Content Metamodel

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Chapter 34                             <<< Previous | Next >>>

34.1 Overview | 34.2 Content Metamodel Vision and Concepts | 34.3 Content Metamodel in Detail | 34.4 Content Metamodel Extensions | 34.5 Content Metamodel Entities | 34.6 Content Metamodel Attributes | 34.7 Metamodel Relationships

34.1 Overview

The TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM) provides a process lifecycle to create and manage architectures within an enterprise. At each phase within the ADM, a discussion of inputs, outputs, and steps describes a number of architectural work products or artifacts, such as process and application. The content metamodel provided here defines a formal structure for these terms to ensure consistency within the ADM and also to provide guidance for organizations that wish to implement their architecture within an architecture tool.

34.2 Content Metamodel Vision and Concepts

This section provides an overview of the objectives of the content metamodel, the concepts that support the metamodel, and an overview of the metamodel itself. Subsequent sections then go on to discuss each area of the metamodel in more detail. Contents of this section are as follows:

  • Core content metamodel concepts (see 34.2.1 Core Content Metamodel Concepts) identifies the key concepts within the core content metamodel, including:
    • Core and extension content
    • Formal and informal modeling
    • Core metamodel entities
    • Catalog, matrix, and diagram concept
  • Overview of the TOGAF content metamodel (see 34.2.2 Overview of the Content Metamodel) provides a high-level overview of the content of the metamodel.

34.2.1 Core Content Metamodel Concepts

A TOGAF architecture is based on defining a number of architectural building blocks within architecture catalogs, specifying the relationships between those building blocks in architecture matrices, and then presenting communication diagrams that show in a precise and concise way what the architecture is.

This section introduces the core concepts that make up the TOGAF content metamodel, through the following subsections:

  • Core and Extension Content provides an introduction to the way in which TOGAF employs a basic core metamodel and then applies a number of extension modules to address specific architectural issues in more detail.
  • Core Metamodel Entities introduces the core TOGAF metamodel entities, showing the purpose of each entity and the key relationships that support architectural traceability.
  • Catalog, Matrix, and Diagram Concept describes the concept of catalogs, matrices, and diagrams.
Core and Extension Content

The role of TOGAF is to provide an open standard for architecture that is applicable in many scenarios and situations. In order to meet this vision, it is necessary to provide a fully featured enterprise architecture metamodel for content and also to provide the ability to avoid carrying out unnecessary activities by supporting tailoring.

The metamodel must provide a basic model with the minimum feature set and then support the inclusion of optional extensions during engagement tailoring.

The core TOGAF content metamodel and its extensions are illustrated in Figure 34-1.

 

Figure 34-1: TOGAF Content Metamodel and its Extensions
The core metamodel provides a minimum set of architectural content to support traceability across artifacts. Additional metamodel concepts to support more specific or more in-depth modeling are contained within a group of extensions that logically cluster extension catalogs, matrices, and diagrams, allowing focus in areas of specific interest and focus.

All extension modules are optional and should be selected during the Preliminary Phase of the architecture development to meet the needs of the organization. Additionally, the extension groupings described by the content metamodel are only a suggestion and further tailoring may be carried out to suit the specific needs at the discretion of the architects.

This core and extension concept is intended as a move towards supporting formal method extension approaches within TOGAF, such as the method plug-in concept found within the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) developed by the Object Management Group (OMG).1

Core Metamodel Entities

The content metamodel uses the terminology discussed within the TOGAF ADM as the basis for a formal metamodel. The following core terms are used:

  • Actor: A person, organization, or system that is outside the consideration of the architecture model, but interacts with it.
  • Application Component: An encapsulation of application functionality that is aligned to implementation structuring.
  • Business Service: Supports business capabilities through an explicitly defined interface and is explicitly governed by an organization.
  • Data Entity: An encapsulation of data that is recognized by a business domain expert as a discrete concept. Data entities can be tied to applications, repositories, and services and may be structured according to implementation considerations.
  • Function: Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not explicitly governed by the organization.
  • Information System Service: The automated elements of a business service. An information system service may deliver or support part or all of one or more business services.
  • Organization Unit: A self-contained unit of resources with goals, objectives, and measures. Organization units may include external parties and business partner organizations.
  • Platform Service: A technical capability required to provide enabling infrastructure that supports the delivery of applications.
  • Role: An actor assumes a role to perform a task.
  • Technology Component: An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that represents a class of technology product or specific technology product.

A more in-depth definition of terms used within the content metamodel can be found in Part I, 3. Definitions.

