The Structure Of The Togaf Document

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is a framework – a logical model, a detailed method and a set of supporting tools - for developing enterprise architecture. It may be used freely by any organization planning to develop an enterprise architecture .

TOGAF was developed by members of The Open Group, working within the Architecture Forum. The original development of TOGAF Version 1 in 1995 was derived from 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 TOGAF 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 TOGAF each year and published each one on The Open Group public web site.

Structure of the TOGAF Document :

There are four main parts to the TOGAF document:

PART I

(Introduction) This Part provides a high-level introduction to some of the key concepts behind enterprise architecture and in particular the TOGAF approach.

PART II

(Architecture Development Method) This is the core of TOGAF. It describes the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM) - a step-by-step approach to developing an enterprise architecture.

PART III

(Enterprise Continuum) This Part describes the TOGAF Enterprise Continuum, a virtual repository of architecture assets, which includes the TOGAF Foundation Architecture, and the Integrated Information Infrastructure Reference Model (III-RM).

PART IV

(Resources) This Part comprises the TOGAF Resource Base - a set of tools and techniques available for use in applying TOGAF and the TOGAF ADM.

What is TOGAF?

TOGAF is an architecture framework - The Open Group Architecture Framework. It enables you to design, evaluate, and build the right architecture for your organization.

The key to TOGAF is the Architecture Development Method (ADM) - a reliable, proven method for developing an IT enterprise architecture that meets the needs of your business.

What kind of architecture does TOGAF deal with?

There are four types of architecture that are commonly accepted as subsets of an overall enterprise architecture, all of which TOGAF is designed to support:

A Business (or Business Process) Architecture - this defines the business strategy, governance, organization, and key business processes.

A Data Architecture - this describes the structure of an organization's logical and physical data assets and data management resources.

An Applications Architecture - this kind of architecture provides a blueprint for the individual application systems to be deployed, their interactions, and their relationships to the core business processes of the organization.

A Technology Architecture - this describes the logical software and hardware capabilities that are required to support the deployment of business, data, and application services. This includes IT infrastructure, middleware, networks, communications, processing, standards, etc.

Who would benefit from using TOGAF?

Any organization undertaking, or planning to undertake, the design and implementation of an enterprise architecture for the support of mission-critical business applications, using open systems building blocks.

Customers who design and implement enterprise architectures using TOGAF are ensured of a design and a procurement specification that will greatly facilitate open systems implementation, and will enable the benefits of open systems to accrue to their organizations with reduced risk.

What specifically does TOGAF contain?

TOGAF provides a common-sense, practical, prudent, and effective method of developing an enterprise architecture.

TOGAF consists of three main parts:

TOGAF ADM

The TOGAF Architecture Development Method(ADM) gives a walkthrough for implementation and execution of an organization’s EA. The process is made up of multiple sequential phases which is shown below in form of a closed loop.(FIGURE 10)

figure 10

Figure 10: TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM)

Preliminary Phase: decides the implementation process stakeholders and accommodate them together. This phase gives over Architecture Guiding Principles which is depended on the organization’s business principles and explains methods and terms for monitoring the EA implementation’s development.

Phase A is dedicated to find the business objectives and if failed in finding the business objectives then this phase takes the responsibilities of setting up the business objectives and how to execute these objectives. The Statement of Architectural Work, which is also obtained in this phase characterize the EA’s scope and limitations and obtains a plan for the architectural work.

Phase B is devoted to the detail design of the architecture of the business which leads to technical analysis. Business process modeling, business object modeling and use case modeling are important techniques used to obtain the Business Architecture.

Phase C is dedicated to delivery of Application and Data architectures for current and anticipated environments, meeting the scope and following plan as mentioned in the Statement of Architectural Work.

Phase D completes the detailed architecture work of the TOGAF ADM cycle with the delivery of Technology Architecture. As in the preceding phases, gap analysis and draft architectures are used as a baseline, as are the architecture guiding principles agreed upon in the preliminary phase. Modeling notations, such as UML, are actively used during this phase to produce various viewpoints.

