Content Metamodel

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34. Content Metamodel

34.1 Overview

The TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM) provides a process lifecycle to create and manage architectures within an enterprise. At each phase within the ADM, a discussion of inputs, outputs, and steps describes a number of architectural work products or artifacts, such as process and application. The content metamodel provided here defines a formal structure for these terms to ensure consistency within the ADM and also to provide guidance for organizations that wish to implement their architecture within an architecture tool.

34.2 Content Metamodel Vision and Concepts

This section provides an overview of the objectives of the content metamodel, the concepts that support the metamodel, and an overview of the metamodel itself. Subsequent sections then go on to discuss each area of the metamodel in more detail. Contents of this section are as follows:

Core content metamodel concepts (see 34.2.1 Core Content Metamodel Concepts) identifies the key concepts within the core content metamodel, including:
- Core and extension content
- Formal and informal modeling
- Core metamodel entities
- Catalog, matrix, and diagram concept
Overview of the TOGAF content metamodel (see 34.2.2 Overview of the Content Metamodel) provides a high-level overview of the content of the metamodel.

34.2.1 Core Content Metamodel Concepts

A TOGAF architecture is based on defining a number of architectural building blocks within architecture catalogs, specifying the relationships between those building blocks in architecture matrices, and then presenting communication diagrams that show in a precise and concise way what the architecture is.

This section introduces the core concepts that make up the TOGAF content metamodel, through the following subsections:

Core and Extension Content provides an introduction to the way in which TOGAF employs a basic core metamodel and then applies a number of extension modules to address specific architectural issues in more detail.
Core Metamodel Entities introduces the core TOGAF metamodel entities, showing the purpose of each entity and the key relationships that support architectural traceability.
Catalog, Matrix, and Diagram Concept describes the concept of catalogs, matrices, and diagrams.

Core and Extension Content

The role of TOGAF is to provide an open standard for architecture that is applicable in many scenarios and situations. In order to meet this vision, it is necessary to provide a fully featured enterprise architecture metamodel for content and also to provide the ability to avoid carrying out unnecessary activities by supporting tailoring.

The metamodel must provide a basic model with the minimum feature set and then support the inclusion of optional extensions during engagement tailoring.

The core TOGAF content metamodel and its extensions are illustrated in Figure 34-1.

Figure 34-1: TOGAF Content Metamodel and its Extensions

The core metamodel provides a minimum set of architectural content to support traceability across artifacts. Additional metamodel concepts to support more specific or more in-depth modeling are contained within a group of extensions that logically cluster extension catalogs, matrices, and diagrams, allowing focus in areas of specific interest and focus.

All extension modules are optional and should be selected during the Preliminary Phase of the architecture development to meet the needs of the organization. Additionally, the extension groupings described by the content metamodel are only a suggestion and further tailoring may be carried out to suit the specific needs at the discretion of the architects.

This core and extension concept is intended as a move towards supporting formal method extension approaches within TOGAF, such as the method plug-in concept found within the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) developed by the Object Management Group (OMG).¹

Core Metamodel Entities

The content metamodel uses the terminology discussed within the TOGAF ADM as the basis for a formal metamodel. The following core terms are used:

Actor: A person, organization, or system that is outside the consideration of the architecture model, but interacts with it.
Application Component: An encapsulation of application functionality that is aligned to implementation structuring.
Business Service: Supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization.
Data Entity: An encapsulation of data that is recognized by a business domain expert as a discrete concept. Data entities can be tied to applications, repositories, and services and may be structured according to implementation considerations.
Function: Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not explicitly governed by the organization.
Information System Service: The automated elements of a business service. An information system service may deliver or support part or all of one or more business services.
Organization Unit: A self-contained unit of resources with goals, objectives, and measures. Organization units may include external parties and business partner organizations.
Platform Service: A technical capability required to provide enabling infrastructure that supports the delivery of applications.
Role: An actor assumes a role to perform a task.
Technology Component: An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that represents a class of technology product or specific technology product.

A more in-depth definition of terms used within the content metamodel can be found in Part I, 3. Definitions.

Some of the key relationship concepts related to the core metamodel entities are described below:

Process should normally be used to describe flow
A process is a flow of interactions between functions and services and cannot be physically deployed. All processes should describe the flow of execution for a function and therefore the deployment of a process is through the function it supports; i.e., an application implements a function that has a process, not an application implements a process.
Function describes units of business capability at all levels of granularity
The term "function" is used to describe a unit of business capability at all levels of granularity, encapsulating terms such as value chain, process area, capability, business function, etc. Any bounded unit of business function should be described as a function.
Business services support organizational objectives and are defined at a level of granularity consistent with the level of governance needed
A business service operates as a boundary for one or more functions. The granularity of business services is dependent on the focus and emphasis of the business (as reflected by its drivers, goals, and objectives). A service in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) terminology (i.e., a deployable unit of application functionality) is actually much closer to an application service, application component, or technology component, which may implement or support a business service.
Business services are deployed onto application components
Business services may be realized by business activity that does not relate to IT, or may be supported by IT. Business services that are supported by IT are deployed onto application components. Application components can be hierarchically decomposed and may support one or more business services. It is possible for a business service to be supported by multiple application components, but this is problematic from a governance standpoint and is symptomatic of business services that are too coarse-grained, or application components that are too fine-grained.
Application components are deployed onto technology components
An application component is implemented by a suite of technology components. For example, an application, such as "HR System" would typically be implemented on several technology components, including hardware, application server software, and application services.

