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TOGAF Alignment
Overview
The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) is a freely available framework and method for defining and managing enterprise architecture, maintained by the Open Group, and is widely considered the de-facto standard having been adopted by many enterprises across different industries.
However, whilst it aims to be comprehensive the various design entities and related artefacts may seem somewhat daunting to begin with. The System Design approach presented here is generally aligned with TOGAF, but aims to be as straightforward and concise as possible whilst precisely describing a system architecture.
Content Meta Model
The TOGAF content meta model defines a set of architectural design entities in the same way as the System Design Meta Model (SDMM) described in the System Architecture Composition section. The following table provides a mapping between these.
| TOGAF Entity | System Design Entity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation Unit | Business Unit | |
| Actor | Actor | In the SDMM an Actor reflects a type of party and the role they perform, and may be specific to a business unit |
| Role | ||
| Function | Business Function | |
| Process | Business Process | |
| Business Service | - | In the SDMM a business service is an instance of a relationship between an individual business unit and a group of functions it performs |
| Data Entity | Data | Information is defined in the Business Architecture (not represented in TOGAF), which in the SDMM is realised by Data elements in the Application Architecture |
| Application Component | Application | |
| Technology Component | Application Package / Application Service | In the SDMM an application package (that is a logical grouping of application services) and application services map to logical and physical technology components respectively in the TOGAF model |
| Platform Service | Technology Platform / Infrastructure |
Artefacts
TOGAF also defines a set of core architecture artefacts that are intended to accompany the core meta model. These are mapped to the artefacts described in the System Architecture Composition section.
| TOGAF Artefact | System Design Artefact | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Business Architecture | ||
| Organisation / Actor Catalog | User Group Catalog | |
| Role Catalog | Actors define role | |
| Business Service / Function Catalog | Business Service Catalog | |
| Business Interaction Matrix | None | |
| Actor / Role Matrix | None | Actor defines role, TOGAF role may reflect activities defined by a process |
| Business Footprint Diagram | Business Architecture View (Functional) | The SD artefact depicts relationships between processes, functions and actors, but does not include linkage to technical components |
| Business Service / Information Diagram | The SD artefact depicts high level relationship between functions and information | |
| Functional Decomposition Diagram | The SD artefact shows how functions supports business processes | |
| Requirements Catalog | The SD artefact describes functionality and associated requirements | |
| Requirements Catalog | Note that this TOGAF artefact is actually part of Requirements Management phase | |
| Product Lifecycle Diagram | None | Not clear on why this is mandatory as it does not seem to relate to any of the core TOGAF content elements |
| Data Architecture | ||
| Data Entity / Data Component Catalog | Data Dictionary | The SD artefact maps the conceptual entities to related logical (package specific) entities (there may also be a related entity relationship diagram for the logical model). The physical model is considered part of technical design |
| Data Entity / Business Function Matrix | Application Catalog | A matrix could be derived from the SD artefact, which details how functions and related information are supported by applications and application packages |
| System / Data Matrix | ||
| Class Diagram | Business Architecture View (Information) | The SD artefact is an entity relationship diagram for the conceptual information entities |
| Data Dissemination Diagram | Application Architecture View | |
| Application Architecture | ||
| Application Portfolio Catalog | Application Catalog | |
| System / Function Matrix | A matrix can be derived from the SD artefact | |
| Interface Catalog | Application Interface Catalog | |
| Application Interaction Matrix | A matrix can be derived from the SD artefact | |
| System / Organisation Matrix | Application Architecture View | A matrix can be derived from the SD artefact, which shows the relationship with actors |
| Role / System Matrix | An Actor is considered to include role | |
| Application Communication Diagram | ||
| Application and User Location Diagram | The SD artefact can include Actors | |
| System Use-Case Diagram | The SD artefact includes functionality, however system use case definition may also be considered part of detailed functional design | |
| Technology (Platform) Architecture | ||
| Technology Standards Catalog | None | This is considered part of the Enterprise Architecture rather than a system design element |
| Technology Portfolio Catalog | Platform Catalog | |
| System / Technology Matrix | A matrix can be derived from the SD artefact | |
| None | Platform Interface Catalog | May be considered to be covered in the TOGAF Interface Catalog |
| Environments and Locations Diagram | Platform Architecture View (Deployment) | |
| Platform Decomposition Diagram | Platform Architecture View (Application Services) | |
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