Zachman framework

Zachman Framework tells us what kinds of documents are required to describe complex organizations.

Overview
Zachman Framework is the first framework to consider EA (Enterprise Architecture) and was invented in 1987 by John A Zachman, who was a consultant in IBM. It categolizes and organizes ranges and relations of all elements so that organizations with complex structures can be systematically described and observed. Zackman Framework consists of one simple 6x6 matrix, and it encourages abstraction and generalization.

Because of its simple structure, Zachman Framework can be widely applied. It can not only analyze information systems in organizations but also be utilized for analyses of all kinds of products and projects. Therefore, it is very helpful when we need to check the progress of prehension about the overall structure of an organization. In addition, since it has a exhaustive and comprehensive stracture, it can prevent required outcomes from being overlooked. Furthermore, because it is an open framework and does not depend on specific venders, products or users' business models, it facilitates communication among concerned parties.

Relationship with EA
EA is a framework for companies and government agencies to improve business and systems by systematically describing the entire organization and organizing it hierarchically. EA is a generic name for frameworks derived from Zachman Framework. By following the framework to categorize constituent elements of actual organizations and plugging the elements into the framework, we can organize and analyze the strustures to grasp the entire structure of the organizations. Zachman Framework itself does not have concrete procedures, definitions of outcomes, or helpful parts of outcomes at all. Thus, some people say that it is not necessarily useful for people in charge of EA establishment because it is highly abstract. Thereby, a number of researchers are working on development of various frameworks.


It represents whose point of view it is.
 * Planner's Point of View: Clarify ranges and constituent elements to be taken care of
 * Owner's Point of View: Clarify the ultimate products from the user's point of view, what is achieved, and how it is done
 * Designer's Point of View: Design products in the logical level by reconciling users' needs and technical constrants from engineers' and IT architects' points of view
 * Architect's Point of View: Design products by taking physical constrants etc. upon actually creating products into consideration
 * Subcontractor's Point of View: Determine the details required when embodying blueprints as actual products


It represents what is seen. It shows the focuses to be discussed expertly.
 * What: Entity and Relationship
 * How: Process and I/O
 * Where: Node and Link
 * Who: Particilant and Task
 * When: Time and Cycle
 * Why: Goal and Measure


It makes abstract contents determined by the combination of points of view and 5W1H concrete based on the events to which the framework is applied. In genrral, UML coverns only the red cells in Figure 1. When drawing this table, you can either fill out all the cells from the first row or start from arbitrary cells.

Frameworks Based on Zachman Framework
Here are some examples of frameworks based on Zachman Framework.
 * TOGAF developed by The Open Group, a private IT standardizing organization
 * DODAF developed by the U.S. government
 * FEAF developed by the U.S. government
 * Guideline for EA Establishment by Japanese government

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