Figure 34-2 illustrates the core entities and their relationships.

Figure 34-2: Core Entities and their Relationships

Catalog, Matrix, and Diagram Concept

The content metamodel is used as a technique to structure architectural information in an ordered way so that it can be processed to meet the stakeholder needs. The majority of architecture stakeholders do not actually need to know what the architecture metamodel is and are only concerned with specific issues, such as "what functionality does this application support?", "which processes will be impacted by this project?", etc. In order to meet the needs of these stakeholders, the TOGAF concepts of building blocks, catalogs, matrices, and diagrams are used.

Building blocks are entities of a particular type within the metamodel (for example, a business service called "Purchase Order"). Building blocks carry metadata according to the metamodel, which supports query and analysis. For example, business services have a metadata attribute for owner, which allows a stakeholder to query all business services owned by a particular organization. Building blocks may also include dependent or contained entities as appropriate to the context of the architecture (for example, a business service called "Purchase Order" may implicitly include a number of processes, data entities, application components, etc.).

Catalogs are lists of building blocks of a specific type, or of related types, that are used for governance or reference purposes (for example, an organization chart, showing locations and actors). As with building blocks, catalogs carry metadata according to the metamodel, which supports query and analysis.

Matrices are grids that show relationships between two or more model entities. Matrices are used to represent relationships that are list-based rather than graphical in their usage (for example, a CRUD matrix showing which applications Create, Read, Update, and Delete a particular type of data is difficult to represent visually).

Diagrams are renderings of architectural content in a graphical format to allow stakeholders to retrieve the required information. Diagrams can also be used as a technique for graphically populating architecture content or for checking the completeness of information that has been collected. TOGAF defines a set of architecture diagrams to be created (e.g., organization chart). Each of these diagrams may be created several times for an architecture with different style or content coverage to suit stakeholder concerns.

Building blocks, catalogs, matrices, and diagrams are all concepts that are well supported by leading enterprise architecture tools. In environments where tools are used to model the architecture, such tools typically support mechanisms to search, filter, and query the Architecture Repository.

On-demand querying of the Architecture Repository (such as the business service ownership example mentioned above) can be used to generate ad hoc catalogs, matrices, and diagrams of the architecture. As this type of query is by nature required to be flexible, it is therefore not restricted or defined within the content metamodel.

The interactions between metamodel, building blocks, diagrams, and stakeholders are shown in Figure 34-3.

Figure 34-3: Interactions between Metamodel, Building Blocks, Diagrams, and Stakeholders

34.2.2 Overview of the Content Metamodel

The content metamodel defines a set of entities that allow architectural concepts to be captured, stored, filtered, queried, and represented in a way that supports consistency, completeness, and traceability.

At the highest level, the content framework is divided up in line with the TOGAF ADM phases, as shown in Figure 34-4.

Figure 34-4: Content Framework by ADM Phases

Architecture Principles, Vision, and Requirements artifacts are intended to capture the surrounding context of formal architecture models, including general architecture principles, strategic context that forms input for architecture modeling, and requirements generated from the architecture. The architecture context is typically collected in the Preliminary and Architecture Vision phases.
Business Architecture artifacts capture architectural models of business operation, looking specifically at factors that motivate the enterprise, how the enterprise is organizationally structured, and also what functional capabilities the enterprise has.
Information Systems Architecture artifacts capture architecture models of IT systems, looking at applications and data in line with the TOGAF ADM phases.
Technology Architecture artifacts capture procured technology assets that are used to implement and realize information system solutions.
Architecture Realization artifacts capture change roadmaps showing transition between architecture states and binding statements that are used to steer and govern an implementation of the architecture.

A more detailed representation of the content metamodel is shown in Figure 34-5.

Figure 34-5: Detailed Representation of the Content Metamodel

34.3 Content Metamodel in Detail

This section contains the following subsections:

Core Content Metamodel (see 34.3.1 Core Content Metamodel) describes the metamodel entities that form the core content metamodel.
Core Architecture Artifacts (see 34.3.2 Core Architecture Artifacts) lists the set of artifacts intended to accompany the core content metamodel.
Full Content Metamodel (see 34.3.3 Full Content Metamodel) describes the metamodel entities that form extensions to the content metamodel.

34.3.1 Core Content Metamodel

Figure 34-6 shows the metamodel entities and relationships that are present within the core content metamodel.

Figure 34-6: Entities and Relationships Present within the Core Content Metamodel

34.3.2 Core Architecture Artifacts

35. Architectural Artifacts discusses in detail the way in which the underlying content metamodel can be used to present a set of catalogs, matrices, and diagrams to address stakeholder concerns.

