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Health Information Architecture, Data Modeling, and Enterprise Architecture Planning

Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework

FEAF Links

Federal Enterprise Architecture Management Office

FEAF version 1.1

Federal CIO Council

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework provides common structure upon which Federal and other government agencies can establish common processes, promote interoperability, and more efficiently share information.  The direct origin of the FEAF is the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, but its roots trace back to the Federal government reengineering initiatives of over a decade ago.  Clinger-Cohen requires Federal Agencies develop and maintain an enterprise IT architecture.  Version 1.1 of the FEAF was published by the Federal Chief Information Officers Council in 1999 to implement the Act with provisions that allow Federal agencies:
  • to organize information of interest to any aspect of the Federal Government on a Federal enterprise-wide scale,
  • to promote information sharing among all Federal organizations,
  • to assist Federal agencies and component organizations develop their own enterprise architectures,
  • to assist Federal organizations in rapidly developing investment and return processes for information technology, and
  • to enable Federal organizations to take a customer-focus, improving the quality, responsiveness and cost-effectiveness of their customer service.

According to the FEAF 1.1, the Framework consists of an integrated set of approaches, models, and definitions, derived from the Zachman Framework, and used to identify, design, and communicate the overall organization and relationships of the components required for developing and maintaining a Federal Enterprise Architecture.  The FEAF provides guidance for collecting common architecture information and constructing a repository to store this information.

  The FEAF Levels

The FEAF consists of four levels of increasing detail from a high level description of the FEAF components (Level I) with Levels II, III and IV providing increasing detail.  These levels approximate the detail needed for government leaders and decision makers at corresponding levels - the strategic level for agency executives, with the more detailed levels appropriate for mid- and tactical decision makers and those responsible for implemention.  The fourth level also provides the structure for a logical classification and organization of the FEAF components or artifacts.

Level I is the highest level, or strategic (or 20,000 foot) view of the FEAF.  This view is appropriate for the executives and senior managers of government organizations, and cites eight fundamental components Federal organizations need to plan and develop a FEAF-compliant enterprise architecture:

  • Architecture Drivers - forces and stimuli that create change in the enterprise architecture.
  • Strategic Direction - vision and plans that ensure changes to the enterprise are consistent with the overall Federal direction.
  • Current Architecture - states the "As-IS" or current state of the organization's enterprise.
  • Target Architecture - projects the "To-Be" or future state for the enterprise within the context of the above-cited strategic direction.
  • Transitional Processes - specifies the migration process, in compliance with architecture standards, to move the organization from its current architecture to the target architecture.
  • Architectural Segments - identifies organizational components or smaller enterprises within the perspective of the total Federal Enterprise.
  • Architectural Models - provides a vehicle to analyze, design, document, manage, and communicate the architectural artifacts needed implementing change in the Federal enterprise.
  • Standards - identifies those mandatory and voluntary standards, guidelines, and industry best practices relevant to implementing the enterprise architecture.

The FEAF Levels II and III provide additional detail about the information to be captured.

 

Click on the diagram to the right to view the principal components of the FEAF Level III. The business and technical drivers become the catalysts that transform the As-Is (existing) architecture to the To-Be (future target) architecture.  The Vision, Strategic Direction, and the organization's Guiding Principles lead the transition from the existing to the future architecture.  The transformational (transition) processes that move the organization into this planned future are directed by a migration plan.  Standards and industry best practices regulate this transformation while a set of architectural models provide the blueprint for this transformation.

click to enlarge
 

FEAF Level IV provides a low-level tactical view, and identifies the architectural models needed to describe and plan the organizational transformation.  These architectural models consist of specific artifacts and methods, and the design architectures (data, application, and technology) describe the mechanism for transforming the business architecture.  These architectural models provide artifacts that fit into a matrix, a subset of the Zachman Framework. 

FEAF Level IV Matrix description.

 

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