Explain Zachman's framework

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written 7.9 years ago by

teamques10 ★ 68k

Zachman's framework:

The Framework as it applies to Enterprises is simply a logical structure for classifying and organizing the descriptive representations of an Enterprise that are significant to the management of the Enterprise as well as to the development of the Enterprise's systems.
It uses a grid model based around 6 basic questions (What, How, Where, Who, When and Why) asked of 5 nominated stakeholder groups (Planner, Owner, Designer, Builder and Subcontractor) to give a holistic view of the enterprise which is being modeled.
This framework enables senior business managers and IT professionals to understand the implications of key business and IT strategies that must be established for turbulent times.
The framework is helpful for sorting out very complex, technology and methodology choices and issues that are significant both to general management and to technology management.
"One of the best foundations for an architecture that aligns IT to business. This will help you to create a model that can grow and change as fast as the market evolves".

The Zachman Framework has become standard for Enterprise Architecture for aligning the business goals with Information Technology Investments world over.

The real strength of this framework

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It is product neutral

Simple, logical model. Not technical
It is a language that helps people think about complex concepts and communicate in non-technical terminology.
It is a Planning Tool
It is a Problem Solving tool that enables abstraction and simplification without neglecting the complexity of the Enterprise as a whole

Scope

The Zachman Framework describes a holistic model of an enterprise's information infrastructure from six perspectives:

Planner
Owner
Designer,
builder
subcontractor and
the working system.

There is no guidance on sequence, process or implementation of the framework. The focus is on ensuring that all aspects of an enterprise are well-organized and exhibit clear relationships that will ensure a complete system regardless of the order in which they are established.

Principles

By defining clear architectural design principles, Zachman ensures that any tailored or extended implementation will be equally well built as long as the designer and builder continue to follow the rules.
The major principles that guide the application of the Zachman Framework include:
The Zachman framework is a great way to think about the relationships between systems, data, processes and business. A complete system can be modeled by depicting answers to the questions why, who, what, how, where and when.
The six perspectives capture all the critical models required for system development.

The constraints for each perspective are additive; those of a lower row are added to those of the rows above to provide a growing number of restrictions.
The columns represent different abstractions in an effort to reduce the complexity of any single model that is built. The columns have no order.
The model in each column must be unique.
Each row represents a unique perspective.
Each cell is unique.
The inherent logic is recursive.

Structure

The Zachman Framework is a simple concept with powerful implications. By understanding any particular aspect of a system at any point in its development, system designers construct a tool that can be very useful in making decisions about changes or extensions. The framework contains 6 rows and 6 columns yielding 36 unique cells or aspects. This can be seen in the framework diagram.

The rows are separated as follows:

The Zachman Framework

Rows	Description
1. Scope	Corresponds to an executive summary for a planner who wants an estimate of the size, cost and functionality of the system.
2. Business model	shows all the business entities and processes and how they interact
3. System model	Used by a systems analyst who must determine the data elements and software functions that represent the business model.
4. Technology model	considers the constraints of tools, technology and materials
5. Components	Represent individual, independent modules that can be,allocated to contractors for implementation.
6. Working system	depicts the operational system.

The columns are separated as follows:

Columns	Description
Who	Represents the people relationships within the enterprise. The design of the enterprise organization has to do with the allocation of work and the structure of authority and responsibility. The vertical dimension represents delegation of authority and the horizontal represents the assignment of responsibility.
When	Represents time, or the event relationships that establish performance criteria and quantitative levels for enterprise resources. This is useful for designing the master schedule, the processing architecture, control architecture and timing devices.
Why	Describes the motivations of the enterprise. This reveals the,enterprise goals and objectives, business plan, knowledge,architecture and knowledge design.
What	Describes the entities involved in each perspective of the enterprise. Examples include business objects, system data, relational tables or field definitions.
How	Shows the functions within each perspective. Examples include,business processes, software application function, computer,hardware function and language control loop.
Where	Shows locations and interconnections within the enterprise. This includes major business geographical locations, separate sections within a logistics network, allocation of system nodes or even,memory addresses within the system

The top two rows are intensively business-oriented and can be expressed in business-oriented vocabularies, while the bottom three rows are in the technical domain. The third row acts as a bridge between the business and technical models.

The order of the columns could be rearranged e.g. motivation column could be designated as first column. The requirements are captured in the "why" column and the actors are associated with the "who" column. Because, it is generally recommended that service identification precede objects, then the how and what columns can follow. Regardless of the chosen order, note that the columns are related as in the software: the data represent inputs and outputs of the services.

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