DoD Architecture Framework Version 1.5 - Chief Information Officer

As part of being interoperable, architecture descriptions should be readily available across
the Enterprise for decision process analyses, reuse in other architecture efforts, and mission
support. The DARS provides a trusted environment for the sharing of architectural information.
Using and contributing shared architectural information reduces cost, improves efficiency, and
ensures reliability.
2.1.5 Be Agile
Architectures should be modular, reusable, and decomposable to achieve agility. Architecture
descriptions should consist of related pieces that can be recombined with a minimal amount of
tailoring to enable use for multiple purposes. An agile architecture provides the means for
functioning in a dynamic environment.
2.2 6-STEP ARCHITECTURE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The high-level, six-step architecture development process provides guidance to the architect
and emphasizes the guiding principles. The process is data-centric rather than product-centric
and emphasizes focus on data and data relationships rather than DoDAF products. This datacentric
approach ensures concordance between views and that all essential entity relationships
are captured to support a wide variety of analysis tasks. The products created as a result of the
architecture development process become visual renderings of the underlying architecture data
that convey information from the architecture to specific user communities or decision makers.
Figure 2-1 depicts this six-step process.
1
Determine the
Determine the
intended use of
intended use of
the architecture
the architecture
•Stakeholder Requirements
• Purpose
• Critical issues
• Target objectives
• Key tradeoffs
• Decision Points
• Probable analysis methods
2
Determine
Determine
scope of
scope of
architecture
architecture
3
Determine data
Determine data
required to
required to
support
support
architecture
architecture
development
development
4
Collect, organize,
Collect, organize,
Correlate, and
Correlate, and
store architecture
store architecture
data
data
5
Conduct
Conduct
Analyses in
Analyses in
support of
support of
architecture
architecture
objectives
objectives
6
Document
Document
Results IAW
Results IAW
Architecture
Architecture
Framework
Framework
• Geographical, operational,
and functional bounds
• Technological bounds
• Time frame(s)
• Architecture resource
and schedule constraints
Required architectural
Characteristics:
• Architectural data entities
• Levels of detail
• Units of measure
• Associated Metadata
• Automated repositories
• Activity Models
• Data Models
• Dynamic Models
• Organizational Models
• Metadata registration
• Shortfall Analyses
• Architecture products and views
• Capacity Analyses
(Operational, Systems, & Technical)
• Interoperability assessments
• Reusable architecture data
• Business Process analysis
• Analysis reports
• Test architecture completeness,
accuracy, and sufficiency
Figure 2-1: The Six-Step Process of Building an Architecture Description
2-2