OGBA-101 TOGAF Business Architecture Foundation Exam Questions and Answers

Phase A (Architecture Vision) of the TOGAF ADM builds out initial organizational maps to understand high-level organizational needs and link them to architecture goals. This step provides foundational insight that informs subsequent phases, particularly for stakeholder alignment.

Architecture Principles in TOGAF govern the architecture process, influencing the development, maintenance, and use of the Enterprise Architecture. Here's a detailed explanation:

Definition:

Architecture Principles: These are the fundamental rules and guidelines that inform and support the way in which an organization sets about fulfilling its mission. They affect all phases of the architecture process.

Role in TOGAF:

Guidance and Governance: Architecture Principles provide the foundation for making architecture-related decisions. They guide the development, maintenance, and usage of all architecture artifacts.

Consistency and Alignment: They ensure that all architecture activities are consistent with the overall business strategy and objectives, providing alignment across different architecture domains.

TOGAF ADM Phases:

Preliminary Phase: This phase includes the establishment of architecture principles that will guide the entire architecture effort.

Phase A: Architecture Vision: During this phase, the architecture principles are used to create the vision and scope of the architecture project, ensuring it aligns with the organization's goals.

Examples of Architecture Principles:

Business Principles: These might include ensuring that business processes are customer-focused.

Data Principles: Principles ensuring data accuracy and availability.

Application Principles: Guidelines for application interoperability and usability.

Technology Principles: Standards for technology choices and infrastructure management.

In summary, architecture principles govern the architecture process, affecting its development, maintenance, and use, thereby ensuring alignment with business goals and consistency in architectural decisions.

One of the benefits of organization mapping is that it improves strategic planning2. Organization mapping is a technique that can be used to document and visualize the organizational structure and relationships of an enterprise or a part of it2. Organization mapping can help to align the organizational design with the business strategy, goals, and objectives2. Organization mapping can also help to identify the roles, responsibilities, authorities, accountabilities, and dependencies of different organizational entities2. By providing a clear and consistent view of the organizational landscape, organization mapping can enable better informed and more effective decisions for strategic planning.

The Architecture Requirements Repository within the TOGAF Architecture Repository holds the architecture requirements that have been agreed with the Architecture Board. Here’s a detailed explanation:

Architecture Requirements Repository:

This repository is a part of the larger Architecture Repository in TOGAF, which is used to store and manage all the artifacts related to the architecture.

Content of the Repository:

Agreed Requirements: It includes the architecture requirements that have been formally reviewed and agreed upon by the Architecture Board. These requirements are essential for guiding the development and implementation of the architecture.

Governance and Compliance: The repository ensures that these requirements are accessible and can be used to enforce governance and compliance throughout the architecture development process.

TOGAF ADM Phases:

Phase A: Architecture Vision: Initial requirements are identified and refined.

Phase B, C, D: Requirements are further detailed and agreed upon.

Architecture Governance: Throughout these phases, the agreed requirements are stored in the repository to ensure they guide the architecture work and are adhered to.

Purpose and Benefits:

Centralized Repository: Having a centralized repository for agreed requirements ensures that all stakeholders have access to the current and approved requirements, facilitating better coordination and compliance.

Traceability: It provides traceability of requirements throughout the architecture development lifecycle, ensuring that all decisions and designs are aligned with agreed requirements.

In summary, the Architecture Requirements Repository holds the architecture requirements that have been agreed with the Architecture Board, providing a centralized and authoritative source for guiding architecture development and ensuring compliance.

 The process used to decompose a set of business capabilities to communicate more detail is leveling6. Leveling is a technique that can be used to break down a business capability into sub-capabilities at lower levels of granularity6. Leveling can help to provide more clarity and specificity about what a business capability entails and how it supports the business goals and objectives6. Leveling can also help to identify dependencies, gaps, overlaps, or redundancies among business capabilities6.

The chart depicted is a Gantt chart, which typically represents the schedule for project activities. In the context of TOGAF's ADM, it is used to illustrate the sequence and interdependencies of tasks across different phases of architecture development. The ADM is an iterative cycle that includes various phases, from the preliminary phase, through architecture vision, business, information systems, and technology architectures, to opportunities and solutions, migration planning, implementation governance, and architecture change management. Each phase must be conducted in a sequence to ensure that the outputs of one phase feed into the next, thereby producing a coherent and structured architecture.

In TOGAF ADM, Phase B is the Business Architecture phase where the architect should locate existing architecture descriptions to create an information map. This phase involves developing a detailed understanding of the business environment, including business processes, roles, and information flows. Existing architecture descriptions provide a baseline for identifying how information is currently managed and how it can be optimized to support business objectives.

