What’s new in TOGAF 10?

Developed by The Open Group in 1995, TOGAF is one of the most widely used enterprise architecture frameworks today. It’s used by small, medium, and large businesses as well as government departments, non-government public organizations, and defense agencies. The Open Group announced the latest update to the framework, releasing the TOGAF 10 Standard Edition earlier this year.

With the release of TOGAF 10, The Open Group hopes to make the framework more accessible to companies that wish to implement its best practices. It’s the biggest change to the framework since 2011, when the company released TOGAF 9.1. The updated version brings a stronger focus to agile environments and digital transformation, with expanded documentation to help organizations through the process of implementing the framework and customizing it to business needs.

TOGAF advises enterprises on how to implement an architecture that best supports stakeholders and the organization. It’s designed to provide “enduring, stable, universal concepts and proven best practice,” according to The Open Group. And TOGAF 10 was created with the goal of making it easier than ever for organizations to adopt the framework and implement TOGAF to manage enterprise architecture.

Easier to navigate

One of the biggest overhauls to the TOGAF framework is in its delivery. The Open Group reformatted the documentation to be more streamlined, with an easy-to-navigate modular format. The framework has also been divided into two separate groups: TOGAF Fundamental Content and the TOGAF Series Guides.

TOGAF Fundamental Content contains all the basics of the framework, including how to implement it in the organization. This portion covers the introduction and core concepts, the architecture development method (ADM), ADM techniques, applying the ADM, architecture content and enterprise architecture capability and governance. It’s intended to act as the foundation of the framework and will remain mostly unchanged moving forward.

The Series Guides portion of the framework includes expanded content that applies to business, information, security, enterprise, agile, digital, and technology architecture, as well as MSA/SOA architectures and information on adapting the ADM. There is also a series guide for reference models and methods, where you can find examples of various architecture models.

The Series Guides are designed to be flexible and adaptable so that changes can be easily implemented without causing any upheaval to the core of the framework. The Open Group plans to continue to release updates and new series guides in the future, and that the shift to TOGAF 10 will make it even easier for them to release this new content.

Even more customizable

Enterprise architecture isn’t just a concern for tech companies or IT departments, it’s a main priority for businesses across every industry. With the latest edition of TOGAF, The Open Group promises the refreshed framework will make it easier for stakeholders to navigate and implement in their organization. The framework is designed to adapt to various types of organizations, across any industry, all of which will have their own enterprise architecture needs.

TOGAF isn’t a one-size-fits-all framework; instead it’s designed to be customized to an organization’s unique needs. Although TOGAF offers a core framework that organizations can follow, it’s widely adaptable. Moreover, the new modular format makes it easy for businesses to identify which Series Guides apply to their business needs and what parts of the framework don’t apply to their current enterprise architecture environment.

The Open Group also removed redundant and unnecessary documentation from the framework to streamline it as much as possible. The Open Group also expanded its “how-to” documentation and guided material to help organizations implement the framework. Each Series Guide provides a granular list of topics under its domain to help businesses narrow in on specific topics important to them. For example, under the Agile Architecture Series Guide, there are two sections that include Enabling Enterprise Agility and Applying the TOGAF ADM Using Agile Sprints. Or under the Information Architecture Series Guide, you’ll find documentation on Master Data Management (C-MDM) and Information Architecture as it applies to customers.

A focus on agile

The enterprise architecture landscape has changed dramatically since TOGAF’s original release in the 1990s, and the framework has periodically been updated to reflect that evolution. For TOGAF 10, that means a stronger emphasis on agile methodologies and digital transformation. To grow within their respective industries, today’s businesses need flexibility in addressing their technical needs, and TOGAF 10 takes this into consideration by offering more documentation on how to build enterprise architecture for agile environments that will facilitate digital transformation. 

“The next decade of technology and business pressures will require organizations to be more agile, resilient, and adaptable than ever, and that will make a clear approach to architecture more important than ever. I am proud of what The Open Group Architecture Forum has produced for this release, which makes the TOGAF framework significantly more usable by even more businesses while maintaining its core values of consistency, openness, and efficiency,” said Steve Nunn, CEO and president of The Open Group in a press release from the company.

TOGAF 10 certification

As of this writing, The Open Group hasn’t announced what its plans for altering the TOGAF certification scheme. Currently, the organization still offers TOGAF 9 certifications, which include TOGAF 9 Foundation, TOGAF 9 Certified, TOGAF Business Architecture, and TOGAF Essentials 2018. This article will be updated as more information regarding certifications is released.

Enterprise Architecture