Foundation Study Guide

Question 1

Activity

Answer 1

A task or collection of tasks that support the function of an organization; for example, a user entering data into an IT system or traveling to visit customers

Question 2

Application

Answer 2

A deployed and operational IT system that supports business functions and services;

Question 3

Application Architectecture

Answer 3

A description of the major logical grouping of capabilities that manage the data objects necessary to process the data and support the business

Question 4

Architecture

Answer 4

Architecture has two meaning depending upon its contextual usage:

1. A formal description of a system or a detailed plan of the system at component level to guide the implementation
2. The structure of components, their inter-relationships and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time

Question 5

Architecture Continuum

Answer 5

A part of the Enterprise Continuum. A repository of architectural elements with increasing detail and specialization. This Continuum begins with foundation definitions such as reference models, core strategies and basic building blocks. From there it spans to Industry Architectures and all the way to an organization’s specific architecture.

Question 6

Architecture Building Block

Answer 6

A constituent of the architecture model that describes a single aspect of the overall model.

Question 7

Architecture Development Method (ADM)

Answer 7

The core of TOGAF. A step-by-step aproach to develop and use an enterprise architecture.

Question 8

Architecture Domain. Name the four domain.

Answer 8

The architectural area being considered. There are four architecture domains within TOGAF: Business, Data, Application, Technology (BDAT)

Question 9

Architecture Framework

Answer 9

A foundation structure, or set of structures, which can be used for developing a broad range of different architectures. It should contain a method for designing an information system in terms of a set of building blocks, and for showing how the building blocks fit together. It should contain a set of tools and provide a common vocabulary. It should also include a list of recommended standards and compliant products that can be used to implement the building blocks.

Question 10

Architecture Principles

Answer 10

A qualitative statement of intent that should be met by the architecture. Has at least a supporting rationale and a measure of importance.

Question 11

Architecture Vision

Answer 11

1. A high-level, aspirational view of the Target Architecture.
2. a phase in the ADM which delivers understanding and definition of architectural vision.
3. A specific deliverable describing the Architecture Vision.

Question 12

Baseline

Answer 12

A specification that has been formally reviewed and agreed upon, that thereafter serves as the basis for further development or change and that can be changed only through formal change control procedure or a type of procedure such as configuration management.

Question 13

Baseline Architecture

Answer 13

The existing defined system architecture before entering a cycle of architectural review and redesign.

Question 14

Building Block

Answer 14

Represents a (potential re-usable) component of business, IT, or architectural capability that can be combined with other building blocks to deliver architectures and solutions.

Question 15

Business Architecture

Answer 15

The business strategy, governance, organization, and key business processes information, as well as the interaction between these concepts.

Question 16

Business Governance

Answer 16

concerned with ensuring that the business processes and policies (and their operation) deliver the business outcomes and adhere to relevant business regulation.

Question 17

Capabilities

Answer 17

An ability that an organization, person, or system possesses. Capabilities are typically expressed in general and high-level terms and typically require a combination of organization, people, processes, and technology to achieve;

Question 18

Concerns

Answer 18

The key interests that are crucially important to the stakeholders in a system and determine the acceptability of the system. Concerns may pertain to any aspect of teh systems functioning, development, or operation, including considerations such as performance, reliability, security, distribution and evolvability.

Question 19

Constraint

Answer 19

An external factor that prevents an organization from pursuing particular approaches to meet its goal;

Question 20

Data Architecture

Answer 20

The structure of an organization’s logical and physical data assets and data management resources

Question 21

Deliverable

Answer 21

An architectural work product that is contractually specified and in turn formally reviewed, agreed, and signed off by the stakeholders. Deliverables represent the output of projects and those deliverables that are in documentation form will typically be archived at completion of a project, or transitioned into an Architecture Repository as a reference model, standard, or snapshot of the Architecture Landscape at a point in time.

Question 22

Enterprise

Answer 22

The highest level of description of an organization and typically covers all missions and functions. An enterprise will often span multiple organizations.

Question 23

Enterprise Continuum

Answer 23

A categorization mechanism useful for classifying architecture and solution artifacts, both internal and external to the Architecture Repositotry as they evolve from generic Foundation architectures to Organization-Specific Architecture

Question 24

Foundation Architecture

Answer 24

An architecture of generic services and functions that provide a foundation on which more specific architectures and architectural components can be built.

Question 25

Gap

Answer 25

A statement of difference between two states. Used in the context of gap analysis where the difference between the Baseline and Target Architecture is identified.

