Enterprise Architecture - Background and Basic Concepts
Since the middle and late last century, with the development of information technology, various industries, manufacturing industries, and even people's daily life areas have achieved rapid development in automation and efficiency. Increased investment in information technology has created a virtuous circle. It can be said that with the development of information technology, people's working methods have gradually changed from the traditional "blue-collar type" work methods to "white-collar type" work methods. With the passage of time, the information systems in enterprises are becoming more and more complex, and the relationship between business and information systems is becoming increasingly close, which makes the information system in the organization or enterprise directly affect the strength of its competitiveness.With the evolution of the trend toward automation and efficiency, organizations and companies have embarked on a "technology-driven" path to the development of information systems. However, IT technology has also brought about business convenience while bringing about business. With the expansion of the scope of responsibilities, the structure of information systems in enterprises or organizations has also become increasingly complicated. Previously, paper pens or a small number of information systems have been exhausted. Problems such as the silo of information islands have gradually caused problems. Highlighted, and the negative impact of wrong decisions resulting from the inability to grasp comprehensive information is further amplified with the help of automation and efficiency. IT technology has become a double-edged sword, and this is precisely because of the information technology The development attitude still maintains the inertial thinking of automation and high efficiency. It does not notice that the situation has changed. They only focus on solving the immediate problems in the development of the information system, and neglect their own environment and The information resources it already possesses, thus lacking an overall vision to guide the construction of an information system.Even in some organizations where business units and information technology departments are out of touch with each other, the imbalance between the enterprise's information construction and the core business of the company is growing. On the one hand, the business departments of enterprises are still using the relatively backward office software for daily business. The maintenance and development of enterprises, on the other hand, the information technology departments of enterprises have only carried out the upgrading of information systems due to the development of information technology and disregarding the real situation of the business environment. However, the decision makers of enterprises are suffering from insufficient globalization. Perspectives and means to make decisions and coordination between the two.
The fundamental reason for the above issues is that companies have long been adhering to the "technology-driven" route, and do not realize that the environment has changed, and the number and complexity of information systems in current enterprises and organizations are different from before. At the same time, the relationship between business and information systems of companies and organizations has become increasingly closer. After information technology transforms people's working methods into "white-collar" style, their development should not be based on the inertia of "technology-driven" but should make people's work more "intelligent." The "intelligence" mentioned here does not only include the aforementioned "automation" and "efficiency", but its main purpose is to enable people to work in a complete and well-organized work environment so that people can publish to information systems. Prior to the directive, it is ensured that the decision is in accordance with the actual environment and has been carefully considered. It also has a certain degree of understanding and evaluation of the consequences and impact of the directive, and only in such an environment can people really understand what they want to accomplish. The work, the work environment in which they are located, and the relationships between them, thereby reusing various information resources in the enterprise and making practical decisions.
In summary, with the development of informatization, companies have gradually begun to face two problems:
The fundamental reason for the above issues is that companies have long been adhering to the "technology-driven" route, and do not realize that the environment has changed, and the number and complexity of information systems in current enterprises and organizations are different from before. At the same time, the relationship between business and information systems of companies and organizations has become increasingly closer. After information technology transforms people's working methods into "white-collar" style, their development should not be based on the inertia of "technology-driven" but should make people's work more "intelligent." The "intelligence" mentioned here does not only include the aforementioned "automation" and "efficiency", but its main purpose is to enable people to work in a complete and well-organized work environment so that people can publish to information systems. Prior to the directive, it is ensured that the decision is in accordance with the actual environment and has been carefully considered. It also has a certain degree of understanding and evaluation of the consequences and impact of the directive, and only in such an environment can people really understand what they want to accomplish. The work, the work environment in which they are located, and the relationships between them, thereby reusing various information resources in the enterprise and making practical decisions.
In summary, with the development of informatization, companies have gradually begun to face two problems:
- System complexity increases and it becomes more and more difficult to manage.
- Although the relationship between business and information technology is getting closer and closer, it is getting more and more out of sync.
The essence of these two issues can be summed up as the word “complex”, so the solution to these problems is ultimately to be implemented on the basis of “complexity management”, and the enterprise architecture and the enterprise architecture framework theory are essentially companies or organizations. See as a complex and objective object, and manage its complexity in various fields (strategic decision-making, business, data, application, technology, and project implementation) to assist the theory of the healthy development of a company or organization. It can be seen that the solution to the above two problems is to establish a complete and accurate enterprise architecture in the enterprise or organization guided by the enterprise architecture and enterprise architecture framework theory.
To correctly grasp the theory and technology related to enterprise architecture, we must first accurately define concepts such as "enterprise," "architecture," "enterprise architecture," "framework," and "enterprise architecture framework."
