A statement of difference between two states. Used in the context of gap analysis, where the difference between the Baseline and Target Architecture is identified.

A part of the Enterprise Continuum. A repository of architectural elements with increasing detail and specialization.

A description of the structure and interaction of the applications as groups of capabilities that provide key business functions and manage the data assets.

A representation of holistic, multi-dimensional business views of: capabilities, end-to-end value delivery, information, and organizational structure; and the relationships among these business views and strategies, products, policies, initiatives, and stakeholders.

Concerned with ensuring that the business processes and policies (and their operation) deliver the business outcomes and adhere to relevant business regulation.

Standards Information Base.

Architecture Principle.

An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure, which is modular and replaceable. It encapsulates its behavior and data, provides services, and makes them available through interfaces.

1. A discrete behavior requestable from an application (e.g., log in, book train seat, transfer money).
2. The automated elements of a business service.

A model that describes how and with what the architecture will be described in a structured way.

Viewing an enterprise, system, or building block in terms of services provided and consumed.

Solution Building Block.

1. The lifecycle management of information and related technology used by an organization.
2. An umbrella term that includes all or some of the subject areas relating to the computer industry, such as Business Continuity, Business IT Interface, Business Process Modeling and Management, Communication, Compliance and Legislation, Computers, Content Management, Hardware, Information Management, Internet, Offshoring, Networking, Programming and Software, Professional Issues, Project Management, Security, Standards, Storage, Voice and Data Communications. Various countries and industries employ other umbrella terms to describe this same collection.
3. A term commonly assigned to a department within an organization tasked with provisioning some or all of the domains described in (2) above.
4. Alternate names commonly adopted include Information Services, Information Management, et al.

A qualitative statement of intent that should be met by the architecture.

An abstracted plan for business or technology change, typically operating across multiple disciplines over multiple years. Normally used in the phrases Technology Roadmap, Architecture Roadmap, etc.

Service-Oriented Architecture.

A detailed, formal description of areas within an enterprise, used at the program or portfolio level to organize and align change activity.

A summary formal description of the enterprise, providing an organizing framework for operational and change activity, and an executive-level, long-term view for direction setting.

A technique for putting building blocks into context; for example, to describe a re-usable solution to a problem.

Architecture Building Block.

A representation of a subject of interest.

An architectural work product that is contractually specified and in turn formally reviewed, agreed, and signed off by the stakeholders.

1. The ability to share information and services.
2. The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange and use information.
3. The ability of systems to provide and receive services from other systems and to use the services so interchanged to enable them to operate effectively together.

The architectural area being considered. The TOGAF framework has four primary architecture domains: business, data, application, and technology. Other domains may also be considered (e.g., security).

A conceptual structure used to plan, develop, implement, govern, and sustain an architecture.

1. The fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution.
2. The structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.

A description of a real-world entity. Physical elements in an Enterprise Architecture may still be considerably abstracted from Solution Architecture, design, or implementation views.

An articulation of the relationships between the primary entities that make up the enterprise, its partners, and stakeholders.

Architecture View.

Supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization.

A collection of the specifications of architecture viewpoints contained in the Reference Library portion of the Architecture Repository.

A collection of services, potentially an interface definition.

Direction and focus provided by strategic goals and objectives, often to deliver the value proposition characterized in the business model.

Architecture Development Method.

The discipline of monitoring, managing, and steering a business (or IS/IT landscape) to deliver the business outcome required.

A set of actions identified to achieve one or more objectives for the business. A work package can be a part of a project, a complete project, or a program.

A specification of the conventions for a particular kind of architecture view.

The architectural representation of assets in use, or planned, by the enterprise at particular points in time.

The combination of distinctive features related to the specific context within which architecture is performed or expressed; a collection of principles and characteristics that steer or constrain how an architecture is formed.

The core of the TOGAF framework. A multi-phase, iterative approach to develop and use an Enterprise Architecture to shape and govern business transformation and implementation projects.

A database of standards that can be used to define the particular services and other components of an Organization-Specific Architecture.

An individual, team, organization, or class thereof, having an interest in a system.

A structure for content or process that can be used as a tool to structure thinking, ensuring consistency and completeness.

A description of the structure and interaction of the technology services and technology components.