Some of the key relationship concepts related to the core metamodel entities are described below:

  • Process should normally be used to describe flowA process is a flow of interactions between functions and services and cannot be physically deployed. All processes should describe the flow of execution for a function and therefore the deployment of a process is through the function it supports; i.e., an application implements a function that has a process, not an application implements a process.
  • Function describes units of business capability at all levels of granularityThe term “function” is used to describe a unit of business capability at all levels of granularity, encapsulating terms such as value chain, process area, capability, business function, etc. Any bounded unit of business function should be described as a function.
  • Business services support organizational objectives and are defined at a level of granularity consistent with the level of governance neededA business service operates as a boundary for one or more functions. The granularity of business services is dependent on the focus and emphasis of the business (as reflected by its drivers, goals, and objectives). A service in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) terminology (i.e., a deployable unit of application functionality) is actually much closer to an application service, application component, or technology component, which may implement or support a business service.
  • Business services are deployed onto application componentsBusiness services may be realized by business activity that does not relate to IT, or may be supported by IT. Business services that are supported by IT are deployed onto application components. Application components can be hierarchically decomposed and may support one or more business services. It is possible for a business service to be supported by multiple application components, but this is problematic from a governance standpoint and is symptomatic of business services that are too coarse-grained, or application components that are too fine-grained.
  • Application components are deployed onto technology componentsAn application component is implemented by a suite of technology components. For example, an application, such as “HR System” would typically be implemented on several technology components, including hardware, application server software, and application services.

Figure 34-2 illustrates the core entities and their relationships.

 

Figure 34-2: Core Entities and their Relationships

Catalog, Matrix, and Diagram Concept

The content metamodel is used as a technique to structure architectural information in an ordered way so that it can be processed to meet the stakeholder needs. The majority of architecture stakeholders do not actually need to know what the architecture metamodel is and are only concerned with specific issues, such as “what functionality does this application support?”, “which processes will be impacted by this project?”, etc. In order to meet the needs of these stakeholders, the TOGAF concepts of building blocks, catalogs, matrices, and diagrams are used.

Building blocks are entities of a particular type within the metamodel (for example, a business service called “Purchase Order”). Building blocks carry metadata according to the metamodel, which supports query and analysis. For example, business services have a metadata attribute for owner, which allows a stakeholder to query all business services owned by a particular organization. Building blocks may also include dependent or contained entities as appropriate to the context of the architecture (for example, a business service called “Purchase Order” may implicitly include a number of processes, data entities, application components, etc.).

Catalogs are lists of building blocks of a specific type, or of related types, that are used for governance or reference purposes (for example, an organization chart, showing locations and actors). As with building blocks, catalogs carry metadata according to the metamodel, which supports query and analysis.

Matrices are grids that show relationships between two or more model entities. Matrices are used to represent relationships that are list-based rather than graphical in their usage (for example, a CRUD matrix showing which applications Create, Read, Update, and Delete a particular type of data is difficult to represent visually).

Diagrams are renderings of architectural content in a graphical format to allow stakeholders to retrieve the required information. Diagrams can also be used as a technique for graphically populating architecture content or for checking the completeness of information that has been collected. TOGAF defines a set of architecture diagrams to be created (e.g., organization chart). Each of these diagrams may be created several times for an architecture with different style or content coverage to suit stakeholder concerns.

Building blocks, catalogs, matrices, and diagrams are all concepts that are well supported by leading enterprise architecture tools. In environments where tools are used to model the architecture, such tools typically support mechanisms to search, filter, and query the Architecture Repository.

On-demand querying of the Architecture Repository (such as the business service ownership example mentioned above) can be used to generate ad hoc catalogs, matrices, and diagrams of the architecture. As this type of query is by nature required to be flexible, it is therefore not restricted or defined within the content metamodel.

The interactions between metamodel, building blocks, diagrams, and stakeholders are shown in Figure 34-3.

 

Figure 34-3: Interactions between Metamodel, Building Blocks, Diagrams, and Stakeholders

34.2.2 Overview of the Content Metamodel

The content metamodel defines a set of entities that allow architectural concepts to be captured, stored, filtered, queried, and represented in a way that supports consistency, completeness, and traceability.

At the highest level, the content framework is divided up in line with the TOGAF ADM phases, as shown in Figure 34-4.

 

Figure 34-4: Content Framework by ADM Phases

  • Architecture Principles, Vision, and Requirements artifacts are intended to capture the surrounding context of formal architecture models, including general architecture principles, strategic context that forms input for architecture modeling, and requirements generated from the architecture. The architecture context is typically collected in the Preliminary and Architecture Vision phases.
  • Business Architecture artifacts capture architectural models of business operation, looking specifically at factors that motivate the enterprise, how the enterprise is organizationally structured, and also what functional capabilities the enterprise has.
  • Information Systems Architecture artifacts capture architecture models of IT systems, looking at applications and data in line with the TOGAF ADM phases.
  • Technology Architecture artifacts capture procured technology assets that are used to implement and realize information system solutions.
  • Architecture Realization artifacts capture change roadmaps showing transition between architecture states and binding statements that are used to steer and govern an implementation of the architecture.

A more detailed representation of the content metamodel is shown in Figure 34-5.

 

Figure 34-5: Detailed Representation of the Content Metamodel

34.3 Content Metamodel in Detail

This section contains the following subsections:

34.3.1 Core Content Metamodel

Figure 34-6 shows the metamodel entities and relationships that are present within the core content metamodel.

 

Figure 34-6: Entities and Relationships Present within the Core Content Metamodel

34.3.2 Core Architecture Artifacts

35. Architectural Artifacts discusses in detail the way in which the underlying content metamodel can be used to present a set of catalogs, matrices, and diagrams to address stakeholder concerns.