What is a company
The enterprise referred to in the enterprise architecture is not a company that is generally defined in the business environment. According to the definition of TOGAF Version 9, the enterprise is the highest level description of an organization and generally covers the entire mission of the organization. and function. An enterprise usually spans multiple organizations (The highest level (typically) of description of an organization and cases covers all missions and functions. An enterprise will often span multiple organizations.). From this it can be seen that the “enterprise” here is an abstract concept used to describe the organization, emphasizing the mission, function and single baseline of the organization, as well as its composition. It can represent a specific company, company, or government, or it can be a department or department under the jurisdiction of a company, company, or government. What is the scope of a specific "enterprise" should be established by driving the enterprise architecture? The scope of demand will decide.
What is the architecture
In ISO/IEC 42010: 2007, the architecture is defined as: the basic organization of a system, which is embodied in the relationships between the various components it contains, the components and the external environment, and the guidance The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution.
After several years of revisions, in ISO/IEC 42010: 2011, this definition of architecture was revised to include: the various basic concepts and attributes of a system in its environment. The elements contained, the relationships between them, and the principles of architecture design and evolution (<system> fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution).
According to "TOGAF Version 9", TOGAF 9's definition of architecture covers all aspects of the architecture definition in ISO/IEC 42010: 2007, and based on this makes its own interpretation:
- The architecture is a formal description of the system that aims to guide the implementation of a system, or a detailed plan formulated for this system at the component level. (A formal description of a system, or a detailed plan of the system at component level, to guide its implementation (source: ISO/IEC 42010: 2007).)
- The architecture describes the layout of the various components that make up the system in the system, their interrelationships, and the principles and guidelines used to govern the design and evolution of these components. (The structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution overtime.)
What is the architecture description
In ISO/IEC 42010: 2007, the architecture description is defined as: A collection of products to document an architecture. In ISO/IEC 42010: 2011, this definition was revised to: Work product used to express an architecture.
What is the perspective and view
The main use of the enterprise architecture is to establish a bridge of barrier-free communication among the stakeholders of the company or organization. Therefore, “communication” is one of the main spirits of the enterprise architecture. The “communicating” mentioned here refers not only to the communication between people, but the business information system itself can also be seen as a “stakeholder”, except that the description information of the enterprise architecture they require is in an abstract level. It is more sophisticated than the natural person and its semantics are more standardized. Even without considering the differences between natural persons and information systems among various stakeholders, different natural persons have very different concerns about the company due to differences in their background and responsibilities, and these differences have also contributed to the differences. Different ViewPoints. Observing a certain aspect of the enterprise through different perspectives produces a view from this perspective. In a nutshell, perspectives are used to describe where to look, while views are what you see, perspectives are the mode of the view, and views are instantiations of the perspective.
In ISO/IEC 42010: 2007, perspectives and views are defined as follows:
- Viewpoint: An explanation of the specifications associated with building and using views. With the clarity of the goals and audiences of the views, and the techniques used in the creation and analysis of the views, the perspective can also serve as a model for the conventions for constructing and using a view. A pattern or template from which to develop individual views by establishing the purposes and audience for a view and techniques for its creation and analysis).
- View: A representation of a whole system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.
- Architecture Viewpoint: (work product establishing the conventions for the construction, interpretation and use of architecture views to frame specific system concerns).
- Architecture View: (work product expressing the architecture of a system from the pespective of specific system concerns).
- Viewpoint: A definition of the viewing angle used for a view, a description of the conventions used to construct and use a view (usually in the form of an appropriate pattern or template). In layman's terms, the view describes what is seen; the perspective describes where to stand for observation – a commanding height or angle that determines what you can see. (A definition of the perspective from which a view is taken. It is a specification of the conventions for constructing and using a view (often by means of an appropriate schema or template). A view is what you see; a viewpoint is where you Are looking from — the vantage point or perspective that determines what you see).
- View: The expression of a series of interrelated concerns. A view describes what you see after adopting a perspective. The architectural view can be represented by a model, providing separate descriptions for different stakeholders based on their respective concerns for the architecture. A view is not necessarily displayed in a visual or graphical manner. (The representation of a related set of concerns. A view is what is seen from a viewpoint. An architecture view may be represented by a model to demonstrate to stakeholders their areas of interest in the architecture. A view does not have to be visual or Graphical in nature).
What is a stakeholder
In the early ISO/IEC 42010: 2007 there was no definition of the concept of a stakeholder, but afterwards ISO/IEC 42010: 2011 made this definition: An individual, team, organization, or class thereof, having an interest in a system of interests. In a very similar way, the Open Group defines stakeholders in TOGAF Version 9 as individuals, teams, or organizations (or categories) that have an interest or focus on the output of the architecture. Different stakeholders with different roles will have different concerns (An individual, team, or organization (or classes thereof) with interests in, or concerns relative to, the outcome of the architecture. Different stakeholders with different roles will have different Concern).
