enables the business and IT community together to:

• Design, evaluate and build the right architecture for their organization.

• Reduce the costs of planning, designing and implementing architectures based on Open Systems solutions.

• Develop an Enterprise Architecture; by providing a generic method with which specific sets of deliverables, reference models, and architectural assets can be integrated.

TOGAF describes a method for designing an information system in terms of a set of building blocks and shows how the building blocks fit together. TOGAF contains a set of tools, provides a common vocabulary and includes a list of recommended standards and compliant products, which can be used to implement the building blocks. 

Although a number of enterprise frameworks exist (such as Zachman Framework, FEAF, TEAF, C4ISR/DoDAF), there is no accepted industry standard method for developing (or assessing) Enterprise Architecture - until TOGAF. Developed and endorsed by the Architecture Forum of The Open Group, the TOGAF 8 Enterprise Edition represents an industry consensus framework and method for Enterprise Architecture that is available for use internally by any organization around the world - Open Group members and non-members alike.

TOGAF is vendor neutral - it is an open method for Enterprise Architecture, allowing organizations to avoid lock-in from proprietary methods.

More information about TOGAF is available from the overview datasheet and the detailed resources page.

The Open Group is an international vendor and technology-neutral consortium that is committed to delivering greater business efficiency by bringing together buyers and suppliers of information technology to lower the time, cost and risk associated with integrating new technology across the enterprise.  With its proven certification methodology and conformance testing expertise, The Open Group is an international facilitator in delivering the interoperability that single organizations require to help ensure independence. For more information, visit www.opengroup.org.

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Last modified: 08-Oct-2006