TOGAF Enterprise Architecture flashcards

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

Enterprise (TOGAF definition)

A collection of organizations that has a common set of goals and/or a single bottom line. The collection may range from a whole corporation to a division or an extended enterprise.

Architecture (TOGAF definition)

The fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment, embodied in its elements, relationships, and principles of design and evolution.

Four TOGAF architecture domains

TOGAF divides architecture into Business, Data, Application, and Technology domains. Data and Application together form the Information Systems Architectures.

Architecture Principle format

Each principle contains a name, a statement, a rationale, and the implications of adopting it, so that the principle can be understood, communicated, and enforced across the enterprise.

Architecture Principle criteria

TOGAF judges principles against five criteria: understandable, robust, complete, consistent, and stable. Principles meeting these criteria can guide decisions and be endorsed by the Architecture Board.

Preliminary Phase

The phase that establishes the architecture capability before the first ADM cycle: architecture principles, governance, tools, tailoring of TOGAF, and the Organizational Model for Enterprise Architecture.

Phase A (Architecture Vision)

The phase that defines scope, identifies stakeholders, and states business goals. It produces the Architecture Vision and, once approved, the Statement of Architecture Work.

Phase E (Opportunities and Solutions)

The first transition-planning phase. It consolidates gap analysis results into work packages, groups them into projects, and defines transition architectures and candidate solution building blocks.

Phase F (Migration Planning)

The phase that sequences and prioritizes work packages using business value, cost, and risk, and finalizes the Implementation and Migration Plan together with the Architecture Roadmap.

Phase G (Implementation Governance)

The phase that provides architecture oversight of implementation projects through Architecture Contracts and architecture compliance reviews, escalating deviations to the Architecture Board.

Phase H (Architecture Change Management)

The phase that manages requests for change to the architecture, classifying drivers as simplification, incremental change, or re-architecting, and deciding whether a new ADM cycle is needed.

Requirements Management phase

The central ADM phase with no phase letter. It stores requirements and feeds them to all other phases, ensuring that requirements drive the architecture throughout the cycle.

Gap Analysis

A technique that compares the Baseline Architecture with the Target Architecture to identify which elements are added, which are removed, and which are retained.

Business Scenario

A technique that describes a business problem through its problem statement, environment, objectives, human actors, computer actors, and roles and responsibilities, from which architecture requirements are derived.

Business Transformation Readiness Assessment

A technique that identifies and rates readiness factors such as culture, funding, skills, and sponsorship, and derives the actions needed for a transformation to succeed.

Capability-Based Planning

A planning technique that structures change around business capabilities and business outcomes rather than around existing organizational silos or legacy systems.

Risk Management technique

A technique that classifies risks and tracks each through the states of initial risk, identified risk, mitigated risk, and residual risk, with mitigation actions recorded.

Deliverable

A formal work product that is contractually specified, reviewed, and approved by stakeholders. Examples include the Architecture Definition Document and the Implementation and Migration Plan.

Artifact

A finer-grained work product contained within a deliverable. Every artifact is classified as a catalog (list of things), a matrix (relationships), or a diagram (picture of relationships).

Building Block

A reusable package of functionality with defined boundaries. An Architecture Building Block describes required capability, while a Solution Building Block describes how that capability is implemented.

Architecture Repository

The store holding the Architecture Metamodel, Architecture Capability, Architecture Landscape, Standards Information Base, Reference Library, Governance Log, Architecture Requirements Repository, and Solutions Landscape.

Architecture Landscape

The part of the repository holding the architectures in use, organized at three levels: strategic architectures for the whole enterprise, segment architectures, and capability architectures.

Architecture Board

The governing body for the architecture. It ensures consistency, enforces architecture compliance, resolves conflicts and escalations, and approves changes to the architecture.

Architecture Contract

A jointly agreed agreement between the sponsor and development partners covering deliverables, quality expectations, and compliance requirements, applied during Phase G implementation governance.

Architecture Governance

The practice of managing and controlling enterprise architectures at a strategic level. It operates within, and is supported by, wider corporate and IT governance.

Architecture Maturity Model

The ACMM defines levels 0 None, 1 Initial, 2 Under Development, 3 Defined, 4 Managed, and 5 Optimized, used to assess and improve the architecture capability.

Architecture Compliance Review

A formal review of a project against the architecture. It creates a compliance assessment rating conformance, records findings in the Governance Log, and escalates deviations to the Architecture Board.

ADM iteration cycles

TOGAF defines four cycles: Architecture Context (Preliminary and Phase A), Architecture Definition (Phases B, C, D), Transition Planning (Phases E, F), and Architecture Governance (Phases G, H).

Agile application of the ADM

Applying ADM phases within short iterations so that architecture emerges incrementally, supported by an architecture backlog and only sufficient up-front description.

Architecture levels

TOGAF describes enterprise architecture at strategic level (whole enterprise), segment level (a business unit or programme), and capability level (a single business capability, the most detailed).

Tailoring TOGAF

Adjusting scope, level of detail, deliverables, and phase sequence of the ADM to suit the size, culture, and context of the enterprise before applying the framework.

Digital transformation guidance

TOGAF guidance for digital contexts emphasizing customer-centricity, product-based delivery, participation in business ecosystems, and data-driven services, validated through running products.