- Authors:
- Col Perks,
- Tony Beveridge
From the Publisher:
IT architecture is a critical tool that defines the components or building blocks that comprise an organization's overall information system. This guide provides a comprehensive and practical introduction and reference for the IT architecture design of an enterprise organization's information system.
Covering the full spectrum of IT technical architectural concerns—-from technical issues and flexible method development to business strategy and models—-the reader is guided through the cycle of design and development with proven methods and practices. The presentation is primarily based on the method of The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) standards.
Features and topics:
*comprehensive and unified overview of all aspects of IT architecture design, implementation and strategic adaptability
*detailed examples and case studies to systematically illustrate development methods and the process cycle
*extensive summary charts, tables, and step-by-step procedures for quick use and reference
*uses the TOGAF development framework and process, the accepted international standard for an enterprise
*presents comprehensive explanation of the IT technical architecture concepts and methods
*integrates strategic issues with the context and content of IT
architecture design to ensure strategic goals are incorporated
This highly readable reference provides a rich resource of tools and strategic insights for all practitioners, professionals and developers in information technology, database systems, and enterprise systems administration. With its accessible style and intuitive topic development, the book is an authoritative guide to the power, versatility and strategic utility of IT architecture.
Cited By
- Janssen M, Flak L and SæbØ Ø Government Architecture Proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government - Volume 8074, (135-147)
- Janssen M and Klievink B ICT-project failure in public administration Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference on Public Administration Online: Challenges and Opportunities, (147-152)
- Schöenherr M Towards a Common Terminology in the Discipline of Enterprise Architecture Service-Oriented Computing --- ICSOC 2008 Workshops, (400-413)
- Pulkkinen M, Naumenko A and Luostarinen K (2007). Managing information security in a business network of machinery maintenance services business - Enterprise architecture as a coordination tool, Journal of Systems and Software, 80:10, (1607-1620), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2007.
Index Terms
- Guide to Enterprise IT Architecture
Recommendations
Reviews
Edward Baker James
As the foreword makes clear, this book is concerned mainly with promoting The Open Group's Architectural Framework (TOGAF) method for defining the operations of an enterprise. When I first analyzed business needs in 1960, there were no methods to follow. We found out what the firm needed to do, and then we realized those operations using the current electronic technology as best we could. The overall recipe for success soon became clear: you should define your business requirements as clearly as possible, and these requirements should drive the technical realization, not the other way around. TOGAF claims to provide a set of tools to enable you to do this in the best possible way. One can go too far in trying to define a complex business process in words, however. The whole approach of this book propagates the fallacy that the description of a process can be abstracted totally, as a (static) form of words, away from any consideration of its technological realization. In my experience, the building of a new system is accompanied by a learning process in those specifying requirements, such that the business needs and the realization develop together. Until there is a technical realization, at least in part, there is no feedback to correct a previous misunderstanding of needs. And the realization, as it runs, should provide the best (dynamic) model of the firm. Another fallacy is concerned with the workings of standardization committees, such as The Open Group. If, as a result of their activity, a requirements description can be rapidly and seamlessly transferred to another hardware/software realization, then surely a competitor can replace the existing system far too easily for the provider's comfort. A cynical view of a standard might be "that which is taken and added to in order to obtain commercial advantage," features beyond the standard are those that sell the system in competition with other vendors. Sadly, the only standards that persist for any length of time would seem to be de facto ones, produced by a single very successful development by a particular firm. The authors provide over 400 tightly packed pages of enthusiastic description for their chosen method. I sympathize with the authors' desire to evangelize. If anyone wishes to investigate further, I would recommend that they read a much more compact description of the TOGAF process in an earlier paper by the same authors at http://www.intelligententerprise.com/000301/feat3.shtml. Online Computing Reviews Service
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