The following set of artifacts are intended to accompany the core content metamodel:

ADM Phase	Artifacts
Preliminary	Principles Catalog
Architecture Vision	Stakeholder Map Matrix
	Value Chain Diagram
	Solution Concept Diagram
Business Architecture	Organization/Actor Catalog
	Role Catalog
	Business Service/Function Catalog
	Business Interaction Matrix
	Actor/Role Matrix
	Business Footprint Diagram
	Business Service/Information Diagram
	Functional Decomposition Diagram
	Product Lifecycle Diagram
Information Systems	Data Entity/Data Component Catalog
(Data Architecture)	Data Entity/Business Function Matrix
	Application/Data Matrix
	Conceptual Data Diagram
	Logical Data Diagram
	Data Dissemination Diagram
Information Systems	Application Portfolio Catalog
(Application Architecture)	Interface Catalog
	Application/Organization Matrix
	Role/Application Matrix
	Application/Function Matrix
	Application Interaction Matrix
	Application Communication Diagram
	Application and User Location Diagram
	Application Use-Case Diagram
Technology Architecture	Technology Standards Catalog
	Technology Portfolio Catalog
	Application/Technology Matrix
	Environments and Locations Diagram
	Platform Decomposition Diagram
Opportunities and Solutions	Project Context Diagram
	Benefits Diagram
Requirements Management	Requirements Catalog

34.3.3 Full Content Metamodel

When all extensions are applied to the core content metamodel, a number of new metamodel entities are introduced. Figure 34-7 shows which entities are contained in the core content metamodel and which new entities are introduced by which extension.

Figure 34-7: Content Metamodel with Extensions

The relationships between entities in the full metamodel are shown in Figure 34-8.

Figure 34-8: Relationships between Entities in the Full Metamodel

34.4 Content Metamodel Extensions

As discussed earlier, the TOGAF content metamodel supports a number of extension modules that allow more in-depth consideration for particular architecture concerns. Figure 34-9 shows the core content metamodel and predefined extension modules.

Figure 34-9: Core Content Metamodel and Predefined Extension Modules

During the Architecture Vision phase of a particular engagement, the scope of the engagement will be used to make a determination on appropriate extensions to be employed in order to adequately address the architecture requirements. For example, the scope of an engagement could be defined as core content, plus the governance extensions, as shown in Figure 34-10.

Figure 34-10: Core Content with Governance Extensions

The following sections provide a more detailed description of the purpose and content of each of the extension modules.

34.4.1 Governance Extensions

Purpose

The governance extension is intended to allow additional structured data to be held against objectives and business services, supporting operational governance of the landscape.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

The ability to apply measures to objectives and then link those measures to services
The ability to apply contracts to service communication or service interactions with external users and systems
The ability to define re-usable service qualities defining a service-level profile that can be used in contracts
Creation of additional diagrams to show ownership and management of systems

This extension should be used in the following situations:

When an organization is considering IT change that will result in a significant impact to existing operational governance models
When an organization has granular requirements for service levels that differ from service to service
When an organization is looking to transform its operational governance practice
When an organization has very strong focus on business drivers, goals, and objectives and how these trace to service levels

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

Service levels are defined in a more structured way, with:
- More detail
- The ability to re-use service profiles across contracts
- Stronger tracing to business objectives
Impacts to operations and operational governance models are considered in a more structured way, with:
- Additional diagrams of system and data ownership
- Additional diagrams of system operation and dependencies on operations processes

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on architecture governance should also consult:

The COBIT framework for IT governance provided by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA); refer to www.isaca.org
The IT Portfolio Management Facility (ITPMF) from the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/ITPMF

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-11.

Figure 34-11: Governance Extensions: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

Measure is added as a new entity that links objective and business service.
Service Quality is added as a new entity that provides a generic service profile template to be applied to business services or contracts.
Contract is added as a new entity that formalizes the functional and non-functional characteristics of a service interaction with other services, external applications, or users.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Measure, Service Quality, and Service Contract

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Enterprise Manageability diagram

34.4.2 Services Extensions

Purpose

The services extension is intended to allow more sophisticated modeling of the service portfolio by creating a concept of IS services in addition to the core concept of business services. IS services are directly supported by applications and creating the layer of abstraction relaxes the constraints on business services while simultaneously allowing technical stakeholders to put more formality into an IS service catalog.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

Creation of IS services as an extension of business service

This extension should be used in the following situations:

When the business has a preset definition of its services that does not align well to technical and architectural needs
When business and IT use different language to describe similar capabilities
Where IT service is misaligned with business need, particularly around the areas of quality of service, visibility of performance, and management granularity
Where IT is taking initial steps to engage business in discussions about IT architecture

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

Business services can be defined outside of the constraints that exist in the core metamodel. This allows for a more natural engagement with business stakeholders.
IS services can be defined according to a model that maps closely to implementation, providing a more realistic solution abstraction to support IT decision-making.
Business and IS service relationships show where the business view aligns with the IS view and where there are misalignments.

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on services-centric architectures should also consult:

The Service Component Architecture (SCA) specification developed by the Open Service Oriented Architecture (OSOA) collaboration; refer to www.oasis-opencsa.org/sca
The Service Data Objects (SDO) specification developed by the Open Service Oriented Architecture (OSOA) collaboration; refer to www.oasis-opencsa.org/sdo

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-12.