The examples given (a whole corporation, a division of a corporation, a government agency, a single government department, partnerships, and alliances) are considered "Enterprises" according to the TOGAF Standard. Here’s a detailed explanation:

Definition of an Enterprise:

Enterprise: According to TOGAF, an enterprise is any collection of organizations that share a common set of goals. It can be a whole corporation, a division of a corporation, a government agency, or a consortium of businesses.

Examples of Enterprises:

Corporation or Division: An enterprise can be a whole corporation or just a division within a larger organization.

Government Entities: It includes government agencies or individual departments within the government.

Partnerships and Alliances: Enterprises can also be partnerships and alliances of businesses, such as consortia or supply chains.

TOGAF References:

Scope of Enterprise Architecture: TOGAF defines enterprise architecture as encompassing the entire scope of the enterprise, including all its sub-units and external partnerships.

Enterprise Continuum: TOGAF’s Enterprise Continuum provides a framework for understanding and organizing the artifacts that make up the enterprise architecture.

In summary, the examples provided are considered "Enterprises" according to the TOGAF Standard, as they represent collections of organizations with shared goals.

An information map is most closely related to a Business Capability Map in the sense that both are tools used to visualize and understand different aspects of an enterprise's architecture. While an information map focuses on the relationships and flow of information within the organization, a Business Capability Map outlines the abilities and capacities the business possesses. Both are used to analyze and design architectures that support the business's objectives.

Presenting different alternatives and trade-offs to stakeholders is a crucial technique in TOGAF for eliciting valuable feedback and refining the Target Architecture. This approach encourages stakeholders to actively participate in the architecture development process and express their preferences and concerns.

Here's why this approach is effective:

Reveals hidden agendas: By presenting different options with varying implications, stakeholders may reveal priorities or concerns that were not explicitly stated before. This helps architects uncover hidden agendas that could influence the architecture's success.

Uncovers underlying principles: Stakeholder reactions to different alternatives can reveal their underlying principles and values, providing insights into what they consider important in the architecture.

Identifies unspoken requirements: Through discussions and comparisons of alternatives, stakeholders may express needs or requirements that were not captured during initial requirements gathering.

TOGAF defines an “Enterprise” as any collection of organizations or alliances working toward shared goals, such as in consortiums or partnerships. This scope allows the architecture to address cross-organization processes and infrastructures for collaborative endeavors.

According to the TOGAF Business Capabilities Guide V2, a business capability is defined as "the expression or the articulation of the capacity, materials, and expertise an organization needs in order to perform core functions"5. A business capability can be decomposed into four elements: roles, information, processes, and technology5. In the given example, A represents roles and C represents information.

In the context provided in the image, 'A' refers to the roles involved in the recruitment management process, which in this case is the 'User: Recruiter' and the 'Stakeholders: Manager, Candidate Employee'. 'C' refers to the information or data aspects of the process, which includes 'Candidate/Applicant Details', 'Position Descriptions', 'Recruitment Agency Data', and 'Industry Standard Role Definitions'. Thus, 'A' corresponds to 'Roles' and 'C' to 'Information'.

https://pubs.opengroup.org/pocket-guides/togaf-pocket-guide/main/chap04.html

A business model is a high-level conceptual representation that explains how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. This encompasses the organization’s core logic for creating value, and may include its intended customer segments, the value propositions it offers, the channels through which it reaches customers, customer relationships it establishes, key activities, resources, and partnerships, as well as the revenue streams and cost structures. Thus, it is a visual and strategic representation of how a business operates and competes in the marketplace.

A TOGAF business scenario is a technique that can be used to fully understand the requirements of information technology and align it with business needs1. It is not a business case, which is a document that provides justification for a proposed project or initiative6. It is not a method to develop a business model, which is a description of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value for its stakeholders7. It is not a use-case, which is a description of how a system interacts with external actors to achieve a specific goal.

A TOGAF business scenario is a technique that helps to derive architecture requirements by describing a business process, application, or set of activities. It includes detailing the actors, roles, goals, business policies, business processes, and the environment in which the scenario takes place. Business scenarios are used within TOGAF to ensure that the architecture has a clear link to the business requirements.

One of the guidance for creating value streams is to start with customer-based value streams2. Customer-based value streams are those that describe how an enterprise creates and delivers value for its external customers2. Starting with customer-based value streams can help to ensure that the value streams are aligned with the customer needs and expectations, as well as the enterprise’s value proposition and strategic objectives2. Customer-based value streams can also provide a foundation for identifying and defining other types of value streams, such as internal or partner-based value streams.

According to the TOGAF Series Guide to Business Capabilities (Version 2), a business capability is defined as “a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome” 4. A business capability delineates what a business does without an explanation of how, why, or where the capability is used4. A business capability can be expressed as a verb phrase that indicates what function or service the capability provides4. For example, some possible business capabilities are “Manage Customer Relationships”, “Deliver Products”, or “Perform Financial Analysis”.

