In this article, we take a look at Business Architecture and examine some of the frequently asked questions we receive on the topic. 

What is Business Architecture?
According to TOGAF, Business Architecture “defines the business strategy, governance, organization, and key business processes”. TOGAF refers to Business Architecture as one of the four architecture domains which represent the subsets of the overall enterprise architecture with the other three architecture domains being Application Architecture, Data Architecture, and Technology Architecture. The key element of TOGAF, the Architecture Development Method (ADM), identifies the development of a Business Architecture as a necessary prerequisite for defining and developing other architecture domains and provides guidance in regard to the steps involved in each phase of the ADM and the common artifacts that are produced.

What is a Business Architecture Framework?
A Business Architecture Framework is a framework for structuring and understanding business, information, and technology patterns and how they work together to achieve strategic and tactical goals.

The goal of a Business Architecture Framework is to;

• Connect strategy with operations and projects in strong meaningful ways
• Create and understand business patterns, from chaos to order
• Have a common, coherent perspective; preventing fragmentation

What is Enterprise Business Architecture?
The Enterprise Business Architecture defines the enterprise value streams, their relationships to all external entities and other enterprise value streams, and the events that trigger instantiation. 

The goal of Enterprise Business Architecture is to;

• Define the formal link between the enterprise business strategy and the results predicted from supporting strategic initiatives. 
• Formally engineer solutions that directly link to the desired results defined by the enterprise strategy.

What is a Business Architecture Model?
A Business Architecture Model can be a variety of modeling tools and techniques.

Here are a few example types of a Business Architecture Model;

• Business Process Models: describe the functions associated with the enterprise’s business activities, the data and/or information exchanged between activities (internal exchanges), and the data and/or information exchanged with other activities that are outside the scope of the model (external exchanges).
• Use-Case Models: describe either business processes or systems functions, depending on the focus of the modeling effort. 
• Class Models: Similar to logical data models, a class model describes static information and relationships between information. 
• For information on our business architecture training courses, please click here.