Let's face it: enterprise architecture is a daunting task. It is daunting because it must ensure a complete and consistent alignment between an organization's strategic objectives, mission, and business goals with its IT investment. To do so it must take into account four overarching organizational perspectives: business, data, applications (functionality), and technology.

A task so monumental can instill fear in the best of us. Granted, enterprise architecture frameworks such as The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) can help, but unfamiliarity with such frameworks can just as easily add to the fear of an already complex task. In this article, I will show you how much of this fear can be alleviated by mapping TOGAF (the unfamiliar) to a very popular and well-known process framework, the Rational Unified Process or RUP (the familiar).

Why map TOGAF and RUP?

That was the very blunt question my friend asked me within the first few minutes of my trying to tell her about my plans to write this article. My answer to her was twofold.

First, the concept of framework mapping is not new. That is not surprising given that there is no shortage of enterprise architecture frameworks. A few of the better known ones include the Zachman Framework, TOGAF, the Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DODAF), the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), and Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP). Each of these enterprise architecture frameworks is supported by an extensive knowledgebase, and several have been mapped to one another. For example, The Open Group has documented a comprehensive mapping between their enterprise architecture framework, TOGAF, and the Zachman Framework.

Framework mappings serve as a valuable aid in selecting an enterprise architecture framework by allowing one to quickly compare and contrast the many available options. Framework mappings are also invaluable in those cases where multiple enterprise architecture frameworks must coexist, by allowing one to comprehend the overlap and touch points between the multiple coexisting frameworks.

Second, as we will soon see, TOGAF and RUP complement each other quite well, which makes their integration natural. Here are three specific benefits that RUP adds to TOGAF: