A business-driven Enterprise Architecture provides an organization with an organization-scale blueprint -- or architecture --for their information infrastructure. Or, to put it in John Zachman’s words, "If you are going to build a log cabin, go cut logs! However, if you want to build a skyscraper, you had better have an architecture!"

It has been our experience that no matter where you start in your application development activities, you will soon find yourself making certain "assumptions" about things not under your control or outside of your system design scope. To confirm or validate these assumptions, you find yourself moving up the Zachman rows and/or across the columns to capture the true drivers for the system: who? what? where? when? why? and how?

This means coordinating with the affected or interested business experts, system users, and management. Again, in John’s words, "Top-Down vs. Bottom-up is merely a Risk Management exercise. Without a comprehensive architecture you may find yourself paving over the cowpaths of yesteryear or enabling the organization to make some of the same mistakes of the past...only faster!"

In 1987 John wrote, "To keep the business from disintegrating, the concept of an information systems architecture is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity." From that assertion nearly 10 years ago, the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture has evolved and become the model around which major organizations view and communicate their enterprise information infrastructure. The Zachman Framework draws upon the discipline of classical architecture to establish a common vocabulary and set perspectives--a framework--for defining and describing today’s complex enterprise systems. Enterprise Architecture provides the blueprint--or architecture--for the organization’s information infrastructure and provides a framework for complexity and change management.

In today’s world, change is the only constant, and the ability to manage that change, is the only competitive advantage. There are very few opportunities for a "sustainable" competitive advantage. Survival is dependent upon knowing your enterprise, your organization, your world, and how change affects it. An Enterprise Information Architecture can help, but it must be an architecture that is shared throughout the organization; one that reflects the " business of the business." The architecture serves as a guide for providing the information required to run a successful business.

Today the Zachman Framework has become a standard used by many of most successful organizations in the world. Evidence of the acceptance of the Framework has been apparent at the annual forums conducted by the Zachman Institute for Framework Advancement (ZIFA). At each forum, over 100 attendees heard presentations on the many different aspects and practical uses of the Framework. Representatives of companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Federal Express, Gartner Group, Boeing Defense and Space, Hewlett-Packard, Spectrum Technologies, Sprint, Microsoft, Terra Industries, the State of Washington, US Air Force Medical Services, and many others made presentations and participated in roundtable discussions led by other practitioners and experts.

The mission of ZIFA is, "to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience in the use, implementation, and advancement of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture." Furthermore, the Institute provides an opportunity for "true believers" to share their common perspective that the future of the enterprise depends on the concept of enterprise architecture.

The architecture serves as an "enterprise blueprint." It is a repository for designs and specifications of physical data structures and applications, as well as business plans, data models, and process models. Furthermore, it serves as a map of all the linkages among business initiatives, data required to support those initiatives, business processes that use the data, and physical information systems that support data requirements and processes.

These links make the architecture a powerful vehicle for information resource and technology management. For example, by providing a complete picture of data and processes – across information systems and functions – it enables an organization to identify and control redundancy in data and functionality. By incorporating links between business initiatives and information structures and systems, it provides a business goal-driven framework for reengineering and integrating existing information systems. The comprehensive logical description of the data enables the organization to maximize reusability and portability of data structures and processes. The architecture also enables impact analyses both prior to and during implementation of business or technology changes, to examine potential and actual effects of new business requirements (e.g., Legislative initiatives) on information resources, and impact of proposed or actual system changes on business plans and requirements.