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NIST Enterprise Architecture Model

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NIST Enterprise Architecture Model.

NIST Enterprise Architecture Model (NIST EA Model) is a late 1980s reference model for Enterprise Architecture, which defines the content of an enterprise architecture[1] in terms of interrelationship between the business, information, and technology environments of an enterprise.[2]

Developed late 1980s by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and others, this reference model in the 1990s is widely promoted within the U.S. federal government as Enterprise Architecture management tool.[2]. It is applied as foundation in multiple U.S. Federal Enterprise Architecture frameworks, such as the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework.[2]

Overview

The NIST Enterprise Architecture Model is a five-layered model for enterprise architecture, designed for organizing, planning, and building an integrated set of information and information technology architectures. The five layers are defined separately but are interrelated and interwoven.[2] This interrelation between the architecture layers is defined in the model:[3]

  • Business Architecture, which drives the information architecture
  • Information architecture, which prescribes the information systems architecture
  • Information systems architecture, which identifies the data architecture
  • Data Architecture, which suggests specific data delivery systems, and
  • Data Delivery Systems, (Software, Hardware, Communications) support the data architecture.

The hierarchy in the model is based on the notion that an organization operates a number of business functions, each function requires information from a number of source, and each of these sources may operation one or more operation systems, which in turn contain data organized and stored in any number of data systems.[4]

History

The NIST Enterprise Architecture Model is initiated in 1988 in the fifth workshop on Information Management Directions sponsored by the NIST in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the IEEE Computer Society, and the Federal Data Management Users Group (FEDMUG). The results of this research project were published as the NIST Special Publication 500-167, Information Management Directions: The Integration Challenge.[3]

The NIST had held workshops on Database and Information Management Directions since the 1970s. These workshops had each addressed a specific theme:

  • "What information about database technology does the manager need to make prudent decisions about using new technology"[5]
  • "What information can help a manager assess the impact on a database system?"[6]
  • "Information management tools from the standpoint of: uses; policies and controls; logical and physical database design"[7] ; and
  • "The nature of information resource management practice and problems."[8]

The fifth workshop focused on integration and productivity in information management. Five working groups considered specific aspects of the integration of knowledge, data management, systems planning, development and maintenance, computing environments, architectures and standards. Participants came from academia, industry, government and consulting firms. Among the over 50 participants were Tom DeMarco, Ahmed K. Elmagarmid, Elizabeth N. Fong, Andrew U. Frank[9], Robert E. Fulton[10], Alan H. Goldfine[11], Dale L. Goodhue[12], Richard J. Mayer, Shamkant Navathe, T. William Olle, W. Bradford Rigdon, Judith A. Quillard, Stanley Y. W. Su[13], and John Zachman.

NIST Enterprise Architecture Model topics

Foundations

Sample Elements of an Enterprise Architecture (1989).

In 1989 presentation of the NIST Enterprise Architecture Model Rigdon et al. (1989) [14] explained that discussions about architecture in that time mostly focus on technology concerns. Their aim was to "takes a broader view, and describes the need for an enterprise architecture that includes an emphasis on business and information requirements. These higher level issues impact data and technology architectures and decisions."[15] In order to develop an enterprise architecture Rigdon et al. (1989, p 137) acknowledge, that:

  • There are multiple ways to develop an architecture
  • There are multiple ways to implement standards
  • Development and implementation should be customized to the environment
  • Yet, every architecture itself can be divided into different levels.

The different levels of an enterprise architecture can be visualized as a pyramid with "the business unit at the top and the delivery system at the base. An enterprise is composed of one or more Business Units that are responsible for a specific business area. The five levels of architecture are Business Unit, Information, Information System, Data and Delivery System."[16]

The separate levels of an enterprise architecture are interrelated in a special way. The "depiction at one level assumes or dictates that architectures at the higher level.".[16] The illustration on the right gives an example of which elements can constitute an Enterprise Architecture.

Applications

FDIC EA Framework.[17]

The NIST Framework was picked up by several U.S. federal agencies and used as the basis for their information strategy.[18] The reference model is applicated the following frameworks:

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology

  1. ^ Chief Information Officer Council (2001) A Practical Guide to Federal Enterprise Architecture Version 1.0 Preface. February 2001.
  2. ^ a b c d e The Chief Information Officers Council (1999). Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework Version 1.1. September 1999.
  3. ^ a b Elizabeth N. Fong and Alan H. Goldfine (1989) Information Management Directions: The Integration Challenge. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 500-167, September 1989.
  4. ^ John O'Looney (2002). Wiring Governments: Challenges and Possibilities for Public Managers. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.67.
  5. ^ First workshop in 1975. See Fong and Goldfine (1989, p. 5)
  6. ^ Second workshop in 1977. See Fong and Goldfine (1989, p. 5)
  7. ^ Second workshop in 1980. See Fong and Goldfine (1989, p. 5)
  8. ^ Forth workshop in 1985. See Fong and Goldfine (1989, p. 5)
  9. ^ Frank, Andrew U. Research Group Geoinformation, Vienna. Accessed JUly 15, 2013.
  10. ^ David Terraso (2004) "Robert Fulton, 72, dies: Engineering professor and county commissioner". at whistle.gatech.edu
  11. ^ Alan H. Goldfine at DBLP.
  12. ^ Dale Goodhue at DBLP.
  13. ^ Stanley Y. W. Su at DBLP.
  14. ^ W. Bradford Rigdon (1989) "Architectures and Standards". In: Information Management Directions: The Integration Challenge. E.N. Fong and A.H. Goldfine (eds.). NIST Sept 1989. p. 135-150
  15. ^ Rigdon (1989), p. 136
  16. ^ a b Rigdon (1989), p. 137
  17. ^ OIG (2005). Implementation of E-Government Principles. May 2005
  18. ^ "Exclusive Interview with John Zachman" by Roger Sessions. In: Perspectives of the International Association of Software Architects. April 2006.
  19. ^ Federal Aviation Administration (1998) Federal Information Architecture Initiatives. February 1998
  20. ^ Bobby Jones (2003) NWS Enterprise Architecture. In: 20th International Conference on Interactive Information and Processing Systems. 2004.
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