The following set of artifacts are intended to accompany the core content metamodel:

 

ADM Phase

Artifacts

Preliminary

Principles Catalog

Architecture Vision

Stakeholder Map Matrix

Value Chain Diagram

Solution Concept Diagram

Business Architecture

Organization/Actor Catalog

Role Catalog

Business Service/Function Catalog

Business Interaction Matrix

Actor/Role Matrix

Business Footprint Diagram

Business Service/Information Diagram

Functional Decomposition Diagram

Product Lifecycle Diagram

Information Systems

Data Entity/Data Component Catalog

(Data Architecture)

Data Entity/Business Function Matrix

Application/Data Matrix

Conceptual Data Diagram

Logical Data Diagram

Data Dissemination Diagram

Information Systems

Application Portfolio Catalog

(Application Architecture)

Interface Catalog

Application/Organization Matrix

Role/Application Matrix

Application/Function Matrix

Application Interaction Matrix

Application Communication Diagram

Application and User Location Diagram

Application Use-Case Diagram

Technology Architecture

Technology Standards Catalog

Technology Portfolio Catalog

Application/Technology Matrix

Environments and Locations Diagram

Platform Decomposition Diagram

Opportunities and Solutions

Project Context Diagram

Benefits Diagram

Requirements Management

Requirements Catalog

 

34.3.3 Full Content Metamodel

When all extensions are applied to the core content metamodel, a number of new metamodel entities are introduced. Figure 34-7 shows which entities are contained in the core content metamodel and which new entities are introduced by which extension.

 

Figure 34-7: Content Metamodel with Extensions
The relationships between entities in the full metamodel are shown in Figure 34-8.

 

Figure 34-8: Relationships between Entities in the Full Metamodel

34.4 Content Metamodel Extensions

As discussed earlier, the TOGAF content metamodel supports a number of extension modules that allow more in-depth consideration for particular architecture concerns. Figure 34-9 shows the core content metamodel and predefined extension modules.

 

Figure 34-9: Core Content Metamodel and Predefined Extension Modules
During the Architecture Vision phase of a particular engagement, the scope of the engagement will be used to make a determination on appropriate extensions to be employed in order to adequately address the architecture requirements. For example, the scope of an engagement could be defined as core content, plus the governance extensions, as shown in Figure 34-10.

 

Figure 34-10: Core Content with Governance Extensions
The following sections provide a more detailed description of the purpose and content of each of the extension modules.

34.4.1 Governance Extensions

Purpose

The governance extension is intended to allow additional structured data to be held against objectives and business services, supporting operational governance of the landscape.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • The ability to apply measures to objectives and then link those measures to services
  • The ability to apply contracts to service communication or service interactions with external users and systems
  • The ability to define re-usable service qualities defining a service-level profile that can be used in contracts
  • Creation of additional diagrams to show ownership and management of systems

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • When an organization is considering IT change that will result in a significant impact to existing operational governance models
  • When an organization has granular requirements for service levels that differ from service to service
  • When an organization is looking to transform its operational governance practice
  • When an organization has very strong focus on business drivers, goals, and objectives and how these trace to service levels

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • Service levels are defined in a more structured way, with:
    • More detail
    • The ability to re-use service profiles across contracts
    • Stronger tracing to business objectives
  • Impacts to operations and operational governance models are considered in a more structured way, with:
    • Additional diagrams of system and data ownership
    • Additional diagrams of system operation and dependencies on operations processes

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on architecture governance should also consult:

  • The COBIT framework for IT governance provided by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA); refer to www.isaca.org
  • The IT Portfolio Management Facility (ITPMF) from the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/ITPMF
Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-11.

 

Figure 34-11: Governance Extensions: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • Measure is added as a new entity that links objective and business service.
  • Service Quality is added as a new entity that provides a generic service profile template to be applied to business services or contracts.
  • Contract is added as a new entity that formalizes the functional and non-functional characteristics of a service interaction with other services, external applications, or users.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Measure, Service Quality, and Service Contract

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Enterprise Manageability diagram

34.4.2 Services Extensions

Purpose

The services extension is intended to allow more sophisticated modeling of the service portfolio by creating a concept of IS services in addition to the core concept of business services. IS services are directly supported by applications and creating the layer of abstraction relaxes the constraints on business services while simultaneously allowing technical stakeholders to put more formality into an IS service catalog.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • Creation of IS services as an extension of business service

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • When the business has a preset definition of its services that does not align well to technical and architectural needs
  • When business and IT use different language to describe similar capabilities
  • Where IT service is misaligned with business need, particularly around the areas of quality of service, visibility of performance, and management granularity
  • Where IT is taking initial steps to engage business in discussions about IT architecture

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • Business services can be defined outside of the constraints that exist in the core metamodel. This allows for a more natural engagement with business stakeholders.
  • IS services can be defined according to a model that maps closely to implementation, providing a more realistic solution abstraction to support IT decision-making.
  • Business and IS service relationships show where the business view aligns with the IS view and where there are misalignments.

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on services-centric architectures should also consult:

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-12.