An architectural work product that describes an aspect of the architecture.

The description of a future state of the architecture being developed for an organization.

A technical capability required to provide enabling infrastructure that supports the delivery of applications.

Generic building blocks, their inter-relationships with other building blocks, combined with the principles and guidelines that provide a foundation on which more specific architectures can be built.

A shorthand representation of "access to integrated information to support business process improvements" representing a desired state of an enterprise’s infrastructure specific to the business needs of the organization.

A constituent of the architecture model that describes a single aspect of the overall model.

The collection of technology components of hardware and software that provide the services used to support applications.

Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not necessarily explicitly governed by the organization.

An architectural style that supports service orientation.

The technique of providing summarized or generalized descriptions of detailed and complex content.

A particular ability that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose.

A statement of need that must be met by a particular architecture or work package.

A part of the Enterprise Continuum. A repository of re-usable solutions for future implementation efforts. It contains implementations of the corresponding definitions in the Architecture Continuum.

1. A repeatable activity; a discrete behavior that a building block may be requested or otherwise triggered to perform.
2. An element of behavior that provides specific functionality in response to requests from actors or other services.

A description of a discrete and focused business operation or activity and how IS/IT supports that operation.

The organized collection of all architecture views pertinent to an architecture.

A discrete portion of a capability architecture that delivers specific value. When all increments have been completed, the capability has been realized.

A representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns.

A (potentially re-usable) component of enterprise capability that can be combined with other building blocks to deliver architectures and solutions.

A system that manages all of the data of an enterprise, including data and process models and other enterprise information.

A succinct description of the Target Architecture that describes its business value and the changes to the enterprise that will result from its successful deployment. It serves as an aspirational vision and a boundary for detailed architecture development.

A person, organization, or system that has one or more roles that initiates or interacts with activities; for example, a sales representative who travels to visit customers. Actors may be internal or external to an organization.

The management of needs of stakeholders of the Enterprise Architecture practice. It also manages the execution of communication between the practice and the stakeholders and the practice and the consumers of its services.

Data about data, of any sort in any media, that describes the characteristics of an entity.

A technique through construction of models which enables a subject to be represented in a form that enables reasoning, insight, and clarity concerning the essence of the subject matter.

A description of the structure and interaction of the enterprise’s major types and sources of data, logical data assets, physical data assets, and data management resources.

A highly detailed description of the architectural approach to realize a particular solution or solution aspect.

A specification that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, that thereafter serves as the basis for further development or change and that can be changed only through formal change control procedures or a type of procedure such as configuration management.

An implementation-independent definition of the architecture, often grouping related physical entities according to their purpose and structure.

A categorization mechanism useful for classifying architecture and solution artifacts, both internal and external to the Architecture Repository, as they evolve from generic Foundation Architectures to Organization-Specific Architectures.

The highest level (typically) of description of an organization and typically covers all missions and functions. An enterprise will often span multiple organizations.

An abstract framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of [an] environment, and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment.

A defined, repeatable approach to address a particular type of problem.

A representation of an end-to-end collection of value-adding activities that create an overall result for a customer, stakeholder, or end user.

Conventions for a type of modeling.

An interest in a system relevant to one or more of its stakeholders.

1. The usual or expected function of an actor, or the part somebody or something plays in a particular action or event. An actor may have a number of roles.
2. The part an individual plays in an organization and the contribution they make through the application of their skills, knowledge, experience, and abilities.

Architecture Viewpoint.

A formal description of one state of the architecture at an architecturally significant point in time.

An ability that an organization, person, or system possesses.

Reference Model.

A time-bounded milestone for an organization used to demonstrate progress towards a goal; for example, "Increase capacity utilization by 30% by the end of 2019 to support the planned increase in market share".

The practice of monitoring and directing architecture-related work. The goal is to deliver desired outcomes and adhere to relevant principles, standards, and roadmaps.

A candidate solution which conforms to the specification of an Architecture Building Block.

A model describing the rationale for how an enterprise creates, delivers, and captures value.

Any communication or representation of facts, data, or opinions, in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic, cartographic, narrative, or audio-visual forms.

1. A technology building block. A generic infrastructure technology that supports and enables application or data components (directly or indirectly) by providing technology services.
2. An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that represents a class of technology product or specific technology product.