In Business Architecture, “value” refers to the benefit provided to stakeholders, aligning with TOGAF's goal to capture and deliver value in business processes and capabilities. Business value is viewed as outcomes or improvements that meet stakeholder needs, rather than purely financial or numerical metrics.

In TOGAF, the dimensions for scoping an architecture are Breadth (coverage across the organization), Depth (level of detail), Time Period (horizon of the architecture), and Architecture Domains (the four architecture domains of Business, Data, Application, and Technology). These dimensions ensure comprehensive scoping and contextual alignment.

The technique shown in the example is called heat mapping. It is a technique that can be used to show a range of different perspectives on a business capability map, such as maturity, effectiveness, performance, and value or cost contribution of each capability to the business2. Different attributes determine the colors of each capability on the business capability map. Heat mapping can help to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the business architecture.

https://governance.foundation/assets/frameworks/togaf/g189%20-%20Business%20Capbility.pdf

Table 3: Heat Map for ABC Company’s Business Capabilities

An information map, in the context of TOGAF and Enterprise Architecture, serves as a visual representation of how information is structured, stored, and accessed within an organization. It essentially provides a map of the information landscape of the enterprise. This includes:

Identifying key information assets: This involves pinpointing critical data entities, such as customer data, product information, financial records, etc.

Locating information: The map shows where this information resides, whether it's in databases, applications, file systems, or other repositories.

Illustrating information flows: It may also depict how information moves between different parts of the organization, highlighting dependencies and relationships.

The TOGAF Architecture Repository is a key resource for managing architectural artifacts and information. It's structured to hold different types of architectural assets, and the Solutions Landscape plays a specific role within it.

Here's why option C is correct:

Solutions Landscape Definition: This component of the repository specifically houses the Solution Building Blocks (SBBs). SBBs are reusable components that represent a specific function or capability. They can be combined and configured to deliver solutions that meet business needs.

Supporting the Architecture Landscape: The Architecture Landscape provides a broad view of the organization's architecture at specific points in time. The Solutions Landscape supports this by showing how SBBs are deployed or planned to realize the architectures defined in the Architecture Landscape.

Visual Representation: The Solutions Landscape offers a visual representation of the relationships between SBBs and how they contribute to the overall architecture. This helps stakeholders understand the implementation of the architecture.

 A key principle of value streams is that value is always defined from the perspective of the stakeholder2. A stakeholder is any person or group who has an interest in or influence on an enterprise or its activities5. A stakeholder can be internal or external to the enterprise. A stakeholder can also be a customer, end user, partner, supplier, regulator, employee, or any other role that interacts with or benefits from the enterprise’s products or services5. Value streams should reflect how stakeholders perceive and measure value in terms of outcomes, benefits, costs, risks, and satisfaction2.

The purpose of Enterprise Architecture, within the context of TOGAF, is to establish a clear and comprehensive blueprint for how an organization can effectively achieve its current and future objectives through a structured approach. Enterprise Architecture guides effective change by providing a long-term view of the organization's processes, systems, and technologies so that individual projects can build capabilities that fit into a cohesive whole. It helps to ensure that IT investments are aligned with business goals, supports the management of complex IT landscapes, and provides a systematic approach for the adoption of emerging technologies. Essentially, it acts as a strategic framework that facilitates the translation of business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change.

 The technique shown in the example is called relationship mapping. It is a technique that can be used to show how a business architecture addresses stakeholder concerns across different parts of an organization2. It can highlight gaps or overlaps in the coverage of stakeholder concerns by a business architecture. In this case, the technique is used to relate business capabilities to organization units so as to highlight duplication and redundancy.

This modeling technique is referred to as Relationship Mapping. It's used to relate business capabilities to organizational units to highlight areas of duplication and redundancy, as well as to indicate where capabilities are being performed well (green), where there are potential issues (yellow), and where there are significant problems or gaps (red). This visualization helps in understanding the alignment between organizational units and capabilities, and where improvements or changes may be needed.

5.2.1 Capability/Organization Mapping https://pubs.opengroup.org/togaf-standard/business-architecture/business-capabilities.html#_Toc95135898

One of the reasons that supports the need to govern Enterprise Architecture is that best practice governance enables the organization to control value realization6. Value realization is the process of ensuring that the expected benefits from implementing an Enterprise Architecture are achieved and sustained over time6. Best practice governance provides a framework and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the performance and outcomes of Enterprise Architecture initiatives, as well as ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and stakeholder expectations.

https://pubs.opengroup.org/togaf-standard/adm-practitioners/adm-practitioners_15.html In short, the implementation team is directed to create changes with intentional value-based outcomes. Best practice governance enables the organization to control value realization.