What the Business, Data, Application and Technology domains each describe, and which subjects cut across all four.
From Ultra Transcenders OGEA-101 by Tony Rough (publishing soon)
An architecture domain is simply the area being considered. The Standard names four primary domains, which together make up a complete Enterprise Architecture.
| Domain | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Business | The business strategy, governance and organisation, and the key business processes |
| Data | How the logical and physical data assets are structured, and the resources used to manage data |
| Application | A blueprint for the individual applications, how they interact, and how they relate to the core business processes |
| Technology | The logical software and hardware infrastructure capabilities and standards needed to deploy business, data and application services, including networks, middleware, cloud and the Internet of Things |
The Data and Application domains are developed together in Phase C, where they are known collectively as the Information Systems Architectures (see Chapter 6, Phases B, C and D: Developing the Architecture).
Further domains can be formed by combining views drawn from the four primary ones. The Standard names Information, Risk and Security, and Digital as examples. Some subjects, such as motivation, security and governance, do not sit in a single domain at all; they cut across all four. The Practitioners’ Approach Series Guide makes the same point about security: it is best handled as a concern that spans domains, and a security architecture exists only in relation to the other domains.
Common trap: Information Systems is a fifth primary domain - there are four primary domains; “Information Systems Architectures” is the name for Data and Application developed together in Phase C.
Common trap: Security is a standalone primary domain alongside the other four - Risk and Security is formed by combining views of the primary domains, and security is best treated as a concern that cuts across them.
This note is one section of Ultra Transcenders OGEA-101: Enterprise Architecture Foundation, an independent study guide that explains every learning unit the exam covers, topic by topic, with comparison tables, diagrams and the common traps, plus a glossary linked to the TOGAF Standard.
Publishing soon on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions.
About the book · OGEA-101 terms in the glossary · All OGEA-101 study notes
The contextual, conceptual, logical and physical levels, the question each answers, and the difference between logical and physical.
Why the Enterprise Continuum is a classification scheme rather than a place, and what it does for communication and re-use.
The Preliminary Phase, Phases A to H and Requirements Management, each with its purpose and essential output.
How to set Baseline Architecture Building Blocks against Target ones to see what is included, what is new and what is eliminated.
Architecture Capability, Architecture Development, Transition Planning and Architecture Governance iterations, and the phases each one spans.
What an Architecture Board is accountable for, who should sponsor it and how large it should be.
How stakeholders' concerns are framed by viewpoints and addressed by views, and why a view and a viewpoint are not the same thing.