Figure 34-12: Services Extension: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

IS Service is added as a new metamodel entity, extending business service.
IS Service inherits all the relationships of a business service.
A new relationship is created linking an IS service to a business service.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

IS Service is added as a new type of business service.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Business Use-Case Diagram
Organization Decomposition Diagram

34.4.3 Process Modeling Extensions

Purpose

The process modeling extension is intended to allow detailed modeling of process flows by adding events, products, and controls to the metamodel. Typically, enterprise architecture does not drill into process flow, but in certain process-centric or event-centric organizations it may be necessary to elaborate process in a much more formal manner using this extension module.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

Creation of events as triggers for processes
Creation of controls that business logic and governance gates for process execution
Creation of products to represent the output of a process
Creation of event diagrams to track triggers and state changes across the organization

This extension should be used in the following situations:

Where the architecture must pay specific attention to state and events
Where the architecture is required to explicitly identify and store process control steps; for example, to support regulatory compliance
Where the architecture features critical or elaborate process flows

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

This extension allows detailed process modeling and the cataloging of process artifacts.
May be used to support regulatory compliance activities.
May be used to re-purpose legacy or non-architectural process decomposition analysis.

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on process-centric architectures should also consult:

The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) specification, provided by the OMG; refer to www.bpmn.org
The Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) specification, provided by the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/SPEM

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-13.

Figure 34-13: Process Modeling Extensions: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

Event is added as a metamodel entity, sitting between Actor, Process, and Service
Control is added as a metamodel entity, relating to a Process.
Product is added as a metamodel entity, linking Organization and Processes.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Event, Control, and Product.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Process Flow diagrams, showing the way in which business functions, events, controls, and products are linked to support a particular business scenario
Event diagrams, showing events, were they are received from, and what processes they trigger

34.4.4 Data Extensions

Purpose

The data extension is intended to allow more sophisticated modeling and the encapsulation of data. The core model provides a data entity concept which supports the creation of data models, which is then extended by this extension to include the concept of a data component. Data components form a logical or physical encapsulation of abstract data entities into units that can be governed and deployed into applications.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

Creation of logical data components that group data entities into encapsulated modules for governance, security, and deployment purposes
Creation of physical data components that implement logical data components and are analogous to databases, registries, repositories, schemas, and other techniques of segmenting data
Creation of data lifecycle, data security, and data migration diagrams of the architecture to show data concerns in more detail

This extension should be used in the following situations:

Where the architecture features significant complexity and risk around the location, encapsulation, and management of or access to data

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

The structure of data is modeled independently from its location, allowing data models to be developed that span multiple systems without being tied to physical concerns.
Logical groupings of data can be used to set governance, security, or deployment boundaries around data, providing a much more holistic appreciation of data issues surrounding the architecture.

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-14.

Figure 34-14: Data Extensions: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

Logical Data Component is added as a new metamodel entity, encapsulating data entities.
Physical Data Component is added as a new metamodel entity, extending Logical Data Component.
A relationship is created between Physical Data Component and Application Component. If the infrastructure consolidation extension is applied, this should be to Physical Application Component.
If the infrastructure consolidation extension is applied, Physical Data Components will have a relationship with Location.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Logical Data Component and Physical Data Component.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Data Security diagram
Data Migration diagram
Data Lifecycle diagram

34.4.5 Infrastructure Consolidation Extensions

Purpose

The infrastructure consolidation extension is intended to be used in landscapes where the application and technology portfolios have become fragmented and the architecture seeks to consolidate the business as usual capability into a smaller number of locations, applications, or technology components.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

Creation of a location entity to hold the location of IT assets and external consumers of service
Creation of logical and physical application components to abstract the capability of an application away from the actual applications in existence
Creation of logical and physical application components to abstract product type from the actual technology products in existence
Creation of additional diagrams focusing on the location of assets, compliance with standards, structure of applications, application migration, and infrastructure configuration

This extension should be used in the following situations:

Where many technology products are in place with duplicate or overlapping capability
Where many applications are in place with duplicate or overlapping functionality
Where applications are geographically dispersed and the decision logic for determining the location of an application is not well understood
When applications are going to be migrated into a consolidated platform
When application features are going to be migrated into a consolidated application

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

Allows visibility and analysis of redundant duplication of capability in the application and technology domains
Supports analysis of standards compliance
Supports analysis of migration impact of application or technology consolidation
Supports detailed architectural definition of application structure

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on infrastructure consolidation should also consult:

The Unified Modeling Language (UML), provided by the OMG; refer to www.uml.org
The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) - www.sysml.org - which reduces the complexity and software engineering focus of UML for the purposes of systems modeling
The IT Portfolio Management Facility (ITPMF) from the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/ITPMF

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-15.

Figure 34-15: Infrastructure Consolidation Extensions: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

Location attributes on Organization, Actor, Application Component, Data Component, and Technology Component are enhanced to create a location entity within the metamodel.
Application Components are extended to include Logical Application Components (a class of application) and Physical Application Components (an actual application).
Technology Components are extended to include Logical Technology Components (a class of technology product) and Physical Technology Components (an actual technology product).

