Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments

In 2001 Schekkerman founded the Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments (IFEAD).^[3] for research in and knowledge exchange about the emerging field of Enterprise Architecture.^[5]

The institute works together with a series of institutes in the field^[6] and facilitated a series of publications in the field of Enterprise Architecture.^[7]

How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks

In his 2003 book "How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks" Schekkerman defined enterprise architecture as:

Enterprise Architecture is a complete expression of the enterprise; a master plan which "acts as a collaboration force" between aspects of business planning such as goals, visions, strategies and governance principles; aspects of business operations such as business terms, organization structures, processes and data; aspects of automation such as information systems and databases; and the enabling technological infrastructure of the business, such as computers, operating systems and networks.^[8]

Schekkerman had witnessed a growing importance of Enterprise Architecture. He explained:

Recent Surveys of CEO’s, CIO’s and other executives provide some evidence of the growing importance of Enterprise Architecture over the last few years. In one of the most recent studies of the Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments (IFEAD), Enterprise Architecture was ranked near the top of the list of most important issues considered by CEO’s and CIO’s.

Apparently, this suggests the significance of the overarching framework within which the various aspects of decision-making and development are considered: including Business Architecture, Information Architecture, Information-Systems Architecture (Data Architecture), Technology Infrastructure Architecture and things like Software Architecture.

The various decisions related to business development and technology innovations need to be considered in a systemic manner within the framework of various architectures. Choices of methods and techniques have to be made in the context of the goals and objectives...^[9]

Enterprise Architecture Frameworks

The "How to Survive in the Jungle of Enterprise Architecture Frameworks" started with a general introduction of the principles of enterprise architecture and the EA practice in the US and in Europe. Subsequently, this book compares 14 of the most popular Enterprise Architecture Frameworks of that time.

Starting with the Extended Enterprise Architecture Framework (E2AF) it describes Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP), The Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework (TEAF), The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), the Zachman Framework, the Integrated Architecture Framework (IAF), the Joint Technical Architecture (JTA), the C4ISR and DoDAF, the Department of Defense Technical Reference Model (DoD TRM), and finished with the reference architecture TAFIM, CIMOSA, PERA en the SAGA - Standards and Architectures for e-Government Applications.

Extended Enterprise Architecture Framework

Early 2000s Schekkerman developed the Extended Enterprise Architecture (E2A) and Extended Enterprise Architecture Framework (E2AF). The Extended Enterprise Architecture (E2A) is designed to address three different elements in a comprehensive way:^[11]

• The element of construction,
• the element of function, and
• the element of style

According to Schekkerman (2007) in enterprise architecture "style is reflecting the culture, values, norms and principles of an organization. Most of the time, the term enterprise architecture is dealing with construction and function, without any attention of the style aspect, while the style aspect reflects the cultural behavior, values, norms and principles of that organization in such a way that it reflects the corporate values of that organization."^[11]

The Extended Enterprise Architecture Framework (E2AF), first published in 2003, is based on the IEEE 1471 Standard for describing the architecture of a software-intensive system regarding views and viewpoints,^[12] and other elements from FEAF and TOGAF.^[13] It uses a 2-D matrix structure, similar to the Zachman Framework, and defines four types of scopes: business, information, system, and infrastructure. However, overall in comparison to the Zachman Framework the E2AF is more technology-oriented.^[14][15]