The TOGAF specification has a single sentence in chapter 22 that is the best definition of EA I have ever seen. It goes as follows:
“Enterprise architecture is the application of architectural discipline to the end-to-end enterprise, treating the enterprise or industry value-chain as a system.”
Wow, how perfect that is for those “Describe EA is X words or less” contests that are out there.
The description goes on to explain how EA provides to SOA Architects/Architecture:
“What enterprise architecture provides in an SOA context is a set of tools and techniques to link top-down business-led SOA to bottom-up developer-led SOA in a robust and maintainable way that addresses many of the non-technical challenges associated with SOA adoption.”
Just thought I’d share that because it is so well stated and useful.
