Zachman Framework

The Zachman Framework is a framework for enterprise architecture, which provides a formal and highly structured way of viewing and defining an enterprise.

Simplified illustration of the latest 2008 socalled "Zachman Enterprise Framework" with an explaination of the rows. The original John Zachman's Concise Definition of the Enterprise Framework is more advanced, see for that definition for example here.

The Framework is used for organizing architectural "artifacts" in a way that takes into account both:

• who the artifact targets for example, business owner and builder, and
• what particular issue for example, data and functionality) is being addressed.

These artifacts may include design documents, specifications, and models.

Overview

The Zachman Framework is a schema - the intersection between two historical classifications that have been in use for literally thousands of years.

• The first is the fundamentals of communication found in the primitive interrogatives: What, How, When, Who, Where, and Why. It is the integration of answers to these questions that enables the comprehensive, composite description of complex ideas.
• The second is derived from reification, the transformation of an abstract idea into an instantiation that was initially postulated by ancient Greek philosophers and is labeled in the Framework: Identification, Definition, Representation, Specification, Configuration and Instantiation. ...

More specifically, the Zachman Framework is an ontology - a theory of the existence of a structured set of essential components of an object for which explicit expressions is necessary and perhaps even mandatory for creating, operating, and changing the object (the object being an Enterprise, a department, a value chain, a "sliver," a solution, a project, an airplane, a building, a product, a profession of whatever of whatever).

According to Zachman, this ontology was derived from analogous structures that are found in the older disciplines of Architecture/Construction and Engineering/Manufacturing that classify and organize the design artifacts created in the process of designing and producing complex physical products (e.g. buildings or airplanes). It uses a two dimensional classification model based on the six basic interrogatives (What, How, Where, Who, When, and Why) intersecting six distinct perspectives, which relate to stakeholder groups (Planner, Owner, Designer, Builder, Implementer and Worker). The intersecting cells of the Framework correspond to models which, if documented, can provide a holistic view of the enterprise.

History

The first version of the originally called "Information Systems Architecture Framework" presented by John Zachman in 1987.

Originally conceived by John Zachman at IBM in the 1980s, the Framework is often referenced as a standard approach for expressing the basic elements of enterprise architecture. The Zachman Framework has been recognized by the U.S. Federal Government as having "... received worldwide acceptance as an integrated framework for managing change in enterprises and the systems that support them."

John Zachman in 1987 describes the Framework, as it applies to enterprises. He says it is a logical structure for identifying and organizing the descriptive representations (models) that are important in the management of enterprises and to the development of the systems, both automated and manual, that comprise them".

Zachman Framework topics

The Zachman Schema

There are several versions of the diagram depicting the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture. The diagram used in this article has been adapted from an official version that includes details about the cell models and which is made available by Zachman International.

Abstraction of the socalled "Information Systems Architecture Framework" first presented by Sowa and Zachman in 1992.

The framework comes with a set of rules:

• Rule 1 The columns have no order : The columns are interchangeable but cannot be reduced or created
• Rule 2 Each column has a simple generic model : Every column can have its own meta-model
• Rule 3 The basic model of each column must be unique : The basic model of each column, the relationship objects and the structure of it is unique. Each relationship object is interdependent but the representation objective is unique.
• Rule 4 Each row describes a distinct, unique perspective : Each row describes the view of a particular business group and is unique to them. All rows are usually present in most hierarchical organization
• Rule 5 Each cell is unique : The combination of 2,3 & 4 must produce unique cells where each cell represents a particular case. Ex: A2 represents business outputs as they represent what are to be eventually constructed
• Rule 6 The composite or integration of all cell models in one row constitutes a complete model from the perspective of that row : For the same reason as for not adding rows and columns, changing the names may change the fundamental logical structure of the Framework.
• Rule 7 The logic is recursive : The logic is relational between two instances of the same entity.

The Framework is generic in that it can be used to classify the descriptive representations of any physical object as well as conceptual objects such as enterprises. It is also recursive in that it can be used to analyze the architectural composition of itself. Although, the framework will carry the relation from one column to the other it is still a fundamental structural representation of the enterprise and not a flow representation.

Enterprise Architecture

The Zachman Framework does not prescribe how any cell model is to be created, including any notation or level of detail. This is left to organizations to determine, based on the methodologies they have adopted.

Organizations that adopt the Zachman Framework approach to enterprise architecture for engineering their enterprises require a methodology for carrying out the following functions:

1. Build primitive models
2. Store primitive models
3. Manage (enforce) primitive models
4. Change primitive models
5. Assemble composite models from primitive models (for implementations)

Use of the Zachman Framework

In the book Enterprise Architecture At Work, the advantages and disadvantages of using this taxonomy for developing an Enterprise Architecture are described: "The advantage of the Zachman framework is that it is easy to understand, it addresses the enterprise as a whole, it is defined independently of tools or methodologies, and any issues can be mapped against it to understand where they fit. An important drawback is the large number of cells, which is an obstacle for the practical applicability of the framework. Also the relations between the cells are not that well specified. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Zachman is to be credited with providing the first comprehensive framework for enterprise architecture, and his work is still widely used".

See also

• Data model
• Enterprise Architecture framework
• Enterprise Architecture Planning
• FDIC Enterprise Architecture Framework
• View model