 

Figure 34-12: Services Extension: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • IS Service is added as a new metamodel entity, extending business service.
  • IS Service inherits all the relationships of a business service.
  • A new relationship is created linking an IS service to a business service.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • IS Service is added as a new type of business service.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Business Use-Case Diagram
  • Organization Decomposition Diagram

34.4.3 Process Modeling Extensions

Purpose

The process modeling extension is intended to allow detailed modeling of process flows by adding events, products, and controls to the metamodel. Typically, enterprise architecture does not drill into process flow, but in certain process-centric or event-centric organizations it may be necessary to elaborate process in a much more formal manner using this extension module.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • Creation of events as triggers for processes
  • Creation of controls that business logic and governance gates for process execution
  • Creation of products to represent the output of a process
  • Creation of event diagrams to track triggers and state changes across the organization

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • Where the architecture must pay specific attention to state and events
  • Where the architecture is required to explicitly identify and store process control steps; for example, to support regulatory compliance
  • Where the architecture features critical or elaborate process flows

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • This extension allows detailed process modeling and the cataloging of process artifacts.
  • May be used to support regulatory compliance activities.
  • May be used to re-purpose legacy or non-architectural process decomposition analysis.

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on process-centric architectures should also consult:

  • The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) specification, provided by the OMG; refer to www.bpmn.org
  • The Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) specification, provided by the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/SPEM
Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-13.

 

Figure 34-13: Process Modeling Extensions: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • Event is added as a metamodel entity, sitting between Actor, Process, and Service
  • Control is added as a metamodel entity, relating to a Process.
  • Product is added as a metamodel entity, linking Organization and Processes.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Event, Control, and Product.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Process Flow diagrams, showing the way in which business functions, events, controls, and products are linked to support a particular business scenario
  • Event diagrams, showing events, were they are received from, and what processes they trigger

34.4.4 Data Extensions

Purpose

The data extension is intended to allow more sophisticated modeling and the encapsulation of data. The core model provides a data entity concept which supports the creation of data models, which is then extended by this extension to include the concept of a data component. Data components form a logical or physical encapsulation of abstract data entities into units that can be governed and deployed into applications.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • Creation of logical data components that group data entities into encapsulated modules for governance, security, and deployment purposes
  • Creation of physical data components that implement logical data components and are analogous to databases, registries, repositories, schemas, and other techniques of segmenting data
  • Creation of data lifecycle, data security, and data migration diagrams of the architecture to show data concerns in more detail

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • Where the architecture features significant complexity and risk around the location, encapsulation, and management of or access to data

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • The structure of data is modeled independently from its location, allowing data models to be developed that span multiple systems without being tied to physical concerns.
  • Logical groupings of data can be used to set governance, security, or deployment boundaries around data, providing a much more holistic appreciation of data issues surrounding the architecture.
Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-14.

 

Figure 34-14: Data Extensions: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • Logical Data Component is added as a new metamodel entity, encapsulating data entities.
  • Physical Data Component is added as a new metamodel entity, extending Logical Data Component.
  • A relationship is created between Physical Data Component and Application Component. If the infrastructure consolidation extension is applied, this should be to Physical Application Component.
  • If the infrastructure consolidation extension is applied, Physical Data Components will have a relationship with Location.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Logical Data Component and Physical Data Component.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Data Security diagram
  • Data Migration diagram
  • Data Lifecycle diagram

34.4.5 Infrastructure Consolidation Extensions

Purpose

The infrastructure consolidation extension is intended to be used in landscapes where the application and technology portfolios have become fragmented and the architecture seeks to consolidate the business as usual capability into a smaller number of locations, applications, or technology components.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • Creation of a location entity to hold the location of IT assets and external consumers of service
  • Creation of logical and physical application components to abstract the capability of an application away from the actual applications in existence
  • Creation of logical and physical application components to abstract product type from the actual technology products in existence
  • Creation of additional diagrams focusing on the location of assets, compliance with standards, structure of applications, application migration, and infrastructure configuration

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • Where many technology products are in place with duplicate or overlapping capability
  • Where many applications are in place with duplicate or overlapping functionality
  • Where applications are geographically dispersed and the decision logic for determining the location of an application is not well understood
  • When applications are going to be migrated into a consolidated platform
  • When application features are going to be migrated into a consolidated application

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • Allows visibility and analysis of redundant duplication of capability in the application and technology domains
  • Supports analysis of standards compliance
  • Supports analysis of migration impact of application or technology consolidation
  • Supports detailed architectural definition of application structure

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on infrastructure consolidation should also consult:

  • The Unified Modeling Language (UML), provided by the OMG; refer to www.uml.org
  • The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) – www.sysml.org – which reduces the complexity and software engineering focus of UML for the purposes of systems modeling
  • The IT Portfolio Management Facility (ITPMF) from the OMG; refer to www.omg.org/spec/ITPMF
Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-15.

 

Figure 34-15: Infrastructure Consolidation Extensions: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • Location attributes on Organization, Actor, Application Component, Data Component, and Technology Component are enhanced to create a location entity within the metamodel.
  • Application Components are extended to include Logical Application Components (a class of application) and Physical Application Components (an actual application).
  • Technology Components are extended to include Logical Technology Components (a class of technology product) and Physical Technology Components (an actual technology product).

