TOGAF 9.0 Released February 2, 2009

The Open Group announced the release of the latest version of The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), 9.0, during the 21st Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference in San Diego this week. It is available for download at http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf/.

During a briefing with The Open Group representatives last month, EAdirections learned about the improvements and additional components of TOGAF 9.0:

o The Architecture Content Framework, contributed by Capgemini, is a structured metamodel for architectural artifacts, intended to help an organization organize and relate the artifacts that they create. This is different than the reference models, TRM and III-RM, as they are targeted at organizing and related topical areas.
o The Architecture Capability Framework is intended to provide better guidance in the area of skills, organization, roles and responsibilities of architects, and a process for defining an appropriate architecture capability for your organization.
o Enhanced guidance on the usage of the Architecture Development Method, including the use of iterations, partitioning, applying TOGAF to different levels of architecture, and dealing with the specifics of different architecture styles, specifically security architecture and SOA.
o More, both explicit and implicit, improvements in the positioning of TOGAF as a toolset for ENTEPRISE architecture …. which, of course, we will be very interested in.

TOGAF has fundamentally not changed. The views, definitions, and perspectives that have characterized TOGAF for many years are the same. We have spoken to our impressions of TOGAF in support of Enterprise Architecture efforts many times, most notably in a webinar and corresponding survey in September, 2008. Our initial impressions of TOGAF 9’s changes are that they are all steps in the right direction, without having looked at the details yet. We will be conducting a more detailed review and making our findings know in the second quarter of 2009. If you have questions between now and then, don’t hesitate to contact Tim Westbrock at twestbrock@EAdirections.com.

Directions: EA practitioners should be aware of and investigate the features of TOGAF 9, with an eye towards the continued evolution of TOGAF as an EA toolset.