Phase D gets over with the Architecture work and delivers the Technology Architecture. Modeling notations(UML) are significantly used in this phase to obtain various viewpoints.

Phase E is especially dedicated to figure out the opportunities presented by the target architectures and comes out with the potential solutions which are practical and feasible.

Phase F moves to prioritize proposed implementation projects and perform detailed planning and gap analysis of the migration process. This work includes assessing dependencies between projects and minimizing their overall impact on enterprise operations. In this phase, the Project List is updated, the Implementation Plan is detailed, and the Blueprint is handed to the implementation teams.

Phase F focuses on the implementation and hence hands over the blueprint to the implementation team after updating the Project List and structuring the Implementation Plan.

The focus in Phase H shifts towards change management of the architecture baseline that is achieved with the delivery of the implemented solutions. The phase might produce a Request for Architecture Work that sets targets for a subsequent cycle of enterprise architecture efforts.

Phase H works towards the change management of the architecture baseline which is achieved after the delivery of solutions.

2) The Enterprise Continuum, which is a "virtual repository" of all the architecture assets - models, patterns, architecture descriptions, etc. - that exist both within the enterprise and in the IT industry at large, which the enterprise considers itself to have available for the development of architectures. At relevant places throughout the TOGAF ADM, there are reminders to consider which architecture assets from the Enterprise Continuum the architect should use, if any. TOGAF itself provides two reference models for consideration for inclusion in an enterprise's own Enterprise Continuum:

The TOGAF Foundation Architecture - an architecture of generic services and functions that provides a foundation on which specific architectures and Architecture Building Blocks (ABBs) can be built. This Foundation Architecture in turn includes:

The TOGAF Technical Reference Model (TRM), which provides a model and taxonomy of generic platform services

The TOGAF Standards Information Base (SIB), which is a database of open industry standards that can be used to define the particular services and other components of an enterprise-specific architecture

The Integrated Information Infrastructure Reference Model (III-RM), which is based on the TOGAF Foundation Architecture, and is specifically aimed at helping the design of architectures that enable and support the vision of Boundaryless Information Flow.

3) The TOGAF Resource Base, which is a set of resources - guidelines, templates, background information, etc. - to help the architect in the use of the ADM.

Just how do you use TOGAF?

TOGAF is published by The Open Group on its public web site, and may be reproduced freely by any enterprise wishing to use it to develop an enterprise architecture for use within that enterprise.

Basically, information about the advantages and limitations of the existing implementation, together with requirements for change, are combined using the methods described in the TOGAF ADM, resulting in a "Target Architecture" or set of Target Architectures.

The SIB provides a database of open industry standards that can be used to define the particular services and components required in the products purchased to implement the developed architecture. The SIB provides a simple and highly effective way to procure against enterprise architecture.

How much does TOGAF cost?

The Open Group operates as a not-for-profit consortium committed to delivering greater business efficiency by bringing together buyers and suppliers of information systems to nullify the barriers of integrating new technology across the enterprise. Its goal is to realize the vision of Boundary less Information Flow.

TOGAF is a key part of its strategy for achieving this goal, and The Open Group wants TOGAF to be taken up and used in practical architecture projects, and the experience from its use fed back to help improve it.

The Open Group therefore publishes TOGAF on its public web server, and allows and encourages its reproduction and use free-of-charge by any organization wishing to use it internally to develop an enterprise architecture. (There are restrictions on its commercial exploitation, however).

Since TOGAF is freely available, why join The Open Group?

Organizations wishing to reduce the time, be cost-effective, and risk of implementing multi-vendor solutions that integrate within and between enterprises opt for The Open Group as their key partner.

The Open Group binds together the buyers and suppliers of information systems worldwide, and enables them to work together, both to ensure that IT solutions achieves customer satisfaction, and to make it easier to integrate IT across the enterprise.

The Open Group Architecture Framework is a key enabler in this task.