What is enterprise architecture: Because enterprise architecture does not have a unified definition, and each enterprise and organization will define the enterprise architecture according to their own understanding in the process of establishing their own enterprise architecture, there are many The formal definition of the enterprise architecture: (The following is derived from “What is EA (Enterprise Architecture)?” where EA refers to the enterprise architecture and EAF refers to the enterprise architecture framework)
- Zachman: EA is a comprehensive description of all the key elements and relationships that make up an organization. The Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF) is a blueprint for describing EA methods.
- Clinger-Cohen Act: EA is an integrated framework for evolving or maintaining existing information technologies and introducing new information technologies to achieve the organization's strategic goals and information resource management goals.
- OPEN GROUP: EA is about understanding all the different corporate elements that make up a company and how these elements relate to each other.
- OMB (Office of Management and Budget, US Office of Management and Budget): EA is an explicit description and record of current and future relationships between business and management processes and information technology.
- MetaGroup: EA is a system process that expresses the company's critical business, information, application, and technology strategies and their impact on business functions and processes. Regarding how and how information technology should be implemented within the enterprise, EA provides a consistent, holistic perspective that aligns it with business and market strategies.
- Microsoft: EA is the organizational logic of a company's core business processes and IT capabilities, obtained through a set of principles, policies, and technology choices to achieve business standardization and integration requirements for the company's operational model.
- IBM: EA is a blueprint for recording all information systems in an enterprise, their relationships, and how they accomplish their corporate mission.
In summary, an enterprise architecture has three implications:
- EA is a description tool: EA provides a means of description (templates) for all stakeholders in an organization to make it possible to describe the business, information systems, and relationships between them in their respective perspectives. Moreover, due to the use of a unified language to describe, all stakeholders also have a basis for barrier-free communication, and this is also the most important use of EA.
- EA is a knowledge base: EA provides a classified management, easy-to-access knowledge base, and information resource repository for all aspects of enterprise architecture provided by all participants in the organization.
- EA is a systematic process: In order to adapt the information technology within the organization to the needs and changes of the business, EA provides a set of implementation guidelines and management strategies.
What is the enterprise architecture framework
In TOGAF Version 9, the framework is defined as a content or process structure that is used to structure the thinking and ensure its consistency and integrity in the process (A structure for Content or process that can be used as a tool to structure thinking, ensuring consistency and completeness). It describes how to modularize an information system with a series of information technologies and reveal how these modules are combined. By analogy, for the objective objective of the enterprise, the enterprise architecture is a formal description that aims at the realization and correct operation of this objective object, and the enterprise architecture framework is a tool set for building enterprise architecture. And methodology. In a sense, the enterprise architecture framework is the metamodel of the enterprise architecture. It can help companies define their own enterprise architecture in a comprehensive and well-organized way. Currently there are many enterprise architecture framework theories in the industry, such as TOGAF, FEAF, DODAF, Zachman and so on. Although they are all theories used to guide the creation of enterprise architecture, their respective focuses are not the same. No matter what kind of enterprise architecture framework theory, its content is roughly divided into the following two aspects:
- The process and method of creating an enterprise architecture.
- The content definition of the enterprise architecture.
In the above theories of various enterprise architecture frameworks existing in the industry, the biggest difference between them should be to focus on the different degrees of emphasis of the above two points. For example, in the Zachman system, it does not focus on the discussion of the creation process and method of the enterprise architecture, but mainly focuses on the definition of the enterprise architecture content (in fact, Zachman’s paper does not mention the word “enterprise architecture”. He was This is illustrated from the point of view of the construction of the enterprise information system, but later in the industry, this article has been regarded as the starting point of the enterprise architecture framework. The focus of the various versions of TOGAF 9 was on the creation process and methodology of the enterprise architecture. It did not add any discussion about the content of the enterprise architecture. Until TOGAF 9 was released in 2009, it added a complete description for it. The content framework of the enterprise architecture content (Content Framework).
What is an architecture artifact
"Comparison of the Top Four Enterprise Architecture Methodologies" defines an architectural artifact as a specific document, report, analysis result, model, or other form of matter that contributes to the architecture's description (A specific document, Report, analysis, model, or other tangible that contributes to an architectural description). Different architecture frameworks have different definitions for architecture products. For example, in TOGAF's content framework, the architecture products are defined as catalogs, matrices, and graphics. However, architectural products are used to describe the architecture and are a concrete embodiment of the architecture description. Therefore, in some enterprise architecture theories, such as TOGAF, link Viewpoint with the specific definition of the architecture product. And take a specific architectural product content as a view of the architecture.
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