Question 26

Governance

Answer 26

The discipline of monitoring, managing, and steering a business to deliver the business outcome required.

Question 27

Information

Answer 27

any communication or representation of facts, data, or opinions, in any medium or form, including textual, numerical, graphic cartographic narrative or audio-visual

Question 28

Information Technology

Answer 28

The lifecycle of management of information and related technology used by an organization

Question 29

Logical (Architecture)

Answer 29

An implementation-independent definition of the architecture, often grouping related physical entities according to their purpose and structure;

Question 30

Metadata

Answer 30

Data about data, or any sort in any media, that describes the characteristics of an entity.

Question 31

Metamodel

Answer 31

A model that described how and with what the architecture will be described in a structured way.

Question 32

Method

Answer 32

A defined, repeatable approach to address a particular type of problem

Question 33

Methodology

Answer 33

a defined, repeatable series of steps to address a particular type of problem which typically centers on a defined process, but may also include definition of content.

Question 34

Model

Answer 34

A representation of a subject of interest. Provides a smaller scale, simplified and abstract representation of the subject matter.

Question 35

Modeling

Answer 35

A technique through construction of models which enables a subject to be represented in a form that enables reasoning, insight, and clarity concerning the essence of the subject matter.

Question 36

Objective

Answer 36

A time-bounded milestone for an organization use to demonstrate progress towards a goal

Question 37

Physical

Answer 37

A description of a real-world entity. Physical elements in an enterprise architecture may still be considerably abstracted from Solution Architecture, design, or implementation views.

Question 38

Reference Model

Answer 38

A reference model is an abstract framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of environment and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment. Based on a small number of unifying concepts and may be used as a basis for education and explaining standards to a non-specialist. A reference model is not directly tied to any standards, technologies, or other concrete implementation details, but it does seek to provide common semantics that can be used unambiguously across and between different implementations.

Question 39

Repository

Answer 39

A system that manages all of the data of an enterprise, including data and process models and other enterprise information. Hence, the data in a repository is much more extensive than that in a data dictionary, which generally defines only the data making up a database.

Question 40

Requirement

Answer 40

A quantitative statement of business need that must be met by a particular architecture or work package

Question 41

Segment Architecture

Answer 41

A detailed, formal description of areas within an enterprise, used at the program or portfolio level to organize and align change activity

Question 42

Solution Architecture

Answer 42

A description of a discrete and focused business operation or activity and how IS/IT supports that operation. A Solution Architecture typically applies to a single project or project release, assisting in the translation of requirement into a solution vision, high-level business and/or IT system specifications and a portfolio of implementation tasks.

Question 43

Solution Building Block

Answer 43

A Candidate physical solution for an Architecture Building Block (ABB). E.g. a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) package - that is component of the Acquirer view of the architecture.

Question 44

Solutions Continuum

Answer 44

A part of the Enterprise Continuum. A repository of re-usable solutions for future implementation efforts. It contains implementations of the corresponding definitions in the Architecture Continuum.

Question 45

Stakeholder

Answer 45

An individual, team, or organization with interests in or concerns relative to, the outcome of the architecture. Different stakeholders with different roles will have different concerns.

Question 46

Strategic Architecture

Answer 46

A summary formal description of the enterprise, providing an organizing framework for operational and change activity, and an executive-level, long-term view for direction setting.

Question 47

Target Architecture

Answer 47

The description of a future state of the architecture being developed for an organization. There may be several future states developed as a roadmap to show the evolution of the architecture to a target state.

Question 48

Technical Reference Model (TRM)

Answer 48

A structure which allows the components of an information system to be described in a consistent manner.

Question 49

Technology Architecture

Answer 49

The logical software and hardware capabilities that are required to support deployment of business, data and application services. This includes IT infrastructure, middleware, networks, communications, processing and standards.

Question 50

Transition Architecture

Answer 50

A formal description of the enterprise architecture showing periods of transition and development for particular parts of the enterprise. Used to provide an overview of current and target capability and allow for individual work packages and projects to be grouped into managed portfolios and programs

Question 51

View

Answer 51

The representation of a related set of concerns. An architecture view may be represented by a model to demonstrate to stakeholders their areas of interest in the architecture. A view does not have to be visual or graphical in nature.

Question 52

Viewpoint

Answer 52

A definition of the perspective from which a view is taken. It is a specification of the conventions for constructing and using a view (often by means of an appropriate schema or template). A view is what you see. a viewpoint is where you are looking from