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • Creation of attributes for the new Metamodel entities of Logical Application Component, Physical Application Component, Logical Technology Component, Physical Technology Component, and Location
  • Removal of Location as an attribute of entities that have a location and replacement with a relationship with the Location entity

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Process/Application Realization diagram
  • Software Engineering diagram
  • Application Migration diagram
  • Software Distribution diagram
  • Processing diagram
  • Networked Computing/Hardware diagram
  • Communications Engineering diagram

34.4.6 Motivation Extensions

Purpose

The motivation extension is intended to allow additional structured modeling of the drivers, goals, and objectives that influence an organization to provide business services to its customers. This in turn allows more effective definition of service contracts and better measurement of business performance.

The scope of this extension is as follows:

  • Creation of a new metamodel entity for Driver that shows factors generally motivating or constraining an organization
  • Creation of a new metamodel entity for Goal that shows the strategic purpose and mission of an organization
  • Creation of a new metamodel entity for Objective that shows near to mid-term achievements that an organization would like to attain
  • Creation of a Goal/Objective/Service diagram showing the traceability from drivers, goals, and objectives through to services

This extension should be used in the following situations:

  • When the architecture needs to understand the motivation of organizations in more detail than the standard business or engagement principles and objectives that are informally modeled within the core content metamodel
  • When organizations have conflicting drivers and objectives and that conflict needs to be understood and addressed in a structured form
  • When service levels are unknown or unclear

The benefits of using this extension are as follows:

  • Highlights misalignment of priorities across the enterprise and how these intersect with shared services (e.g., some organizations may be attempting to reduce costs, while others are attempting to increase capability)
  • Shows competing demands for business services in a more structured fashion, allowing compromise service levels to be defined

In addition to the extensions described here, organizations wishing to focus on architecture modeling of business motivation should also consult:

Required Changes to the Metamodel

Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are shown in Figure 34-16.

 

Figure 34-16: Motivation Extensions: Changes to Metamodel
Changes to the metamodel entities and relationships are as follows:

  • Driver, Goal, and Objective are added as new entities that link Organization Unit to Business Service.

Changes to the metamodel attributes are as follows:

  • Attributes are added for the new metamodel entities of Driver, Goal, and Objective.

Additional diagrams to be created are as follows:

  • Goal/Objective/Service diagram

34.5 Content Metamodel Entities

The following table lists and describes the entities within the content metamodel.

 

Metamodel Entity

Description

Actor

A person, organization, or system that has a role 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. In the automotive industry, an original equipment manufacturer would be considered an actor by an automotive dealership that interacts with its supply chain activities.

Application Component

An encapsulation of application functionality aligned to implementation structure. For example, a purchase request processing application.

See also Logical Application Component and Physical Application Component.

Assumption

A statement of probable fact that has not been fully validated at this stage, due to external constraints. For example, it may be assumed that an existing application will support a certain set of functional requirements, although those requirements may not yet have been individually validated.

Business Service

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

Capability

A business-focused outcome that is delivered by the completion of one or more work packages. Using a capability-based planning approach, change activities can be sequenced and grouped in order to provide continuous and incremental business value.

Constraint

An external factor that prevents an organization from pursuing particular approaches to meet its goals. For example, customer data is not harmonized within the organization, regionally or nationally, constraining the organization’s ability to offer effective customer service.

Contract

An agreement between a service consumer and a service provider that establishes functional and non-functional parameters for interaction.

Control

A decision-making step with accompanying decision logic used to determine execution approach for a process or to ensure that a process complies with governance criteria. For example, a sign-off control on the purchase request processing process that checks whether the total value of the request is within the sign-off limits of the requester, or whether it needs escalating to higher authority.

Data Entity

An encapsulation of data that is recognized by a business domain expert as a thing. Logical data entities can be tied to applications, repositories, and services and may be structured according to implementation considerations.

Driver

An external or internal condition that motivates the organization to define its goals. An example of an external driver is a change in regulation or compliance rules which, for example, require changes to the way an organization operates; i.e., Sarbanes-Oxley in the US.

Event

An organizational state change that triggers processing events; may originate from inside or outside the organization and may be resolved inside or outside the organization.

Function

Delivers business capabilities closely aligned to an organization, but not necessarily explicitly governed by the organization. Also referred to as “business function”.

Gap

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.

Note:
Gap analysis is described in Part III, 27. Gap Analysis.

Goal

A high-level statement of intent or direction for an organization. Typically used to measure success of an organization.

Information System
Service

The automated elements of a business service. An information system service may deliver or support part or all of one or more business services.

Location

A place where business activity takes place and can be hierarchically decomposed.

Logical Application
Component

An encapsulation of application functionality that is independent of a particular implementation. For example, the classification of all purchase request processing applications implemented in an enterprise.

Logical Data
Component

A boundary zone that encapsulates related data entities to form a logical location to be held; for example, external procurement information.

Logical Technology
Component

An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that is independent of a particular product. A class of technology product; for example, supply chain management software as part of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite, or a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) purchase request processing enterprise service.

Measure

An indicator or factor that can be tracked, usually on an ongoing basis, to determine success or alignment with objectives and goals.

Objective

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 2009 to support the planned increase in market share”.

