The Zachman Enterprise Architecture At That Time Presented A New Model For Viewing And Communicating Information Infrastructures. Essay Sample

The word "architecture" is heard increasingly in computer circles. 20 years ago the only 'architecture' 'was designating the logical organization of computers, IBM coined in the mid-70s (Zachman, 2014).
John Zachman at IBM by 1987 deemed it necessary to structure how information systems in enterprises arose so that they allow defining the interfaces and integration of system components. Zachman proposed a neutral and objective scheme that is, facilitates defining the "information" architecture firms.
Zachman proposed a matrix that has six columns that correspond to media questions (what, how, where, who, when, why) and six rows corresponding to interest groups (visionary, owner, designer, builder, implementer or subcontractor and worker). The cells of the matrix correspond to types of models to specify the components of enterprise architecture.
Today Zachman scheme is a "de facto" standard for expressing enterprise architectures..
Worth considering achieving harmonization, alignment and integration of information systems in the company, about business processes, the data used, the functions performed, the locations where they work, organization human and business life cycles.
The schemes have ignored as this has resulted in islands of information, like concrete buildings legacy systems, technological misalignment, poor strategic planning and difficulties in technology and business integration.
In 1987, John Zachman, wrote: "To save the business of disintegration, the concept of architecture of information systems is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity." From this moment, the proposal Enterprise Architecture Zachman was developed. It became the model around which many major organizations are visualizing and communicating their information infrastructure company. The framework provides a model or architecture for current and future infrastructure of the organization of information (Sparx Systems Pty Ltd, 2015).

Instead of observing the process as a series of steps, he organized it around the points of view (perspectives) taken by the various players.

Players in the framework of the Enterprise Architecture

- Someone who has undertaken to do business in a particular industry.
- Business people management organization.
- Systems Analyst who wishes to present the business in a disciplined manner.
- Designers, applying specific technologies to solve business problems.
- System developers.
- The system itself.

The perspectives or points of view are represented as rows in the matrix (see figure below).

Zachman acknowledged that each of the participants watched the same categories of information, presented in the columns of the matrix (Zachman, 2003).

Categories of information in the framework of the Enterprise Architecture:

- The data manipulated by an organization (what).
- Its functions and processes (how).
- Locations where the business (where) driving.
- Events that trigger business activities (when).
- People and organizations involved (who).
- Motivations and constraints which determine how the business behaves (why).

Terminology of enterprise architecture

A "business" is a business association consisting of a known group of business processes that interact. It can operate as an independent, autonomous entity, with this definition, there can be enterprises within enterprises. For example, a business unit within the business entity can be considered as a business in itself as they can operate independently. The company can also be seen as an "Extended Enterprise", meaning that the scope of the impact of an effort of enterprise architecture may also include correlations with external entities. For example, suppliers, business partners, and customers.
"Architecture" provides the underlying framework. The Framework defines and describes the required by the company so that you can achieve your goals and achieve your business vision platform. The framework can be defined as the set of principles, guidelines, policies, models, standards, and processes that, aligned with the requirements of the strategy and business information, this will be conducting the selection, creation and the implementation of the solutions that align with the future direction of the business.

The description of the rows is as follows:

Objective (Planner): Corresponds to an executive summary of a planner who wants an estimate of the size, cost and functionality of the system. Furthermore planner deals with the context of the company, its competitive environment, internal and external forces that affect their competitiveness, the positioning of its products and services, forcing him to specify its scope long term; this perspective covers the components of the strategic level
The business model (Owner): Displays all entities and business processes, and how they interact. Here the Owner relates, this is interested in operating the business, which requires modeling of the company through process models, workflow, and enterprise logistics, semantic models and business plans that allow you to control the operation of the company; This perspective focuses on the business process, which is largely the process level.
The system model (Designer) is used by systems analyst should determine the data elements and software functions that represent the business model. It deals with the specification of conceptual drawings of the information systems required to support the operation of the processes.
Technological model (Constructor) Consider the limitations of the tools, technology, and materials. The builder is responsible for the assembly and manufacture of the various components of information systems according to the constraints of the technology used
Components or detailed representations (Programmer): Individual representation of independent modules that can be assigned to contractors for the execution of tasks. The program works in manufacturing the components according to the manufacturer's specifications. The outlook for the designer, builder and developer are clearly at the level of information systems.

Working system displays the operating system.

The description of the columns is as follows:
People (Who): Represents the relationship of people within the company. The design of the business organization has to do with the allocation of work and structure of authority and responsibility. The vertical dimension represents the delegation of authority, and the horizontal represents the assignment of responsibility.
Time (When) represents the time, or if the relationships established performance criteria and quantitative levels of company resources. This is useful to design the master program processing architecture, architecture of control and timing devices.
Reasons (Why) describes the motivations of the company. This highlights the company goals and objectives, business plan, architecture knowledge and design skills.
Data (What): Describe the entities involved in each view of the company. Examples include business objects, system data, relational tables, field definitions.
Function (How): Shows the functions within each perspective. Include business processes, the function of the software application and the function of computer hardware and language control loop.
Network (Where): Shows locations and interconnections within the company. This includes important business geographic locations, separate sections within a logistics network, allocation of system nodes, or even memory addresses within the system.

Reference List

Zachman, John (2014). The Zachman Certified™ - Enterprise Architect Program. Zachman. Retrieved from www.zachman.com/zachman-certified/zachman-certified-enterprise-architect
Sparx Systems Pty Ltd (2015). Zachman Framework MDG Technology. Sparx Systems Pty Ltd. Retieved from Sparx Systems Pty Ltd
Zachman, John (2003). The Zachman Framework For Enterprise Architecture. Business Rules Group. Retrieved from http://www.businessrulesgroup.org/BRWG_RFI/ZachmanBookRFIextract.pdf