Week 10 TOGAF Advantages and Cost

Week 10

TOGAF Advantages and Cost

What is TOGAF?

The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), established in 1995, is one the most popular EA tools of today. TOGAF, which is based on iterative process model, provides approaches to design, evaluate, and build an effective architecture. The key to TOGAF is Architecture Development Method: a reliable, effective method to develop architecture, which could meet the business demand of companies. Even though there are a lot of EA frameworks to choose, TOGAF is widely used mostly. Over 80 percent of top 50 companies are using the TOGAF and it support SOA, which provides the possibility of improving current situation at a lower cost.  

Generally speaking, TOGAF contains the elements as followed:

1.       ADM, as described below, is used to develop enterprise architecture

Figure1 Architecture Development Method[i]

2.       Architecture contents framework provides a detail architecture model, including deliverables, elements of architecture:

Figure2 Architecture content framework

3.       TOGAF Reference Model: Technical Reference Model (TRM) and Integrated information infrastructure model (III-RM).

Figure 3 TOGAF reference model

4.       ADM guidelines and techniques provides a set of guides and principles to apply ADM:

Figure 4 ADM guidelines and techniques

5.       Enterprise continuum provides approaches 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.

Figure 5 Enterprise Continuum

6.       Architecture capability framework provides resources, guidelines, templates and background information to help enterprise practice improving the architecture.

Figure 6 Mature Architecture Capability

The key advantage of TOGAF is that it not only provides enterprise a clear map about its future architecture, but also provides rich resource for an enterprise to refer. Through TOGAF, enterprises will have a well understanding of its current situation and its capability to practice the architecture. The cost of TOGAF could be concluded into the following aspects:

1.       Workforce:

Employees in different departments may have to spend some time adapting to newly developed processes. Some employees have to be allocated with more responsibilities in the company’s operation.

2.       Time:

The transformation from current architecture to future architecture may take a lot of time, which means that any enterprises may have to consider the time cost before introducing TOGAF.

3.       Finance:

The finance cost would be reflected on the hiring of consultant and purchasing some TOGAF custom products. With the change of one company’s operation model, the cost may also reflect on the business process.

4.       Risk:

TOGAF does not necessarily guarantee that enterprise would have a more healthy and practical architecture. Meanwhile, there will be a huge difference among the consultant and TOGAF products you choose while practicing TOGAF methodologies, which means that executives of company have to take a full consideration of every aspects of the company before making any decision in introducing this EA tools.

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[i] Figure 4.1 – 4.6 cited from Open Group, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) Version 9, 2009,