Organization Unit

A self-contained unit of resources with goals, objectives, and measures. Organization units may include external parties and business partner organizations.

Physical Application
Component

An application, application module, application service, or other deployable component of functionality. For example, a configured and deployed instance of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) supply chain management application.

Physical Data
Component

A boundary zone that encapsulates related data entities to form a physical location to be held. For example, a purchase order business object, comprising purchase order header and item business object nodes.

Physical Technology
Component

A specific technology infrastructure product or technology infrastructure product instance. For example, a particular product version of a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution, or a specific brand and version of server.

Platform Service

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

Principle

A qualitative statement of intent that should be met by the architecture. Has at least a supporting rationale and a measure of importance.

Note:
A sample set of architecture principles is defined in Part III, 23. Architecture Principles.

Process

A process represents flow of control between or within functions and/or services (depends on the granularity of definition).

Processes represent a sequence of activities that together achieve a specified outcome, can be decomposed into sub-processes, and can show operation of a function or service (at next level of detail). Processes may also be used to link or compose organizations, functions, services, and processes.

Product

Output generated by the business. The business product of the execution of a process.

Requirement

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

Role

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.

See also Actor.

Service

An element of behavior that provides specific functionality in response to requests from actors or other services. A service delivers or supports business capabilities, has an explicitly defined interface, and is explicitly governed. Services are defined for business, information systems, and platforms.

Service Quality

A preset configuration of non-functional attributes that may be assigned to a service or service contract.

Technology Component

An encapsulation of technology infrastructure that represents a class of technology product or specific technology product.

Work Package

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.

 

34.6 Content Metamodel Attributes

The following table shows typical attributes for each of the metamodel entities described previously.

 

Metamodel Entity Attribute

Description

 

All Metamodel Entities

ID

Unique identifier for the architecture entity

Name

Brief name of the architecture entity

Description

Textual description of the architecture entity.

Category

User-definable categorization taxonomy for each metamodel entity.

Source

Location from where the information was collected.

Owner

Owner of the architecture entity.

Capability

Business value

Describes how this capability provides value to the enterprise.

Increments

Lists possible maturity/quality levels for the capability.

Constraint

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Gap

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Location

Category

The following categories of Location apply: Region (applies to a grouping of countries or territory; e.g., South East Asia, UK, and Ireland), Country (applies to a single country; e.g., US), Building (applies to a site of operation; where several offices are collected in a single city, this category may represent a city), and Specific Location (applies to any specific location within a building, such as a server room). The nature of the business may introduce other Locations: Ship or Port for a ferry company, Mine for a gold company, Car for a police force, Hotel for any firm’s traveling workers, and so on.

Principle

Category

The following categories of principle apply: Guiding Principle, Business Principle, Data Principle, Application Principle, Integration Principle, Technology Principle.

Priority

Priority of this principle relative to other principles.

Statement of principle

Statement of what the principle is.

Rationale

Statement of why the principle is required and the outcome to be reached.

Implication

Statement of what the principle means in practical terms.

Metric

Identifies mechanisms that will be used to measure whether the principle has been met or not.

Requirement

Statement of requirement

Statement of what the requirement is, including a definition of whether the requirement shall be met, should be met, or may be met.

Rationale

Statement of why the requirement exists.

Acceptance criteria

Statement of what tests will be carried out to ensure that the requirement will be met.

Actor

# FTEs

Estimated number of FTEs that operate as this Actor.

Actor goal

Objectives that this actor has, in general terms.

Actor tasks

Tasks that this actor performs, in general terms.

Business Service

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Contract

Behavior characteristics

Functional behavior to be supported within the scope of the contract.

Service name “caller”

Consuming service.

Service name “called”

Providing service.

Service quality characteristics

Non-functional behavior to be supported within the scope of the contract.

Availability characteristics

Degree to which something is available for use.

Service times

Hours during which the service must be available.

Manageability characteristics

Ability to gather information about the state of something and control it.

Serviceability characteristics

Ability to identify problems and take corrective action, such as to repair or upgrade a component in a running system.

Performance characteristics

Ability of a component to perform its tasks in an appropriate time.

Response requirements

Response times that the service provider must meet for particular operations.

Reliability characteristics

Resistance to failure.

Quality of information required

Contracted requirements on accuracy and completeness of information.

Contract control requirements

Level of governance and enforcement applied to the contractual parameters for overall service.

Result control requirements

Measures in place to ensure that each service request meets contracted criteria.

Recoverability characteristics

Ability to restore a system to a working state after an interruption.

Locatability characteristics

Ability of a system to be found when needed.

Security characteristics

Ability of a system to prevent unauthorized access to functions and data.

Privacy characteristics

Protection of data from unauthorized access.

Integrity characteristics

Ability of a system to ensure that data has not been corrupted.

Credibility characteristics

Ability of a system to ensure that the service request originates from an authorized source.

Localization characteristics

Ability of a service to support localized variants for different consumer groups.

Internationalization characteristics

Ability of a service to support international variations in business logic and data representation (such as character set).

Interoperability characteristics

Ability of the service to interoperate with different technical environments, inside and outside of the organization.

