The Significance Of TOGAF In Enterprise Architecture

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is almost a decade old framework in the world of enterprise architecture. TOGAF as a framework has been crafted and refined by more than 400 companies or government entities so far. The popularity of TOGAF lies in its holistic nature. It encompasses all elements critical to enterprise architecture including planning, designing, implementation and management of the enterprise architecture. TOGAF training can facilitate conceptual discussions of key attributes that contribute to the architecture framework. The significance of TOGAF in the world of enterprise architecture has been mentioned below.

Requirements Assessment – This is the primary phase of analysis in the process of design and deployment of an enterprise architecture. Also being the first, it is also crucial in terms of the decisions that are an outcome of this analysis and the foundation rules formulated at this stage govern all the decisions that follow for enterprise architecture. TOGAF certification course usually highlight the main points of consideration and worthy of contesting in this initial phase.

ADM Training – Architecture Development Method (ADM) is the heart of TOGAF. It is an iterative methodology for the development of enterprise architecture. The methodology encompasses 4 iterative sub-processes starting from Architecture Context, Architecture Delivery, Transition Planning and finally Architecture Governance. Beginning with the preliminary framework and principles, the process proceeds to laying a vision for EA and then it is followed by delivery, planning and governance of Business Architecture, Information Systems Architecture and finally Technology Architecture. Not only has the methodology been widely successful in the market, it also has gained the repute of being a credible approach for architecture development. Any professional with a TOGAF certification is assumed to possess knowledge on key elements of ADM methodology and possibly help organisations realise the benefits of ADM for their enterprise architecture.

Industry Standard – TOGAF is also widely successful owing to the collaborative efforts of all organisations in creation of this open standard. In the bid to keep it open, it has gone through several revisions to keep it relevant and standardised across markets. This attribute of the methodology is the biggest advantage for an organisation keen on using TOGAF for their enterprise architecture.

Flexibility – As a framework, TOGAF is also flexible and allows usage with other industry standard frameworks. Thus flexibility allows organisations to retain existing frameworks and also realise the benefits that TOGAF has to offer. Other architecture frameworks like Zachman, DODAF or FEA are known to be used in conjunction with a tailored version of TOGAF. The scope of altering the methodology that TOGAF offers is another reason why the flexibility of TOGAF is applauded in the market.

Business Frameworks – TOGAF also customisable for business framework use cases. This is another benefit of this enterprise architecture framework because there is scope of alignment between the business framework and TOGAF. Business management domains such as risk management, strategic planning and process improvements are examples of areas where this alignment has been realised to benefit the overall enterprise architecture framework design for organisation.

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For Enterprise Architecture professionals and organisations working on managing their existing architecture or planning a new Enterprise Architecture, TOGAF has laid a significant impact on helping with design and implementation principles. It has gained wide acceptance owing to its flexibility of usage with other frameworks and also because it has the scope of incorporating Business Frameworks along with Information Systems and Technology framework. Since the framework complies with Industry Standards, organisations tend to find its’ framework more suitable for future sustainability of the enterprise architecture. The framework in totality is complete and a known source of realising benefits from a good enterprise architecture.