The eight components of the Architecture Repository

Why a structured repository

A mature architecture capability produces a considerable volume of output. Managing and exploiting it calls for a formal taxonomy of asset types, plus dedicated processes and tools for storing them. TOGAF offers a structural frame for this, distinguishing assets by type and by level of abstraction.

The Architecture Repository holds the various classes of output produced by the ADM and supports the Enterprise Continuum. It belongs to a wider whole, the Enterprise Repository, which links architecture assets to the detailed design, deployment, and service management repositories. It thus eases cooperation between stakeholders and practitioners working at different levels.

The eight components

Each component meets a different need. The first two describe the frame and operation of the practice; the others hold the content produced, references, and decisions.

• Architecture Metamodel: the framework as tailored to the organization, with the content metamodel
• Architecture Capability: parameters, structures, and processes that frame repository governance
• Architecture Landscape: a representation of assets in use or planned at a point in time, at several levels
• Standards Library: standards that new architectures must comply with
• Reference Library: guidelines, templates, and patterns that speed up new architectures
• Governance Repository: a record of governance activity in the enterprise
• Architecture Requirements Repository: authorized requirements agreed with the Architecture Board
• Solutions Landscape: planned or deployed SBBs supporting the Architecture Landscape

Telling neighboring components apart

The Standards Library and Reference Library look alike but carry different weight. A standard is binding on new architectures: an industry norm, a selected supplier product or service, a shared service already deployed. A reference is an optional aid that speeds up the work; the TOGAF Library indeed feeds this Reference Library.

The Architecture Landscape and Solutions Landscape mirror each other: the former describes the architecture of assets at a given time, often at several levels (strategic, segment, capability); the latter describes the Solution Building Blocks that realize it. Finally, the Governance Repository keeps governance decisions and checks, while the Architecture Requirements Repository keeps approved requirements.

Throughout the ADM, the team draws on the Reference Library and Standards Library from the early phases, describes Baseline and Target in the Architecture Landscape, enriches the Architecture Requirements Repository through Requirements Management, and records Phase G compliance reviews in the Governance Repository.