For the purposes of TOGAF 9, the core concepts provided in this chapter apply.

What is TOGAF?

TOGAF is an architecture framework - The Open Group Architecture Framework. TOGAF provides the methods and tools for assisting in the acceptance, production, use, and maintenance of an enterprise architecture. It is based on an iterative process model supported by best practices and a re-usable set of existing architecture assets.

What is Architecture in the Context of TOGAF?

ISO/IEC 42010:2007 defines "architecture" as:

"The fundamental organization of a system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles governing its design and evolution."

TOGAF embraces but does not strictly adhere to ISO/IEC 42010:2007 terminology. In TOGAF, "architecture" has two meanings depending upon the context:

1. A formal description of a system, or a detailed plan of the system at component level to guide its implementation
2. The structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time

In TOGAF we endeavor to strike a balance between promoting the concepts and terminology of ISO/IEC 42010:2007 - ensuring that our usage of terms defined by ISO/IEC 42010:2007 is consistent with the standard - and retaining other commonly accepted terminology that is familiar to the majority of the TOGAF readership. For more on terminology, refer to Definitions and Overview of Artifacts and Viewpoints.

What Kind of Architecture Does TOGAF Deal With?

There are four architecture domains that are commonly accepted as subsets of an overall enterprise architecture, all of which TOGAF is designed to support:

• The Business Architecture defines the business strategy, governance, organization, and key business processes.
• The Data Architecture describes the structure of an organization's logical and physical data assets and data management resources.
• The Application Architecture provides a blueprint for the individual application systems to be deployed, their interactions, and their relationships to the core business processes of the organization.
• The Technology Architecture describes the logical software and hardware capabilities that are required to support the deployment of business, data, and application services. This includes IT infrastructure, middleware, networks, communications, processing, standards, etc.