TOGAF Definitionen

The combination of distinctive features in which architecture is performed or expressed.

1. 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).
2. The structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.

A constituent of the architecture model that describes a single aspect of the overall model.

A part of the Enterprise Continuum. A repository of architectural elements with increasing detail and specialization. This Continuum begins with foundational definitions like reference models, core strategies, and basic building blocks. From there it spans to Industry Architectures and all the way to an organization's specific architecture.

The core of TOGAF. A step-by-step approach to develop and use an enterprise architecture. 

The architectural area being considered. There are four architecture domains within TOGAF: business, data, application, and technology.

A conceptual structure used to develop, implement, and sustain an architecture.

The practice and orientation by which enterprise architectures and other architectures are managed and controlled at an enterprise-wide level. It is concerned with change processes (design governance) and operation of product systems (operational governance).

The architectural representation of assets in use, or planned, by the enterprise at particular points in time.

A qualitative statement of intent that should be met by the architecture. Has at least a supporting rationale and a measure of importance.

A succinct description of the Target Architecture that describes its business value and the changes to the enterprise that will result from its successful deployment. It serves as an aspirational vision and a boundary for detailed architecture development.

An architectural work product that describes an aspect of the architecture

A specification that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, that thereafter serves as the basis for further development or change and that can be changed only through formal change control procedures or a type of procedure such as configuration management.

1. A trademark of The Open Group.
2. A shorthand representation of "access to integrated information to support business process improvements" representing a desired state of an enterprise's infrastructure specific to the business needs of the organization.

An infrastructure that provides Boundaryless Information Flow has open standard components that provide services in a customer's extended enterprise that:

• Combine multiple sources of information
• Securely deliver the information whenever and wherever it is needed, in the right context for the people or systems using that information.

Represents a (potentially re-usable) component of business, IT, or architectural capability that can be combined with other building blocks to deliver architectures and solutions.

Building blocks can be defined at various levels of detail, depending on what stage of architecture development has been reached. For instance, at an early stage, a building block can simply consist of a name or an outline description. Later on, a building block may be decomposed into multiple supporting building blocks and may be accompanied by a full specification. Building blocks can relate to "architectures" or "solutions"

A description of the structure and interaction between the business strategy, organization, functions, business processes, and information needs.

Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not necessarily explicitly governed by the organization.

Concerned with ensuring that the business processes and policies (and their operation) deliver the business outcomes and adhere to relevant business regulation.

Supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization.

An ability that an organization, person, or system possesses. Capabilities are typically expressed in general and high-level terms and typically require a combination of organization, people, processes, and technology to achieve. For example, marketing, customer contact, or outbound telemarketing.

A highly detailed description of the architectural approach to realize a particular solution or solution aspect.

A discrete portion of a capability architecture that delivers specific value. When all increments have been completed, the capability has been realized.

The management of needs of stakeholders of the enterprise architecture practice. It also manages the execution of communication between the practice and the stakeholders and the practice and the consumers of its services.

The key interests that are crucially important to the stakeholders in a system, and determine the acceptability of the system. Concerns may pertain to any aspect of the system's functioning, development, or operation, including considerations such as performance, reliability, security, distribution, and evolvability.

An external factor that prevents an organization from pursuing particular approaches to meet its goals. For example, customer data is not harmonized within the organization, regionally or nationally, constraining the organization's ability to offer effective customer service.

A description of the structure and interaction of the enterprise's major types and sources of data, logical data assets, physical data assets, and data management resources.

An architectural work product that is contractually specified and in turn formally reviewed, agreed, and signed off by the stakeholders. Deliverables represent the output of projects and those deliverables that are in documentation form will typically be archived at completion of a project, or transitioned into an Architecture Repository as a reference model, standard, or snapshot of the Architecture Landscape at a point in time.

The highest level (typically) of description of an organization and typically covers all missions and functions. An enterprise will often span multiple organizations.

A categorization mechanism useful for classifying architecture and solution artifacts, both internal and external to the Architecture Repository, as they evolve from generic Foundation Architectures to Organization-Specific Architectures.

Generic building blocks, their inter-relationships with other building blocks, combined with the principles and guidelines that provide a foundation on which more specific architectures can be built.

A structure for content or process that can be used as a tool to structure thinking, ensuring consistency and completeness.

A statement of difference between two states. Used in the context of gap analysis, where the difference between the Baseline and Target Architecture is identified.

The discipline of monitoring, managing, and steering a business (or IS/IT landscape) to deliver the business outcome required.

Any communication or representation of facts, data, or opinions, in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audio-visual forms.