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

Creation of attributes for the new Metamodel entities of Logical Application Component, Physical Application Component, Logical Technology Component, Physical Technology Component, and Location
Removal of Location as an attribute of entities that have a location and replacement with a relationship with the Location entity

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Process/Application Realization diagram
Software Engineering diagram
Application Migration diagram
Software Distribution diagram
Processing diagram
Networked Computing/Hardware diagram
Communications Engineering diagram

34.4.6 Motivation Extensions

Purpose

The motivation extension is intended to allow additional structured modeling of the drivers, goals, and objectives that influence an organization to provide business services to its customers. This in turn allows more effective definition of service contracts and better measurement of business performance.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

Creation of a new metamodel entity for Driver that shows factors generally motivating or constraining an organization
Creation of a new metamodel entity for Goal that shows the strategic purpose and mission of an organization
Creation of a new metamodel entity for Objective that shows near to mid-term achievements that an organization would like to attain
Creation of a Goal/Objective/Service diagram showing the traceability from drivers, goals, and objectives through to services

This extension should be used in the following situations:

When the architecture needs to understand the motivation of organizations in more detail than the standard business or engagement principles and objectives that are informally modeled within the core content metamodel
When organizations have conflicting drivers and objectives and that conflict needs to be understood and addressed in a structured form
When service levels are unknown or unclear

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

Highlights misalignment of priorities across the enterprise and how these intersect with shared services (e.g., some organizations may be attempting to reduce costs, while others are attempting to increase capability)
Shows competing demands for business services in a more structured fashion, allowing compromise service levels to be defined

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on architecture modeling of business motivation should also consult:

The Business Motivation Model (BMM) specification, provided by the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/technology/documents/bms_spec_catalog.htm

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-16.

Figure 34-16: Motivation Extensions: Changes to Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

Driver, Goal, and Objective are added as new entities that link Organization Unit to Business Service.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Driver, Goal, and Objective.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

Goal/Objective/Service diagram

34.5 Content Metamodel Entities

The following table lists and describes the entities within the content metamodel.

Metamodel Entity	Description
Actor	A person, organization, or system that has a role that initiates or interacts with activities; for example, a sales representative who travels to visit customers. Actors may be internal or external to an organization. In the automotive industry, an original equipment manufacturer would be considered an actor by an automotive dealership that interacts with its supply chain activities.
Application Component	An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure. For example, a purchase request processing application. See also Logical Application Component and Physical Application Component.
Assumption	A statement of probable fact that has not been fully validated at this stage, due to external constraints. For example, it may be assumed that an existing application will support a certain set of functional requirements, although those requirements may not yet have been individually validated.
Business Service	Supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization.
Capability	A business-focused outcome that is delivered by the completion of one or more work packages. Using a capability-based planning approach, change activities can be sequenced and grouped in order to provide continuous and incremental business value.
Constraint	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.
Contract	An agreement between a service consumer and a service provider that establishes functional and non-functional parameters for interaction.
Control	A decision-making step with accompanying decision logic used to determine execution approach for a process or to ensure that a process complies with governance criteria. For example, a sign-off control on the purchase request processing process that checks whether the total value of the request is within the sign-off limits of the requester, or whether it needs escalating to higher authority.
Data Entity	An encapsulation of data that is recognized by a business domain expert as a thing. Logical data entities can be tied to applications, repositories, and services and may be structured according to implementation considerations.
Driver	An external or internal condition that motivates the organization to define its goals. An example of an external driver is a change in regulation or compliance rules which, for example, require changes to the way an organization operates; i.e., Sarbanes-Oxley in the US.
Event	An organizational state change that triggers processing events; may originate from inside or outside the organization and may be resolved inside or outside the organization.
Function	Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not necessarily explicitly governed by the organization. Also referred to as "business function".
Gap	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. Note: Gap analysis is described in Part III, 27. Gap Analysis.
Goal	A high-level statement of intent or direction for an organization. Typically used to measure success of an organization.
Information System Service	The automated elements of a business service. An information system service may deliver or support part or all of one or more business services.
Location	A place where business activity takes place and can be hierarchically decomposed.
Logical Application Component	An encapsulation of application functionality that is independent of a particular implementation. For example, the classification of all purchase request processing applications implemented in an enterprise.
Logical Data Component	A boundary zone that encapsulates related data entities to form a logical location to be held; for example, external procurement information.
Logical Technology Component	An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that is independent of a particular product. A class of technology product; for example, supply chain management software as part of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite, or a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) purchase request processing enterprise service.
Measure	An indicator or factor that can be tracked, usually on an ongoing basis, to determine success or alignment with objectives and goals.
Objective	A time-bounded milestone for an organization used to demonstrate progress towards a goal; for example, "Increase capacity utilization by 30% by the end of 2009 to support the planned increase in market share".
Organization Unit	A self-contained unit of resources with goals, objectives, and measures. Organization units may include external parties and business partner organizations.
Physical Application Component	An application, application module, application service, or other deployable component of functionality. For example, a configured and deployed instance of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) supply chain management application.
Physical Data Component	A boundary zone that encapsulates related data entities to form a physical location to be held. For example, a purchase order business object, comprising purchase order header and item business object nodes.
Physical Technology Component	A specific technology infrastructure product or technology infrastructure product instance. For example, a particular product version of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution, or a specific brand and version of server.
Platform Service	A technical capability required to provide enabling infrastructure that supports the delivery of applications.
Principle	A qualitative statement of intent that should be met by the architecture. Has at least a supporting rationale and a measure of importance. Note: A sample set of architecture principles is defined in Part III, 23. Architecture Principles.
Process	A process represents flow of control between or within functions and/or services (depends on the granularity of definition). Processes represent a sequence of activities that together achieve a specified outcome, can be decomposed into sub-processes, and can show operation of a function or service (at next level of detail). Processes may also be used to link or compose organizations, functions, services, and processes.
Product	Output generated by the business. The business product of the execution of a process.
Requirement	A quantitative statement of business need that must be met by a particular architecture or work package.
Role	The usual or expected function of an actor, or the part somebody or something plays in a particular action or event. An actor may have a number of roles. See also Actor.
Service	An element of behavior that provides specific functionality in response to requests from actors or other services. A service delivers or supports business capabilities, has an explicitly defined interface, and is explicitly governed. Services are defined for business, information systems, and platforms.
Service Quality	A preset configuration of non-functional attributes that may be assigned to a service or service contract.
Technology Component	An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that represents a class of technology product or specific technology product.
Work Package	A set of actions identified to achieve one or more objectives for the business. A work package can be a part of a project, a complete project, or a program.

