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A Comparison of the Top Four Enterprise-Architecture Methodologies

Roger Sessions
ObjectWatch, Inc.

May 2007

Applies to: Enterprise Architecture

Summary: Twenty years ago, a new field was born that soon came to be known as enterprise architecture. This paper covers a broad introduction to the field of enterprise architecture. Although the history of the field goes back 20 years, the field is still evolving—and rapidly so. (36 printed pages)
Contents

Executive Summary
Introduction
A Brief History of Enterprise Architecture
Case Study
The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architectures
The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF)
Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)
Gartner
Comparison
Conclusion
Glossary
References
Executive Summary

Twenty years ago, a new field was born that soon came to be known as enterprise architecture. The field initially began to address two problems:

System complexity—Organizations were spending more and more money building IT systems; and Poor business alignment—Organizations were finding it more and more difficult to keep those increasingly expensive IT systems aligned with business need.

The bottom line: more cost, less value. These problems, first recognized 20 years ago, have today reached a crisis point. The cost and complexity of IT systems have exponentially increased, while the chances of deriving real value from those systems have dramatically decreased.

Today's bottom line: even more cost, even less value. Large organizations can no longer afford to ignore these problems. The field of enterprise architecture that 20 years ago seemed quaintly quixotic today seems powerfully prophetic.

Many