Comparisons of the Zachman Framework with Other Frameworks for Enterprise Architecture Development

872 Words2 Pages

Organizations are finding that computer systems are very complex and seldom do these systems produce a real business value to the organization (Session, 2007). Businesses are searching for an answer and that answer may be for an organizational to develop an enterprise architecture (EA). The complexity and constant change that occurs in business may be controlled by developing an EA, and this will facilitate alignment between the business objectives, business processes, and information systems (Ylim & Halttunenb, 2007). This may reduce the redundancies of system functions, the data redundancies that exist, and help to integrate the data into meaningful information for various levels within the organization. Developing a useable EA is no easy task, but using one of the available frameworks should help to accomplish this task. The framework provides guidelines for the documentation that needs to be considered and present in an Enterprise Architecture (Bernard, 2005).

There are many frameworks available today, but one of the oldest and one that is currently in use is the Zachman Framework produced by John Zachman. This framework offers benefits and has limitations as well. One other framework will be compared to Zachman’s, which is The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF). Each framework will be described along with various terms that need to be clarified. In the end, it will become clear that an organization may best be severed by taking the best aspects of various frameworks and combining these attributes into an organization own framework. To begin, each framework will be described, definitions of key terms presented, and a detailed discussion presented.

Framework Descriptions and Definitions of Terms

The Zachman ...

... middle of paper ...

... with baseball models. Retrieved from https://worldclass.regis.edu/AngelUploads/Content/SP_XIN_MI_MSCC630_XP70_11M8W2/_assoc/9234AC6CDD984942904CE4FB3479D79B/E5629B3C799FE0118D630019B9E69F4B/Zachman%20Framework%20-%20Baseball.pdf

Bernard, S. A. (2005). An introduction to enterprise architecture (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.

Sessions, R. (2007). A comparison of the top four enterprise-architecture methodologies. Retrieved from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb466232.aspx

Shah, H., & El Kouridi, M. (2007, September/October). Frameworks for enterprise architectures. IT Professional, 36-41. Retrieved from http://csdl.computer.org.dml.regis.edu/dl/mags/it/2007/05/mit2007050036.pdf

Zachman, J., A. (2004). The Zachman Framework and observations on methodologies. Business Rules Journal, 5(11). Retrieved from http://www.BRCommunity.com/a2004/b206.html

Open Document