34.6 Content Metamodel Attributes

The following table shows typical attributes for each of the metamodel entities described previously.

Metamodel Entity Attribute	Description
All Metamodel Entities	ID	Unique identifier for the architecture entity
	Name	Brief name of the architecture entity
	Description	Textual description of the architecture entity.
	Category	User-definable categorization taxonomy for each metamodel entity.
	Source	Location from where the information was collected.
	Owner	Owner of the architecture entity.
Capability	Business value	Describes how this capability provides value to the enterprise.
	Increments	Lists possible maturity/quality levels for the capability.
Constraint	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Gap	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Location	Category	The following categories of Location apply: Region (applies to a grouping of countries or territory; e.g., South East Asia, UK, and Ireland), Country (applies to a single country; e.g., US), Building (applies to a site of operation; where several offices are collected in a single city, this category may represent a city), and Specific Location (applies to any specific location within a building, such as a server room). The nature of the business may introduce other Locations: Ship or Port for a ferry company, Mine for a gold company, Car for a police force, Hotel for any firm's traveling workers, and so on.
Principle	Category	The following categories of principle apply: Guiding Principle, Business Principle, Data Principle, Application Principle, Integration Principle, Technology Principle.
	Priority	Priority of this principle relative to other principles.
	Statement of principle	Statement of what the principle is.
	Rationale	Statement of why the principle is required and the outcome to be reached.
	Implication	Statement of what the principle means in practical terms.
	Metric	Identifies mechanisms that will be used to measure whether the principle has been met or not.
Requirement	Statement of requirement	Statement of what the requirement is, including a definition of whether the requirement shall be met, should be met, or may be met.
	Rationale	Statement of why the requirement exists.
	Acceptance criteria	Statement of what tests will be carried out to ensure that the requirement will be met.
Actor	# FTEs	Estimated number of FTEs that operate as this Actor.
	Actor goal	Objectives that this actor has, in general terms.
	Actor tasks	Tasks that this actor performs, in general terms.
Business Service	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Contract	Behavior characteristics	Functional behavior to be supported within the scope of the contract.
	Service name "caller"	Consuming service.
	Service name "called"	Providing service.
	Service quality characteristics	Non-functional behavior to be supported within the scope of the contract.
	Availability characteristics	Degree to which something is available for use.
	Service times	Hours during which the service must be available.
	Manageability characteristics	Ability to gather information about the state of something and control it.
	Serviceability characteristics	Ability to identify problems and take corrective action, such as to repair or upgrade a component in a running system.
	Performance characteristics	Ability of a component to perform its tasks in an appropriate time.
	Response requirements	Response times that the service provider must meet for particular operations.
	Reliability characteristics	Resistance to failure.
	Quality of information required	Contracted requirements on accuracy and completeness of information.
	Contract control requirements	Level of governance and enforcement applied to the contractual parameters for overall service.
	Result control requirements	Measures in place to ensure that each service request meets contracted criteria.
	Recoverability characteristics	Ability to restore a system to a working state after an interruption.
	Locatability characteristics	Ability of a system to be found when needed.
	Security characteristics	Ability of a system to prevent unauthorized access to functions and data.
	Privacy characteristics	Protection of data from unauthorized access.
	Integrity characteristics	Ability of a system to ensure that data has not been corrupted.
	Credibility characteristics	Ability of a system to ensure that the service request originates from an authorized source.
	Localization characteristics	Ability of a service to support localized variants for different consumer groups.
	Internationalization characteristics	Ability of a service to support international variations in business logic and data representation (such as character set).
	Interoperability characteristics	Ability of the service to interoperate with different technical environments, inside and outside of the organization.
	Scalability characteristics	Ability of the service to grow or shrink its performance or capacity appropriately to the demands of the environment in which it operates.
	Portability characteristics	Of data, people, applications, and components.
	Extensibility characteristics	Ability to accept new functionality.
	Capacity characteristics	Contracted capacity of the service provider to meet requests.
	Throughput	Required throughput capacity.
	Throughput period	Time period needed to deliver throughput capacity.
	Growth	Expected future growth rate of service request.
	Growth period	Time period needed to reach the expected growth rate.
	Peak profile short term	Short-term profile of peak service traffic.
	Peak profile long term	Long-term profile of peak service traffic.
