TOGAF® Enterprise Architecture Foundation flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Enterprise architecture domains

TOGAF defines four architecture domains - Business, Data, Application, and Technology Architecture - which together describe the enterprise's business processes, information systems, data, and supporting technology infrastructure.

TOGAF framework purpose

TOGAF provides a common vocabulary, a recommended method (the ADM), reference models, and tools for developing, governing, and maintaining enterprise architecture consistently and repeatably across an organization.

Boundaryless information flow

The stated vision of TOGAF: access to integrated information that supports business process improvement, enabling timely and secure sharing of information across organizational and technical boundaries among authorized users.

Architecture principle structure

Every TOGAF architecture principle is documented with four parts: a name, a statement of the rule, a rationale giving the business justification, and implications listing the requirements and consequences of adopting it.

Characteristics of good principles

TOGAF states that architecture principles should be complete, consistent, robust, stable, and understandable, so that they remain reliable inputs to architecture decisions and governance over time.

TOGAF Standard modules

The TOGAF Standard is modular and comprises six parts: Introduction, Architecture Development Method, ADM Guidelines and Techniques, Architecture Content Framework, Enterprise Continuum and Tools, and Architecture Capability Framework.

Strategic, segment, capability architectures

TOGAF recognizes three levels of architecture in the Architecture Landscape: strategic architecture, spanning the whole enterprise; segment architecture, focused on a business unit or program; and capability architecture, addressing a specific capability or project scope.

Two senses of architecture

TOGAF uses architecture in two senses: a formal description of a system, or a detailed plan at component level guiding implementation; and the structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles governing design and evolution.

Preliminary Phase objectives

The Preliminary Phase prepares and establishes the architecture capability: it defines the organizational context, applies architecture principles, tailors the ADM and TOGAF, and secures senior sponsorship before formal architecture work begins.

Phase A objectives

Phase A, Architecture Vision, defines the scope and constraints of the architecture engagement, identifies stakeholders and their concerns, produces the Architecture Vision, and obtains approval of the Statement of Architecture Work.

Phases B, C, D outputs

Phases B, C, and D develop baseline and target Business, Data, Application, and Technology Architectures, documenting them in the Architecture Definition Document and the Architecture Requirements Specification.

Phase E objectives

Phase E, Opportunities and Solutions, consolidates the gaps identified in Phases B to D, groups changes into work packages, defines transition architectures, and generates the initial version of the Architecture Roadmap.

Phase F objectives

Phase F, Migration Planning, finalizes the Architecture Roadmap and Implementation and Migration Plan, prioritizes work packages, and establishes the Implementation Governance Model and architecture contracts with delivery projects.

Phase G objectives

Phase G, Implementation Governance, ensures that implementation projects conform to the target architecture by agreeing architecture contracts, performing compliance reviews, and producing compliance assessments and change requests.

Phase H change types

Architecture Change Management classifies changes as simplification (reduce cost or complexity), incremental (add new capability), or re-architecting, which requires a new ADM cycle because the target architecture must be rebuilt.

Requirements Management in the ADM

Requirements Management is the continuous central ADM activity that captures, stores, and prioritizes architecture requirements across all phases and assesses the impact of requirement changes on the architecture.

Deliverable, artifact, building block

The Content Framework organizes work products into deliverables, which are formally reviewed and approved outputs; artifacts, which are catalogs, matrices, or diagrams describing the architecture; and building blocks, which are reusable components of architecture or solutions.

Architecture Building Block

An Architecture Building Block captures architecture requirements and directs the creation of Solution Building Blocks; it is technology-neutral, potentially reusable, and documented in the Architecture Definition Document.

Solution Building Block

A Solution Building Block is a product- or vendor-specific component that implements an Architecture Building Block and is assembled, with others, into working solutions that conform to the target architecture.

Artifact categories

TOGAF artifacts fall into three categories: catalogs, which are lists of architecture elements; matrices, which show relationships between elements; and diagrams, which present visual representations of elements and their connections.

Enterprise Continuum

The Enterprise Continuum is a view of the Architecture Repository that classifies architecture and solution artifacts as they evolve from generic foundation architectures to organization-specific architectures, using the Architecture Continuum and the Solutions Continuum.

Architecture Continuum

The Architecture Continuum runs from Foundation Architectures through Common Systems Architectures and Industry Architectures to Organization-Specific Architectures, becoming progressively more specific to the enterprise and less widely reusable.

Architecture Repository parts

The Architecture Repository comprises six parts: the Architecture Metamodel, Architecture Capability, Architecture Landscape, Standards Information Base, Reference Library, and Governance Log.

Standards Information Base

The Standards Information Base records the standards applicable to the enterprise, including their version, lifecycle status, and compliance requirements, and it is a core part of the Architecture Repository.

Architecture Capability

Architecture Capability is the organization's ability to perform architecture work; it comprises roles, responsibilities, skills, processes, tools, and governance, and is established during the Preliminary Phase.

Architecture Board

The Architecture Board is a cross-organizational governance body that approves architecture, monitors compliance with it, resolves architecture disputes, and provides strategic direction, usually with senior business and IT membership.

Architecture Governance

Architecture Governance is the practice and orientation by which enterprise architectures are managed and controlled at an enterprise-wide level, using processes, controls, architecture contracts, compliance reviews, and decision-making forums.

Architecture compliance levels

TOGAF compliance review outcomes are Irrelevant, Consistent, Compliant, Conformant, Fully Conformant, and Non-Conformant, expressing the degree to which an implementation matches the defined architecture specification.

Architecture Contract

An Architecture Contract is a joint agreement between the architecture function, sponsors, and development partners that specifies deliverables, quality, and fitness-for-purpose expectations, and is used to govern implementation compliance.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is an individual, team, or organization with interests in, or concerns relative to, a system; architecture views are created specifically to address those stakeholder concerns.

View and viewpoint

A view is a representation of the whole system from the perspective of a related set of concerns, while a viewpoint defines the conventions and template from which that view is constructed.

Architecture Skills Framework

The Architecture Skills Framework defines the roles, skills, and depth of knowledge required of architecture practitioners, supporting capability planning, recruitment, and professional development within the architecture practice.