Scalability characteristics

Ability of the service to grow or shrink its performance or capacity appropriately to the demands of the environment in which it operates.

Portability characteristics

Of data, people, applications, and components.

Extensibility characteristics

Ability to accept new functionality.

Capacity characteristics

Contracted capacity of the service provider to meet requests.

Throughput

Required throughput capacity.

Throughput period

Time period needed to deliver throughput capacity.

Growth

Expected future growth rate of service request.

Growth period

Time period needed to reach the expected growth rate.

Peak profile short term

Short-term profile of peak service traffic.

Peak profile long term

Long-term profile of peak service traffic.

Control

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Driver

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Event

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Function

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Goal

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Measure

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Objective

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Organization Unit

Headcount

Number of FTEs working within the organization.

Process

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Process criticality

Criticality of this process to business operations.

Manual or automated

Whether this process is supported by IT or is a manual process.

Process volumetrics

Data on frequency of process execution.

Product

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Role

Estimated number of FTEs that operate in this Role

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Service Quality

No additional attributes

This metamodel entity has only basic attributes.

Service

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Application Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Information System
Service

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Logical Application
Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Physical Application
Component

Lifecycle status

Proposed, In Development, Live, Phasing Out, Retired.

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Initial live date

Date when the first release of the application was/will be released into production.

Date of last release

Date when the last release of the application was released into production.

Date of next release

Date when the next release of the application will be released into production.

Retirement date

Date when the application was/will be retired.

Availability characteristics

Degree to which something is available for use.

Service times

Hours during which the application must be available.

Manageability characteristics

Ability to gather information about the state of something and control it.

Serviceability characteristics

Ability to identify problems and take corrective action, such as to repair or upgrade a component in a running system.

Performance characteristics

Ability of a component to perform its tasks in an appropriate time.

Reliability characteristics

Resistance to failure.

Recoverability characteristics

Ability to restore a system to a working state after an interruption.

Locatability characteristics

Ability of a system to be found when needed.

Security characteristics

Ability of a system to prevent unauthorized access to functions and data.

Privacy characteristics

Protection of data from unauthorized access.

Integrity characteristics

Ability of a system to ensure that data has not been corrupted.

Credibility characteristics

Ability of a system to ensure that the service request originates from an authorized source.

Localization characteristics

Ability of a service to support localized variants for different consumer groups.

Internationalization characteristics

Ability of a service to support international variations in business logic and data representation (such as character set).

Interoperability characteristics

Ability of the service to interoperate with different technical environments, inside and outside of the organization.

Scalability characteristics

Ability of the service to grow or shrink its performance or capacity appropriately to the demands of the environment in which it operates.

Portability characteristics

Of data, people, applications, and components.

Extensibility characteristics

Ability to accept new functionality.

Capacity characteristics

Contracted capacity of the service provider to meet requests.

Throughput

Required throughput capacity.

Throughput period

Time period needed to deliver throughput capacity.

Growth

Expected future growth rate of service request.

Growth period

Time period needed to reach the expected growth rate.

Peak profile short term

Short-term profile of peak service traffic.

Peak profile long term

Long-term profile of peak service traffic.

Data Entity

Category

The following categories of data entity apply: Message, Internally Stored Entity.

Privacy classification

Level of restriction placed on access to the data.

Retention classification

Level of retention to be placed on the data.

Logical Data
Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Physical Data
Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Logical Technology
Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Category

Logical Technology Components are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.

Physical Technology
Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Standard creation date

If the product is a standard, when the standard was created.

Last standard review date

Last date that the standard was reviewed.

Next standard review date

Next date for the standard to be reviewed.

Retire date

Date when the standard was/will be retired.

Category

Physical Technology Components are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.

Product name

Name of the product making up the technology component.

Module name

Module, or other sub-product, name making up the technology component.

Vendor

Vendor providing the technology component.

Version

Version of the product making up the technology component.

Platform Service

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Category

Platform Services are categorized according to the TOGAF TRM, which may be extended to meet the needs of an individual organization.

Technology Component

Standards class

Non-Standard, Proposed Standard, Provisional Standard, Standard, Phasing-Out Standard, Retired Standard.

Work Package

Category

The following categories of work package apply: Work Package, Work Stream, Project, Program, Portfolio.

Capability delivered

Describes the contribution this work package makes to capability delivery.

 

34.7 Metamodel Relationships

 

