Complete coverage with Zachman framework
This framework was originally conceived by John Zachman at IBM in the eighties. Zachman framework has become virtually the world standard for expressing and laying out the framework for enterprise architecture and has the tools every enterprise architect needs.
It provides a highly structured way of viewing an enterprise. It consists of a two dimensional classification model based on the intersection of six communication questions (What, Where, When, Why, Who and How) with six models according to stakeholder groups (Visionary, Owner, Designer, Builder, Implementer and Worker) to represent the complete functioning of the enterprise.
The strong point of this Framework is that it represents the only complete, non-redundant, and detailed coverage of an organization. Enterprise architecture, defined in terms of this framework, leads to the acknowledgement that there is more to an organization than mere data and functions. There are numerous other issues, multiple locations and timing factors to consider while planning its development.
Enterprise architecture defined for you
EA helps in laying out a clear framework of a company's structure, personnel, technology and business. Enterprise architecture defined thus provides a graphic detail of an organization's working and helps in planning and improving for optimizing business. It provides a comprehensive view of the policies, principles, services and solutions, standards and guidelines in an enterprise. It promotes and aligns IT initiatives throughout the enterprise.
EA thus promotes business optimization by addressing business and information technology architecture, performance management, organizational structure and processes. It employs various frameworks, like the Zachman framework, to describe an organization's present and future structure and behavior so that they are consistent with its strategic direction.
The primary objective of EA is to clearly lay out the goals of the enterprise, its critical components and to define them in their relationship with other components.