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TOGAF 9.

1
QUICK START GUIDE
FOR IT ENTERPRISE
ARCHITECTS
TOGAF 9.1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What is Enterprise Architecture? .............................................. 03

2. What is TOGAF? ............................................................................. 03

3. Benefits of using TOGAF ............................................................ 04

4. TOGAF and IT Strategy ................................................................ 05

5. TOGAF and IT Portfolio Management......................................07

6. TOGAF and Basic Tasks................................................................ 08

7. Conclusion ......................................................................................... 09

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What is
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE?
In 2007, the MIT Center for Information Systems and
Research (MIT CISR) defined Enterprise Architecture
as distinct aspects of a business that are under The Enterprise Architecture
review: “Enterprise Architecture is the organizing Body of Knowledge defines
logic for business processes and IT infrastructure Enterprise Architecture as "a
reflecting the integration and standardization practice which analyzes areas of
requirements of the company’s operating model. The common activity within or
operating model is the desired state of business between organizations, where
process integration and business process information and other resources
standardization for delivering goods and services to are exchanged to guide future
customers.” states from an integrated
It is a blueprint that defines how an organization will viewpoint of strategy, business,
be structured and organized. The aim of Enterprise and technology"
Architecture is to determine how an organization can
effectively achieve its present and future goals.

What is TOGAF?
TOGAF -or The Open Group Architecture Framework- is the most widely-used and popular
set of best practices and guidelines for implementation of Enterprise Architecture in an
organization. It provides approaches to planning, designing, governing, and implementing
Enterprise Information Technology Architecture.

TOGAF is maintained by the Open Group, which is an independent industry association. An


earlier framework called TAFIM -or the Technical Architecture Framework for Information
Management- is what TOGAF is built on.

The emphasis of TOGAF is upon devising concrete IT architectures.

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A high-level approach to design, TOGAF is modeled at four levels:

BUSINESS APPLICATION DATA TECHNOLOGY

TOGAF relies heavily on the use of standardization and modularization and existing
technologies and products.

TOGAF 9.1 is an update to the TOGAF, version 9, and contains a set of corrections to address
the issues that were raised since the introduction of the TOGAF 9 in 2009. TOGAF 9.1
supersedes TOGAF 9. The chief focus of this change is the quality improvements to ensure the
consistent use of terminology. TOGAF 9.1 was launched on December 11th, 2011.

Benefits of using TOGAF?


The framework offered by the Open Group is an easy to understand,
step by step approach to developing Enterprise Architecture and is
Ease Of therefore easy to use, helping organizations and employees save on
Implementation excessive training costs.

In keeping with point #1, TOGAF is delivered with exhaustive


documentation, meaning organizations and IT admins will have little to
no trouble keeping the IT architecture in top shape. TOGAF is among
the few IT frameworks that can be implemented and maintained by
Ease Of Use
architects at any skill or experience level.

As the global standard in Enterprise Architecture and the


most-popular framework in the world, TOGAF provides a standardized
architecture development process and common definitions of
Global components and deliverables making it easier to transfer and apply
Standard
between and across industries and business units.

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TOGAF framework is a compilation of the efforts from all of TOG’s (The


Open Group’s) member organizations and hence offers a well-founded
corroborative theoretical framework that supports the complex
Authentic process of developing and sustaining an Enterprise Architecture.

TOGAF's ADM (Architecture Development Method) or the "framework


of frameworks", provides the most comprehensive process for
Procedural architecture development that isn't overly complex.

To know more about the benefits of TOGAF, please read through Simplilearn’s ‘Benefits of
TOGAF’ article.

TOGAF and IT STRATEGY


What is IT strategy?
Before we talk about the IT strategy, let us first understand what
strategy is.

Wikipedia defines strategy as,


“a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal”.

IT strategy is an exhaustive plan that IT management professionals use to guide the


organization. The IT strategy that is created should cover all the aspects of Technology
Management, such as Human Capital Management, cost Management, Vendor management,
Hardware and Software Management, Risk Management, and other considerations in the IT
enterprise environment.

An IT strategy has five subsets:

1
An Application Strategy is one that consists of a set of guidelines
APPLICATION
stating how to deal with the IT application in an organization and how
STRATEGY
to support the business strategies using the IT applications.

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2
Integration strategy is used when an organization has a major
INTEGRATION
chunk of applications that need to be integrated with each
STRATEGY
other to be able to perform business processes.

3 INFRASTRUCTURE
STRATEGY
Infrastructure Strategy is a crucial element in an organization’s
strategy to gain the optimal value from the IT investments.

4
A service strategy is one which determines how an
SERVICE
organization’s customers will get which services at which
STRATEGY
service level.

5
A sourcing strategy involves an organization deciding what to
SOURCING
outsource and what to produce in-house and whether it wants
STRATEGY
to work together with a single provider or multiple providers.

