The successful application of Information Technologies (IT) in an organization depends on the business processes used for managing such technologies. It is widely recognized that the use of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice for organizing these technologies into a framework is a key factor for achieving a better IT-Business alignment.
An enterprise architecture is a description of the following components or elements of a company or organization (or of a part of it):
Business Architecture describes:
> the organization (or a part of it),
> its objectives,
> its business processes,
> its actors,
> its business rules, and
> its organizational structure
Information System Architecture describes:
> the software applications and
> the data repositories (e.g., databases, files, data warehouses, etc.) that the organization uses to support its business processes
Technology Architecture describes:
> the software,
> the hardware, and
> telecommunications platforms on which the information system layer is developed, installed, and operated.