The Enterprise Continuum in depth

A classification, not storage

The Enterprise Continuum offers a way to classify architecture and solution assets as they move from generic Foundation Architectures to architectures specific to one organization. The easiest way to see it is as a view over all available assets: architecture descriptions, models, building blocks, patterns, viewpoints, and other artifacts.

It is not limited to internal content: it also includes what exists in the industry and that the enterprise considers usable. It thus sets the architect’s wider context and shows how generic solutions can be reused and then specialized. Storage itself belongs to the Architecture Repository, which supports the Continuum.

Two complementary continua

TOGAF separates architectures from their possible solutions. The Architecture Continuum classifies architecture descriptions; the Solutions Continuum classifies the solutions that realize them. Their relationship is one of guidance and support: architecture steers the solution, and the solution makes the architecture concrete.

In both, assets are ordered from most generic to most specific, across four levels.

An example of progression: a generic identity management model (Common Systems) is taken up in a banking-sector model (Industry), then adapted to the processes and constraints of one specific bank (Organization-Specific). On the solutions side, a market directory product follows the same path down to the instance configured and deployed in that bank. The movement can also be reversed: a good local practice is generalized so it can be reused elsewhere.

• Foundation: concepts and structures usable anywhere
• Common Systems: needs shared by many organizations, such as security or management
• Industry: models specific to a business sector
• Organization-Specific: the architecture or solution of a given enterprise

Two key ideas: reuse and communicate

The Continuum first serves reuse: starting from what exists avoids reinventing. It then serves communication: placing an asset on the generic-to-specific scale gives a common language that removes ambiguity between departments, or even between organizations building their EA. Understanding the architecture helps understand the solution, and being able to explain a solution’s general concept helps spot possible conflicts.

The same reasoning applies to the metamodel: the TOGAF Library offers a Foundation-level Core Enterprise Metamodel, which the enterprise specializes to obtain its own. The Continuum is presented in detail in the Architecture Content document.