What is Enterprise Architecture?

The definition for the term Enterprise Architecture (EA) is still somewhat elusive and we find several definitions in the industry:

ISO/IEC 42010: 2007 i 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™ ii embraces but does not strictly adhere to ISO/IEC 42010: 2007 terminology. The term Architecture has two meanings depending upon the context:

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

Currently the Architecture Forum within The Open Group, responsible for TOGAF is working on a formal response related to the definition of EA.

Wikipedia iii uses a number of sources to sum EA up in the following way:

“To some, 'enterprise architecture' refers either to the structure of a business, or the documents and diagrams that describe that structure. To others, 'enterprise architecture' refers to the business methods that seek to understand and document that structure. A third use of 'enterprise architecture' is a reference to a business team that uses EA methods to produce architectural descriptions of the structure of an enterprise.“

How Real IRM defines and uses EA

Enterprise Architecture is the cornerstone of Real IRM’s market focus. EA is the vehicle we use for integrating the resources necessary to create a complete view of the organisation, as well as to provide products and services to facilitate the organisation’s transition to an integrated environment with optimised processes that are responsive to change and to the delivery of the business strategy.

Defining the EA role within an organisation

An enterprise architecture role within an organisation is cross-disciplinary, requiring integration of diverse skills, methods and tools, within and beyond the technology community. Holistic EA is pragmatically developed through the ongoing collaboration between business role players, the IT executive team, and the EA team.

In order to understand EA and our solution offering, it is important to comprehend how the knowledge frameworks, the EA Capability, and the Business, Information, Data, Application and Technology (BIDAT) architectures are systemically inter-related.

i http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=45991

ii http://opengroup.co.za/tog/togaf

iii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_architecture

We advise the reader to refer to the diagram while reading the following subsections.

Latest News

Zachman Back to SA for Certification Training

Real IRM will host another series of Zachman Certification classes in February 2010. These will be presented by John Zachman and Stan Locke.

Dates and details available on the scheduled courses page.

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TOGAF 9 in Denmark

Real IRM, in partnership with Devoteam, (www.devoteam.dk) presented their first TOGAF 9 course in Copenhagen. The close alignment between TOGAF 9 and OIO (Danish government EA framework) was discussed during the training.

TOGAF 9 training events are planned in Denmark and Sweden for the first quarter of 2010.

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Real IRM Trains in London

Real IRM trained 18 TOGAF(TM) 9 delegates in London last week in association with IRM UK – all 18 received their TOGAF Foundation certification, and 13 wrote the TOGAF Certified examination. Delegates came from the public sector, financial services and IT.

The next TOGAF 9 courses in London are scheduled for May 2010 – visit www.irmuk.co.uk for more details.

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EA Forum Highlights EA Landscape

Last week The Open Group and local representative, Real IRM, hosted the October EA Forum in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town. The speaker Wynand Vorster, EA Product Manager at Sybase, discussed a survey they conducted with online IT publication ITWeb earlier this year. The presentation showed adoption levels of EA in South Africa across industries and across provinces. It also covered preferred frameworks, use of tools and the benefit that are derived from EA.

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Real IRM’s Learning Management System a Leap Forward

We are aligning our training offerings and delivery methods with the market’s needs. We have a new Learning Management System that is geared to provide our training clients, both individuals and their organisations, better service. Delegates now have electronic access to their full training history and can download certificates, view results of their class assessments and keep in touch with their class mates.

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South African Membership Growth Still Top

The Open Group membership in South Africa continues to be the fastest growing in the world. New members Arivia, recently joined The Open Group’s Architecture Forum, and GMSI joined The Open Group mining forum, EMMMv. Other new members who joined the Architecture Forum this year include Nedbank, Meraka Institute, The Reserve Bank, Ovations, Lefatshe Technologies, GijimaAST, and SARS.

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The Open Group’s EMMMv Sponsors Mining First Thursday Club

The Open Group SA’s exploration, mining, metals, and minerals industry forum, EMMMv, sponsored the local mining sector’s monthly networking event, First Thursday, on 1 October 2009. This is an informal social gathering of mining professionals that takes place on the first Thursday of each month at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg.

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The South African Reserve Bank joined The Open Group’s Architecture Forum

”The South African Reserve Bank joined The Open Group’s Architecture Forum to gain access to global standards and global collaboration and to become part of the architecture network”, says Dale Ric-Hansen, Enterprise Architect. According to Dale, the network is very valuable and as an organisation they gain a lot from the experiences of others.

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TOGAF™ at GovTech

Paul van der Merwe, COO of Real IRM and Chair of the Architecture Forum of The Open Group, facilitated the Techni-Click event on 11 and 12 September 2009 at GovTech this year. Techni-Click was a pre-event to GovTech that the GITO Council (GITOC) hosted for government EA managers and practitioners at the International Convention Centre in Durban. The event included Enterprise Architecture workshops and was based both on the GITOC’s recently announced Government-wide EA (GWEA) framework and on TOGAF 9.

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Enterprise Architecture Practitioners’ Conference a Success!

Real IRM in association with The Open Group hosted their fourth EAPC in South Africa on 1 and 2 September 2009 at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. It attracted a full house of 220 delegates all eager to see the line-up of high-profile local and international speakers, including world-renown John Zachman. The conference included presentations, workshops, demonstrations, networking events and an exhibition all making for a full programme of activities.

Some our delegates and speakers provided the following feedback:

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Stuart Macgregor Presents at IRM UK EA Conference Europe 2009

Stuart Macgregor, CEO of Real IRM, joined the likes of John Zachman to present at the June IRM UK EA Conference in London. Stuart conducted a pre-conference seminar on TOGAF: A Comprehensive Overview that included an overview of TOGAF core elements - the ADM and Enterprise Continuum.

He also gave a presentation Back to the Future - EA Directions on the future direction and role of enterprise architecture as a professional practice that is both business-appropriate and sustainable.

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Real IRM an accredited TOGAF 9 training provider

Real IRM’s TOGAF 9 training course is one of the first course to be formally accredited by The Open Group as a TOGAF 9 Accredited TOGAF Training Course. This training course is currently offered as a public course in London, UK and in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town – click here for the scheduled courses.

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