Control	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Driver	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Event	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Function	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Goal	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Measure	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Objective	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Organization Unit	Headcount	Number of FTEs working within the organization.
Process	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
	Process criticality	Criticality of this process to business operations.
	Manual or automated	Whether this process is supported by IT or is a manual process.
	Process volumetrics	Data on frequency of process execution.
Product	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Role	Estimated number of FTEs that operate in this Role	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Service Quality	No additional attributes	This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.
Service	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Application Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Information System Service	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Logical Application Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Physical Application Component	Lifecycle status	Proposed, In Development, Live, Phasing Out, Retired.
	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
	Initial live date	Date when the first release of the application was/will be released into production.
	Date of last release	Date when the last release of the application was released into production.
	Date of next release	Date when the next release of the application will be released into production.
	Retirement date	Date when the application was/will be retired.
	Availability characteristics	Degree to which something is available for use.
	Service times	Hours during which the application must be available.
	Manageability characteristics	Ability to gather information about the state of something and control it.
	Serviceability characteristics	Ability to identify problems and take corrective action, such as to repair or upgrade a component in a running system.
	Performance characteristics	Ability of a component to perform its tasks in an appropriate time.
	Reliability characteristics	Resistance to failure.
	Recoverability characteristics	Ability to restore a system to a working state after an interruption.
	Locatability characteristics	Ability of a system to be found when needed.
	Security characteristics	Ability of a system to prevent unauthorized access to functions and data.
	Privacy characteristics	Protection of data from unauthorized access.
	Integrity characteristics	Ability of a system to ensure that data has not been corrupted.
	Credibility characteristics	Ability of a system to ensure that the service request originates from an authorized source.
	Localization characteristics	Ability of a service to support localized variants for different consumer groups.
	Internationalization characteristics	Ability of a service to support international variations in business logic and data representation (such as character set).
	Interoperability characteristics	Ability of the service to interoperate with different technical environments, inside and outside of the organization.
	Scalability characteristics	Ability of the service to grow or shrink its performance or capacity appropriately to the demands of the environment in which it operates.
	Portability characteristics	Of data, people, applications, and components.
	Extensibility characteristics	Ability to accept new functionality.
	Capacity characteristics	Contracted capacity of the service provider to meet requests.
	Throughput	Required throughput capacity.
	Throughput period	Time period needed to deliver throughput capacity.
	Growth	Expected future growth rate of service request.
	Growth period	Time period needed to reach the expected growth rate.
	Peak profile short term	Short-term profile of peak service traffic.
	Peak profile long term	Long-term profile of peak service traffic.
Data Entity	Category	The following categories of data entity apply: Message, Internally Stored Entity.
	Privacy classification	Level of restriction placed on access to the data.
	Retention classification	Level of retention to be placed on the data.
Logical Data Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Physical Data Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
Logical Technology Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
	Category	Logical Technology Components are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.
Physical Technology Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Standard creation date	If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.
	Last standard review date	Last date that the standard was reviewed.
	Next standard review date	Next date for the standard to be reviewed.
	Retire date	Date when the standard was/will be retired.
	Category	Physical Technology Components are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.
	Product name	Name of the product making up the technology component.
	Module name	Module, or other sub-product, name making up the technology component.
	Vendor	Vendor providing the technology component.
	Version	Version of the product making up the technology component.
Platform Service	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
	Category	Platform Services are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.
Technology Component	Standards class	Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.
Work Package	Category	The following categories of work package apply: Work Package, Work Stream, Project, Program, Portfolio.
	Capability delivered	Describes the contribution this work package makes to capability delivery.