Source Entity

Target Entity

Name

Extension Module

Actor

Event

Generates

Process

Actor

Event

Resolves

Process

Actor

Function

Interacts with

Core

Actor

Function

Performs

Core

Actor

Location

Operates in

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Actor

Organization Unit

Belongs to

Core

Actor

Process

Participates in

Core

Actor

Role

Performs task in

Core

Actor

Service

Consumes

Core

Actor

Actor

Decomposes

Core

Actor

Data Entity

Supplies/Consumes

Core

Capability

Work Package

Is delivered by

Core

Contract

Service

Governs and Measures

Governance

Contract

Service Quality

Meets

Governance

Control

Process

Ensures correct operation of

Process

Data Entity

Logical Application
Component

Is processed by

Core

Data Entity

Logical Data
Component

Resides within

Data

Data Entity

Service

Is accessed and updated through

Core

Data Entity

Data Entity

Decomposes

Core

Data Entity

Data Entity

Relates to

Core

Driver

Goal

Creates

Motivation

Driver

Organization Unit

Motivates

Motivation

Driver

Driver

Decomposes

Motivation

Event

Actor

Is resolved by

Process

Event

Actor

Is generated by

Process

Event

Process

Is resolved by

Process

Event

Process

Is generated by

Process

Event

Service

Is resolved by

Process

Function

Actor

Supports

Core

Function

Actor

Is performed by

Core

Function

Organization Unit

Is owned by

Core

Function

Process

Supports

Core

Function

Process

Is realized by

Core

Function

Role

Can be accessed by

Core

Function

Service

Is bounded by

Core

Function

Function

Decomposes

Core

Function

Function

Communicates with

Core

Goal

Driver

Addresses

Motivation

Goal

Objective

Is realized through

Motivation

Goal

Goal

Decomposes

Motivation

Location

Actor

Contains

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Location

Organization Unit

Contains

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Location

Physical Application
Component

Contains

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Location

Physical Data Component

Contains

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Location

Physical Technology
Component

Contains

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Location

Location

Decomposes

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Logical Application
Component

Data Entity

Operates on

Core

Logical Application
Component

Physical Application
Component

Is extended by

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Logical Application
Component

Service

Implements

Core

Logical Application
Component

Logical Application
Component

Decomposes

Core

Logical Application
Component

Logical Application
Component

Communicates with

Core

Logical Data
Component

Data Entity

Encapsulates

Data

Logical Data
Component

Physical Data Component

Is extended by

Data

Logical Technology
Component

Physical Technology
Component

Is extended by

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Logical Technology
Component

Platform Service

Supplies

Core

Logical Technology
Component

Service

Provides platform for

Core

Logical Technology
Component

Logical Technology
Component

Decomposes

Core

Logical Technology
Component

Logical Technology
Component

Is dependent on

Core

Measure

Objective

Sets performance criteria for

Governance

Measure

Service

Sets performance criteria for

Governance

Measure

Measure

Decomposes

Governance

Objective

Goal

Realizes

Motivation

Objective

Measure

Is tracked against

Governance

Objective

Objective

Decomposes

Motivation

Organization Unit

Actor

Contains

Core

Organization Unit

Driver

Is motivated by

Core

Organization Unit

Function

Owns

Core

Organization Unit

Location

Operates in

Core

Organization Unit

Product

Produces

Core

Organization Unit

Service

Owns and Governs

Core

Organization Unit

Organization Unit

Decomposes

Core

Physical Application
Component

Location

Is hosted in

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Physical Application
Component

Logical Application
Component

Extends

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Physical Application
Component

Physical Data
Component

Encapsulates

Data Modeling

Physical Application
Component

Physical Technology
Component

Is realized by

Core

Physical Application
Component

Physical Application
Component

Decomposes

Core

Physical Application
Component

Physical Application
Component

Communicates with

Core

Physical Data
Component

Location

Is hosted in

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Physical Data
Component

Logical Data
Component

Extends

Data

Physical Data
Component

Physical Data
Component

Decomposes

Core

Physical Data
Component

Physical Application
Component

Encapsulates

Data Modeling

Physical Technology
Component

Location

Is hosted in

Infrastructure Consolidation

Physical Technology
Component

Physical Application
Component

Realizes

Core

Physical Technology
Component

Logical Technology
Component

Extends

Infrastructure
Consolidation

Physical Technology
Component

Physical Technology
Component

Decomposes

Core

Physical Technology
Component

Physical Technology
Component

Is dependent on

Core

Platform Service

Logical Technology
Component

Is supplied by

Core

Process

Actor

Involves

Core

Process

Control

Is guided by

Process

Process

Event

Generates

Process

Process

Event

Resolves

Process

Process

Function

Orchestrates

Core

Process

Function

Decomposes

Core

Process

Product

Produces

Process

Process

Service

Orchestrates

Core

Process

Service

Decomposes

Core

Process

Process

Decomposes

Core

Process

Process

Precedes/Follows

Core

Product

Organization Unit

Is produced by

Process

Product

Process

Is produced by

Process

Role

Actor

Is performed by

Core

Role

Function

Accesses

Core

Role

Role

Decomposes

Core

Service

Actor

Is provided to

Core

Service

Contract

Is governed and measured by

Governance

Service

Data Entity

Provides

Core

Service

Data Entity

Consumes

Core

Service

Event

Resolves

Process

Service

Function

Provides governed interface to access

Core

Service

Logical Application
Component

Is realized through

Core

Service

Logical Technology
Component

Is implemented on

Core

Service

Measure

Is tracked against

Governance

Service

Organization Unit

Is owned and governed by

Core

Service

Process

Supports

Core

Service

Process

Is realized by

Core

Service

Service Quality

Meets

Governance

Service

Service

Consumes

Core

Service

Service

Decomposes

Core

Service Quality

Contract

Applies to

Governance

Service Quality

Service

Applies to

Governance

Work Package

Capability

Delivers

Core

 


Footnotes
  1. Refer to www.omg.org/spec/SPEM.

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