TOGAF Tutorial

Welcome to TOGAF Tutorials. The objective of these tutorials is to provide in depth understand of TOGAF.

In addition to free TOGAF Tutorials , we will cover common interview questions, issues and how to’s of TOGAF.

Introduction

TOGAF is a very famous framework for Enterprise IT Architecture (EITA) worldwide. The latest version of TOGAF is the version 9.1 which was launched in 2011. When you start a new job and start learning TOGAF, you will definitely find it tough to understand it without prior experience.

The working materials are very difficult to find depending on the kind of enterprise anyone wishes to make an architecture. Although working materials are not being provided by TOGAF depending on the enterprise, but it will obviously offer you with meta-models and also proper checklists.

TOGAF is a framework and a method for performing enterprise architecture. This makes it different from something like the Zachman Framework, which is a framework that is concerned only with content and not a method for building enterprise architectures. The term framework is widely used in the industry today to mean different things. The definition of framework as used by Zachman or TOGAF is that it is a tool for thinking about and categorizing the information that needs to be captured about an organization, to understand how everything works and to enable the building of information systems that efficiently support the business. This is starkly different than frameworks of pre-built components such as the .NET framework. But even when defined as a tool for thinking about what information you need to capture, the term framework is a bit of a misnomer for TOGAF. As we mentioned, TOGAF does prescribe a method – the Architecture Development Method (ADM) to be precise.

TOGAF has two main components, the ADM  and the Enterprise Continuum. The ADM is visually distinct from the Zachman rectangular grid of cells; the TOGAF ADM graphic is dynamic – a set of circles representing the progression through the phases of the ADM and the architecture models used and created during the phases of enterprise architecture development. The ADM is a detailed, step-by-step method on how to build, maintain and implement an enterprise architecture. These phases are navigated iteratively in a cycle. The circles represent the major phases of building and maintaining the enterprise architecture using the ADM.

 Architecture Development Method

The ADM  forms the core of TOGAF. At the heart of ADM is requirements management. The business, information systems, and technology architectures are always aligned with requirements and related business goals, and the arrows indicate that this is continuous process throughout the ADM stages.

The Architecture Continuum defines the components that specify the architecture of your organization. You start your architecture effort with a Foundation Architecture, then build upon this foundation using common systems architectures (for example, a generic security architecture), and industry-specific architectures (for example, a Retail Industry Architecture), to reach the architecture specific to your organization (on the right). During the preliminary stage of ADM, you establish how much of your Foundation Architecture can be established from what is already in place in your organization. TOGAF provides a Foundation Architecture to help you get started, embodied in the Technical Reference Model (TRM) and Standards Information Base (SIB). The SIB is provided on www.theopengroup.org. It provides you with a portal to an exhaustive list of standards that an architecture should mandate, and the availability in the market place of products guaranteed to conform to those standards. Once your organization has been through its first TOGAF ADM iteration, your own Technology Architecture and solutions portfolio form part of your Foundation Architecture for the next cycle.

 Foundation Architectures:  A Foundation Architecture is what you start with. It consists of architecture building blocks and corresponding standards that support your complete computing environment. You may use TOGAF’s pre-supplied Foundation Architecture, which consists of the Technical Reference Model and Standards Information Base. You then follow the steps of the TOGAF ADM to get from that foundation architecture to one specific to your organization.

Common Systems Architectures-A Common System Architecture is complete in terms of a particular problem domain, but incomplete in terms of the overall information system functionality. Examples of Common Systems Architectures are a Network Architecture, a Security Architecture, and so forth.

Industry Architectures-Industry Architectures include pre-built, off-the-shelf architectures that have been developed for particular vertical industries. These pre-built architectures often offer pre-built data models and processes. Examples are the ARTS Retail Data Model, the AKMA Insurance Data Frame, and the NHSIA Patient Care Process.

 Enterprise Continuum 

While the ADM specifies a process for building an enterprise architecture, the Enterprise Continuum is a resource and philosophy for developing an enterprise architecture through reusable building blocks.

TOGAF’s Enterprise Continuum specifies a progression for developing architectures and solutions using architecture building blocks (ABBs) and solution building blocks (SBBs), in a continuous, iterative fashion. A building block is simply a grouping of functionality defined to meet business needs. An architecture building block is described with a general level of detail. For example, an architecture building block might be specified as an on-line database and the application used to access it. Later on in the ADM, you replace ABBs with SBBs, which reflect real products or specific custom developments.

Looking at the Enterprise Continuum, you can see that it is composed of the Architecture and Solution Continuums. At the top of the graphic you can see the Architecture Continuum, which provides guidance, direction, and support to use the Solutions Continuum (below it) to build your particular technology architecture.

You build your architecture by navigating the two continuums, from left to right, top to bottom, so that you are specifying architecture building blocks at each stage, and then the solution building blocks that implement them, and continuing right-ward, building upon your solution and adding increasing detail. In the end, the Solutions Continuum defines the solutions that deliver your architecture, which include either off-the-shelf solutions and/or your organization’s own custom solutions.

As we will discuss later in this white paper, it is the TOGAF ADM that guides you through the left-to-right progression from the general architectures and solutions.