Yes, TOGAF itself is freely available. But how much will you spend on developing or updating your enterprise architecture using TOGAF? And how much will you spend on procurements based on that architecture?

The price of membership of The Open Group is insignificant in comparison with these amounts.

In addition to the general benefits of membership, as a member of The Open Group you will be eligible to participate in The Open Group Architecture Forum, which is the development program within which TOGAF is evolved, and in which TOGAF users come together to exchange information and feedback.

Members of the Architecture Forum gain:

Immediate access to the fruits of the current year's TOGAF work program (not publicly available until publication of the next edition of the TOGAF document) - in effect, the latest information on TOGAF, as opposed to information that is up to a year old

Exchange of experience with other customer and vendor organizations involved in enterprise architecture in general, and networking with architects using TOGAF in significant architecture development projects around the world

Peer review of specific architecture case study material

Where does TOGAF fits in ?

TOGAF is a framework that provides organizations with a step by step method of creating an enterprise level architecture.

It defines placeholders for defining things common to all organisations delivering services in an enterprise environment (and smaller).

• Business architecture – The strategy, governance and business processes governing how the business goes about it’s work

• Data architecture – A definition of the organisations logical/physical data stores, meta data and management resources

• Application architecture – Blueprints for how software systems interact with each other, are deployed and their relationships to business processes (mapped in the business architecture)

• Technology architecture – The assets of an organisation used to deliver its IT capabilities. Logical software models, hardware resources, support requirements, data/application capabilities etc. Includes things like network topologies, comms, standards etc.

Advantages of TOGAF :

• Decreased cost – Most of the upsides of E.A. have a cost benefit. Without it or providing significant business advantage there’s no point. However it’s ‘challenging’ to produce figures in most cases.

• Organisation reference model– Amongst other benefits, having a good idea of what you have now gives a better chance of executing change reasonably efficiently.

• Reduced effort – Endeavours such as design, development, business as usual should become easier/quicker.

• Increased visibility – Information about people, processes and systems is easier to access

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADD AND TOGAF:

ADD (Attribute Driven Design)

TOGAF ( The Open Group Architecture Framework)

ADD is a recursive method which consists of two parts

Using tactics to achieve quality requirements:

To confirm whether there is sufficient information about requirements.

to choose the element that is to decomposed.

Identifying candidate architectural drivers.

To choose design concept that satisfies architectural drivers.

Documenting Decomposition:

Instantiating architectural elements and allocating responsibilities.

Define interfaces for instantiated elements.

Verify & refine requirements and make them as constraints for instantiated elements.

Repeat steps to decompose next element.

TOGAF enable us to design, evaluate, and build the right architecture for the organization.

TOGAF Architecture Development Method(ADM) which explains how to derive an organization. ADM has multiple phases.

Phase A: Architecture Vision

Phase B: Business Architecture

Phase C:Information Systems Architecture

Phase D:Technology Architecture

Phase E:Opportunities&Solutions

Phase F:Migration Planning

Phase G:Implementation Governance

Phase H:Architecture change management

The Enterprise Continuum which is known as virtual repository of all architecture assets such as models, patterns, architecture descriptions etc.

TOGAF provides 2 reference models for consideration for inclusion in an enterprise's own enterprise continuum

TOGAF foundation architecture of generic services and functions that provide foundation for building architecture

The Integrated Information Infrastructure Reference Model (III-RM) based on TOGAF foundation architecture specifically aimed at helping the design of architecture.

The TOGAF resource base , a set of resources such as guidelines, templates, background information etc.

Overview of TOGAF in the Future

TOGAF in the future is more likely to introduce the use interactive tools which will facilitate the use of that extended range of information recorded in selecting building blocks.The whole purpose is to enhance TOGAF with a Building Blocks Information Base(BBIB),containing information about architectural and solution building blocks for implementation in architecture design.

http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf7-doc/arch/p3/intro/fig1-2.gif

Figure 1: Overview of TOGAF in the Future