OGEA-101 Enterprise Architecture Foundation

What's inside

OGEA-101 doesn't reward vague familiarity with enterprise architecture. It rewards knowing what each ADM phase sets out to achieve, which output it produces, and how similar concepts differ.

This independent study guide for the TOGAF® Enterprise Architecture Foundation certification (exam OGEA-101, TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Part 1) distils what the Foundation syllabus expects you to understand into clear definitions, comparison tables and the traps that catch newcomers. It follows The Open Group's published syllabus and reflects the TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition.

Organised by topic

Fourteen chapters, each readable on its own and together covering every Foundation learning unit:

• Concepts and vocabulary: what an enterprise is, the purpose and benefits of enterprise architecture, the four architecture domains, levels of abstraction, Baseline, Target and Transition Architectures, the Enterprise Continuum, the Architecture Repository, the Content Framework and the Enterprise Metamodel.
• The ADM, phase by phase: the Preliminary Phase and Phases A to H, Requirements Management, draft and approved outputs, iteration, scoping, and architecture alternatives and trade-offs.
• Techniques: Architecture Principles, business scenarios, gap analysis, interoperability, the Business Transformation Readiness Assessment and risk management.
• Applying the ADM: iteration cycles, the three levels of the Architecture Landscape, partitioning, the four purposes of enterprise architecture and the digital enterprise.
• Governance and content: the Architecture Board, Architecture Contracts, Architecture Compliance, stakeholders, views and viewpoints, Architecture and Solution Building Blocks, and the ADM deliverables.

Inside

• Comparison tables for every close call, such as which phase produces which deliverable, view versus viewpoint, and ABB versus SBB.
• 130+ Common trap callouts that name the misconceptions that look right but aren't, and explain what's right instead.
• 12 original diagrams, from the ADM phases and the Enterprise Continuum to the gap analysis matrix and the governance hierarchy.
• Key takeaways at the end of every chapter for fast revision.
• A glossary of more than 90 terms, each linked to the relevant part of the TOGAF Standard, with a free online version for print readers.

Understanding, not memorising

This book contains no questions from any Open Group certification exam and does not reproduce the TOGAF Standard. It explains the knowledge the syllabus expects, so you can reason about situations you have never seen and carry the same understanding into the Practitioner level and real architecture work.

Written by Tony Rough, a cloud architect with more than twenty years in IT infrastructure who holds the Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator and Azure Security Engineer certifications.

Part of the Ultra Transcenders series from Distilled Press. TOGAF is a registered trademark of The Open Group. An independent publication, not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by The Open Group.

Is this book for you?

• Yes, if you're preparing for OGEA-101 and want to understand why the right answer is right, or you work on enterprise architecture and want a compact reference to the TOGAF Standard, organised by topic.
• It isn't a question bank. The book contains no exam questions. Use it alongside The Open Group's free official OGEA-101 exam page, and some practice applying the ADM to a real architecture problem.
• Leads to TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Foundation.
• Exam outline: The Open Group's syllabus (X2202) as of April 2022. We check for outline changes every month.

Which certification, which book?

Exam coverage

Every skill area in The Open Group's OGEA-101 outline (as of April 2022), and the chapters that cover it.

See every objective and where the book covers it

Chapters

1. Enterprise Architecture and the TOGAF Standard
2. Core Concepts: Domains, Abstraction and Work Products
3. The Enterprise Continuum and the Architecture Repository
4. The Architecture Development Method
5. The Preliminary Phase and Phase A
6. Phases B, C and D: Developing the Architecture
7. Phases E and F: Opportunities, Solutions and Migration Planning
8. Phases G, H and Requirements Management
9. Architecture Principles and Business Scenarios
10. Gap Analysis and Interoperability
11. Business Transformation Readiness and Risk Management
12. Applying the ADM: Iteration, Levels, Partitions and Purpose
13. Architecture Governance
14. Architecture Content: Views, Building Blocks and Deliverables

Plus an appendix glossary of 90+ terms, each linked to the TOGAF Standard, with the same terms explained free online for print readers.

Sample diagrams

Free study notes

Some sections of the book, free to read online:

• The four architecture domains: Business, Data, Application and Technology

  What the Business, Data, Application and Technology domains each describe, and which subjects cut across all four.

• Levels of abstraction in enterprise architecture

  The contextual, conceptual, logical and physical levels, the question each answers, and the difference between logical and physical.

• The Enterprise Continuum: what it is for

  Why the Enterprise Continuum is a classification scheme rather than a place, and what it does for communication and re-use.

• The ADM phases at a glance

  The Preliminary Phase, Phases A to H and Requirements Management, each with its purpose and essential output.

• Building a gap matrix: baseline versus target

  How to set Baseline Architecture Building Blocks against Target ones to see what is included, what is new and what is eliminated.

• The four ADM iteration cycles

  Architecture Capability, Architecture Development, Transition Planning and Architecture Governance iterations, and the phases each one spans.

• The Architecture Board: role, responsibilities and set-up

  What an Architecture Board is accountable for, who should sponsor it and how large it should be.

• Stakeholders, concerns, views and viewpoints

  How stakeholders' concerns are framed by viewpoints and addressed by views, and why a view and a viewpoint are not the same thing.