Definition of Enterprise Architecture

The definition of enterprise architecture is divided into two components: enterprise and architecture.

Open Group’s Definition of “Enterprise”

“Enterprise” refers to any collection of organizations that share a set of common goals and/or a single bottom line. In this sense, an enterprise can be a government agency, an entire company, a department within a company, a single division, or a geographically distant chain of organizations linked by shared ownership.

Gartner’s Definition of “Architecture”

1. A grand design or overall concept used to create a system, such as urban architecture or a customer information system; also refers to the abstraction or design of a system, its structure, components, and their interrelationships.
2. A set of guidelines used when building new IT capabilities (concepts, strategies, principles, rules, patterns, interfaces, and standards).

Enterprise architecture aims to ensure alignment between business and IT strategies, operational models, guiding principles, and software development projects as well as service delivery.

By taking a global, enterprise-wide perspective on all business services, business processes, information, applications, and technology, enterprise architecture ensures that enterprise goals and objectives are achieved holistically across all application development projects and their deployment into production.