34.7 Metamodel Relationships

Source Entity	Target Entity	Name	Extension Module
Actor	Event	Generates	Process
Actor	Event	Resolves	Process
Actor	Function	Interacts with	Core
Actor	Function	Performs	Core
Actor	Location	Operates in	Infrastructure Consolidation
Actor	Organization Unit	Belongs to	Core
Actor	Process	Participates in	Core
Actor	Role	Performs task in	Core
Actor	Service	Consumes	Core
Actor	Actor	Decomposes	Core
Actor	Data Entity	Supplies/Consumes	Core
Capability	Work Package	Is delivered by	Core
Contract	Service	Governs and Measures	Governance
Contract	Service Quality	Meets	Governance
Control	Process	Ensures correct operation of	Process
Data Entity	Logical Application Component	Is processed by	Core
Data Entity	Logical Data Component	Resides within	Data
Data Entity	Service	Is accessed and updated through	Core
Data Entity	Data Entity	Decomposes	Core
Data Entity	Data Entity	Relates to	Core
Driver	Goal	Creates	Motivation
Driver	Organization Unit	Motivates	Motivation
Driver	Driver	Decomposes	Motivation
Event	Actor	Is resolved by	Process
Event	Actor	Is generated by	Process
Event	Process	Is resolved by	Process
Event	Process	Is generated by	Process
Event	Service	Is resolved by	Process
Function	Actor	Supports	Core
Function	Actor	Is performed by	Core
Function	Organization Unit	Is owned by	Core
Function	Process	Supports	Core
Function	Process	Is realized by	Core
Function	Role	Can be accessed by	Core
Function	Service	Is bounded by	Core
Function	Function	Decomposes	Core
Function	Function	Communicates with	Core
Goal	Driver	Addresses	Motivation
Goal	Objective	Is realized through	Motivation
Goal	Goal	Decomposes	Motivation
Location	Actor	Contains	Infrastructure Consolidation
Location	Organization Unit	Contains	Infrastructure Consolidation
Location	Physical Application Component	Contains	Infrastructure Consolidation
Location	Physical Data Component	Contains	Infrastructure Consolidation
Location	Physical Technology Component	Contains	Infrastructure Consolidation
Location	Location	Decomposes	Infrastructure Consolidation
Logical Application Component	Data Entity	Operates on	Core
Logical Application Component	Physical Application Component	Is extended by	Infrastructure Consolidation
Logical Application Component	Service	Implements	Core
Logical Application Component	Logical Application Component	Decomposes	Core
Logical Application Component	Logical Application Component	Communicates with	Core
Logical Data Component	Data Entity	Encapsulates	Data
Logical Data Component	Physical Data Component	Is extended by	Data
Logical Technology Component	Physical Technology Component	Is extended by	Infrastructure Consolidation
Logical Technology Component	Platform Service	Supplies	Core
Logical Technology Component	Service	Provides platform for	Core
Logical Technology Component	Logical Technology Component	Decomposes	Core
Logical Technology Component	Logical Technology Component	Is dependent on	Core
Measure	Objective	Sets performance criteria for	Governance
Measure	Service	Sets performance criteria for	Governance
Measure	Measure	Decomposes	Governance
Objective	Goal	Realizes	Motivation
Objective	Measure	Is tracked against	Governance
Objective	Objective	Decomposes	Motivation
Organization Unit	Actor	Contains	Core
Organization Unit	Driver	Is motivated by	Core
Organization Unit	Function	Owns	Core
Organization Unit	Location	Operates in	Core
Organization Unit	Product	Produces	Core
Organization Unit	Service	Owns and Governs	Core
Organization Unit	Organization Unit	Decomposes	Core
Physical Application Component	Location	Is hosted in	Infrastructure Consolidation
Physical Application Component	Logical Application Component	Extends	Infrastructure Consolidation
Physical Application Component	Physical Data Component	Encapsulates	Data Modeling
Physical Application Component	Physical Technology Component	Is realized by	Core
Physical Application Component	Physical Application Component	Decomposes	Core
Physical Application Component	Physical Application Component	Communicates with	Core
Physical Data Component	Location	Is hosted in	Infrastructure Consolidation
Physical Data Component	Logical Data Component	Extends	Data
Physical Data Component	Physical Data Component	Decomposes	Core
Physical Data Component	Physical Application Component	Encapsulates	Data Modeling
Physical Technology Component	Location	Is hosted in	Infrastructure Consolidation
Physical Technology Component	Physical Application Component	Realizes	Core
Physical Technology Component	Logical Technology Component	Extends	Infrastructure Consolidation
Physical Technology Component	Physical Technology Component	Decomposes	Core
Physical Technology Component	Physical Technology Component	Is dependent on	Core
Platform Service	Logical Technology Component	Is supplied by	Core
Process	Actor	Involves	Core
Process	Control	Is guided by	Process
Process	Event	Generates	Process
Process	Event	Resolves	Process
Process	Function	Orchestrates	Core
Process	Function	Decomposes	Core
Process	Product	Produces	Process
Process	Service	Orchestrates	Core
Process	Service	Decomposes	Core
Process	Process	Decomposes	Core
Process	Process	Precedes/Follows	Core
Product	Organization Unit	Is produced by	Process
Product	Process	Is produced by	Process
Role	Actor	Is performed by	Core
Role	Function	Accesses	Core
Role	Role	Decomposes	Core
Service	Actor	Is provided to	Core
Service	Contract	Is governed and measured by	Governance
Service	Data Entity	Provides	Core
Service	Data Entity	Consumes	Core
Service	Event	Resolves	Process
Service	Function	Provides governed interface to access	Core
Service	Logical Application Component	Is realized through	Core
Service	Logical Technology Component	Is implemented on	Core
Service	Measure	Is tracked against	Governance
Service	Organization Unit	Is owned and governed by	Core
Service	Process	Supports	Core
Service	Process	Is realized by	Core
Service	Service Quality	Meets	Governance
Service	Service	Consumes	Core
Service	Service	Decomposes	Core
Service Quality	Contract	Applies to	Governance
Service Quality	Service	Applies to	Governance
Work Package	Capability	Delivers	Core

Footnotes

Refer to www.omg.org/spec/SPEM.

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