How You Apply TOGAF To IT strategy


Although TOGAF ADM treats Business Strategy and IT strategy as being outside of its
framework, TOGAF proposes a capability analysis. It also suggests getting business drivers
before starting an architecture project.

IT Maxims from Business Maxims


Broadbent and Kitzis describe the Maxim Process as a pragmatic way to extract information
for a good IT strategy while avoiding the investment of more than a day's workshop with the
senior management. The CIO organizes a day's workshop with CXOs that lead to the
documentation of two kinds of Maxims:

The Business is the "creation of synergies in the back office and service functions
Maxims wherever brand identity is not compromised".

are defined as “standard architectures and platforms that are used


IT Maxims
by all companies in order to leverage synergies and reduce IT costs.

Maxims are compact principles used to document strategic direction of an enterprise.

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Re-engineering the business strategy


If the management in an organization does not wish to spend time in discussing Business and
It strategies, then it is time to re-engineer strategies or find business maxims by applying
analogies with known strategy patterns.

TOGAF and
IT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
What is IT Portfolio Management?
To understand the concept of Portfolio Management, let us
first begin with what a portfolio is. A Portfolio is essentially a
collection of investments that is held by any organization, or
institution, or a private individual.

IT Portfolio Management is defined as “the application of systematic management techniques


to the investments, projects, and activities of Enterprise Information Technology (IT
departments)"

Examples of IT Portfolios include planned initiatives, projects, and ongoing IT services.

There are three types of IT Portfolio Management - two of which are relevant to Enterprise
Architects (Application and Infrastructure Portfolio Management), and one of which is present
in the office of the CIO, thus making it important for Enterprise Architects to at least have a
fair level of competence and high degree of proficiency in Project Portfolio Management.

What is Application Portfolio Management?


Application portfolio management is a framework that is used for managing enterprise IT
software-based services and software-based applications, which includes SaaS (software As A
Service). APM provides managers and administrators with an inventory of a company's
software metrics and applications to illustrate the business benefits of each of these
applications.

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What is Infrastructure Portfolio Management?


Just like managing applications, infrastructure components can also be managed. The
infrastructure components mainly comprise

Network infrastructures like WANs, LANs, and other network components

All kinds of infrastructure


Servers
services.

What do you find about Application Portfolio Management in TOGAF?


Application Portfolio Management does not appear in TOGAF. TOGAF is not intended to help
with strategic IT management, and therefore is not a primary source to turn to if one needs to
learn something about strategic IT management.

What do you find about Infrastructure Portfolio Management in TOGAF?


When it comes to a management aspect, there is nothing about TOGAF to be found in
Infrastructure Portfolio Management. The TOGAF terminology, however, can be used in
infrastructure, as described in the Technical Reference Model. This gives terms and taxonomy
of classes of infrastructure and also infrastructure service.

TOGAF and BASIC TASKS


As an architect sooner or later one will want to store acquired information in some form of an
automatic database, instead of depending solely upon Excel sheets and PowerPoint
presentations. For this one might need either a software tool or a Meta model.

TOGAF and finding the right Meta Model for your needs
In Enterprise IT Architecture Management, there will come a point when it is necessary to
possess a database for the IT Portfolio and the IT assets to perform management on the sets
of real world items that have been modeled in the Enterprise Architecture Database.

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Meta-models sized between 50 Meta entities, which is somewhat limited , up to well over 500
Meta entities, which would be a bit too complex if not covered by a well-integrated user
interface of an EAM tool, can be used.
In many cases, one will not try to answer all the possible questions in the EAM at a time. It is
more likely that management has its interests focused on certain points like cost management
for the infrastructure.
In such cases, it is necessary to begin with a small solution that is driven by a question that
needs to be answered, without having to deal with the full complexity of a 500+ item
meta-model.
The TOGAF architecture capability framework offers a Metamodel that is split into smaller
areas of interest. If one is interested in a certain area, that person needs only to read that
respective area and draw up a list of pre-defined TOGAF Meta objects.

CONCLUSION
This eBook has demonstrated that TOGAF is a useful collection of various methods and tools
that an Enterprise Architect may need for his work. Nevertheless, it is also seen that more than
being an integrated piece of work, it is also a collection of useful items, planned in advance on
a drawing board.
There is now a tendency to mention the TOGAF certification whenever the need of an
Enterprise Architect is brought up. TOGAF also stands tall when it comes to project
architectures of all scales and a few tasks of the Strategic Enterprise IT Architecture
Management.
Simplilearn offers a TOGAF 9.1 certification training course accredited by the Open Group, with
32 hours of instructor-led training, downloadable eBooks, chapter-end quizzes, and reference
cards to make study sessions easier.

GOOD LUCK

For more information on our TOGAF 9.1 offerings, please visit our course page here

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