The Open Group developed an award-winning enterprise architectural framework in 1995 named “The Open Group Architecture Framework,” or known as TOGAF. To achieve the development goals of large enterprises cost-effectively and quickly, TOGAF is a methodology introduced which refers to a clear set of approaches and rules that should be followed to design the organizational development. The TOGAF itself offers guidelines on how an organization can interpret, create, analyze, and use different elements while making a strategy. The TOGAF course helps define these terminologies clearly and helps understand how the communication between departments can be made simple and reduce wasteful errors.
Why TOGAF?
It is indeed a question to be asked – how did just a single set of rules become famous worldwide? How come the world’s profitable and powerful organizations use TOGAF, and why do TOGAF Course Certified professionals enjoy a good salary boost? To answer all of these questions, you need to know WHY TOGAF?
Reason Number 1: The clear vision of the organization needs to be maintained by the enterprise architects. They need to know what their organization is progressing towards. They need to remember the capabilities and needs of every different department concerning the overall enterprise. It might sound easy, but it is a tedious task for a seasoned professional as well.
TOGAF offers the solution for this. It helps businesses establish reliable communication, clear ROIs, and enough perspective to ensure that everything is tied in a single strategy. Making strategies without a perfect planning framework will risk wasted resources and severe delays and produce an outcome that might not satisfy the requirement or expectation. Well, it’s not to mention how a single mistake in the corporate world can cost millions.
Reason Number 2: TOGAF is at the top even after nearly 25 years. The Department of Defense developed its first version based on the ‘Technical Architecture Framework.’ Further, the framework was handed to the Open Group, and ever since then, it has been refined continuously. It was rightly said that “TOGAF is a work in progress” by the Open Group’s former president, Allen Brown.
TOGAF and Enterprise Architecture
TOGAF remains an architecture framework in the enterprise edition – a set of approaches, rules, and methods to develop a broad range of IT architectures. It allows the users to evaluate, design, and build correct architecture for the organization and reduce the designing, planning, and implementing a cost of architectures based on open systems’ solutions. TOGAF stays a reliable and practical method because of the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM), which is used to define the business needs and develop an architecture that can meet these needs and utilize the elements of architectural assets available to the organization.
There exist several enterprise architecture frameworks that are recognized widely. Each of them has particular relevance, advantage, and disadvantage for enterprise architecture. However, there exists no industry-standard method accepted to develop an enterprise architecture. It is the goal of TOGAF to make TOGAF ADM an industry-standard process which is neutral towards technologies and tools and that can be used to develop products associated with any well-known enterprise framework like Zachman, FEAF, TEAF, etc.
This is why TOGAF ADM does not prescribe any particular set of deliverables of enterprise architects, even though it describes these sets in the form of an example. TOGAF is designed to be used by the user so that any group of deliverables can be used with TOGAF, which the user finds most appropriate and comfortable. It can be any set of deliverables – like those in the guidelines of TOGAF itself or any other set of another framework like FEAF, Zachman Framework, etc.
The flexibility becomes more critical as the TOGAF migrates to the enterprise architecture framework. TOGAF doesn’t intend to compete with other frameworks; instead, it becomes a unique platform in distilling what other frameworks offer and providing a generic ADM that can be adapted with any other framework.
Why TOGAF Certification
TOGAF provides clarity and tools which are required for the significant development of enterprise architecture. It may seem like jargon to those who are not familiar with the concepts of enterprise architecture. TOGAF Course Certification benefits both – businesses as well as enterprise architects.
Efficiency: TOGAF helps in creating clear paths to develop enterprise architecture. It provides all the approaches needed to establish a well-working EA. It is entirely optional to pay for such guidance, but if not taken, it might lead to severe wastage of both – resources and time.
Vocabulary: Using a common language helps in making communication simple between and within organizations. Having a common vocabulary has a massive advantage as it ensures that the architectural development process is running smoothly.
Future Development: The enterprise architect has a staged approach established by ADM, which is effortless enough to be adopted by any individual organization. Crafting such a system might feel challenging at first, but the experience makes future architectural development easier.
Conclusion
Top tier companies always have a great faith in frameworks which sets global standards. Completing the TOGAF course from an accredited source can be an excellent choice for both experienced and budding enterprise architects. Taking level 1 and level 2 certification exams via a certified test center are mandatory to be taken. TOGAF combines managerial aspects and the technical aspect of IT hence training the aspiring enterprise architects to learn to manage multiple elements simultaneously. Above that, they can also learn to adopt the perspective required to adapt and design the information system architectures within a broader EA framework. There are no prerequisites to becoming certified; even undergraduate students can learn TOGAF to kick start their careers. However, having a hold on the necessary knowledge and concepts of enterprise architects will always be helpful.
