Free Practice Questions for The Open Group OGBA-101 Exam

TOGAF defines an “Enterprise” as any collection of organizations or alliances working toward shared goals, such as in consortiums or partnerships. This scope allows the architecture to address cross-organization processes and infrastructures for collaborative endeavors.

References: TOGAF Standard, Definition of an Enterprise.

TOGAF defines an Enterprise as any collection of organizations that has a common set of goals. This definition is intentionally broad and can encompass various types of entities, including:

Single organizations: A traditional company or corporation with a unified structure and goals.

Groups of organizations: This could include:

Public sector: Government agencies, military branches, or international collaborations like the United Nations.

Private sector: Consortiums, industry alliances, supply chains, or joint ventures where multiple businesses work together towards shared objectives.

The key characteristic of an enterprise is the shared set of goals that drives its activities and architecture.

In the provided diagram, item A refers to the Architecture Repository, which is a part of the TOGAF framework where all the architecture assets are stored. This includes the architectural models, patterns, architecture descriptions, and other artifacts relevant to the architecture. Item B is labeled as the Governing Board, which is likely referring to the Architecture Board or a similar governance structure responsible for oversight and decision-making regarding the enterprise architecture. Item C refers to Enterprise Capability, which encompasses the processes, tools, skills, and other capabilities that enable the architecture function within the enterprise.

The diagram presented is best described as a Business Capability Map. Here's a detailed explanation:

Business Capability Map:

Definition: A Business Capability Map represents the various capabilities an organization requires to deliver its products and services and achieve its strategic objectives. It typically categorizes capabilities into different levels or tiers, such as strategic, core, and supporting capabilities.

Diagram Analysis:

Layers and Groupings: The diagram shows capabilities grouped into three categories: Strategic, Core, and Supporting. Each group lists specific business capabilities necessary for the organization’s functioning.

Color Coding: The use of different colors (green, red, yellow, purple) may indicate various aspects such as priority, status, or different business units. However, the primary purpose is to visually represent and categorize capabilities.

TOGAF References:

Phase B: Business Architecture: In this phase, creating a Business Capability Map is a crucial activity. It helps in understanding the business functions and aligning them with strategic goals.

Capability-Based Planning: TOGAF promotes capability-based planning, which involves identifying, mapping, and analyzing business capabilities to ensure they support the overall strategy and objectives.

Purpose and Benefits:

Strategic Alignment: The Business Capability Map helps in aligning business capabilities with the strategic objectives of the organization. It provides a clear view of what the organization needs to do to achieve its goals.

Gap Analysis: It is useful for conducting gap analysis by comparing current capabilities with the desired state, helping to identify areas for improvement.

Resource Allocation: By understanding the different capabilities, organizations can allocate resources more effectively to areas that need development or enhancement.

In summary, the diagram is best described as a Business Capability Map because it visually represents and categorizes the various capabilities needed by the organization into strategic, core, and supporting layers, aligning them with the business strategy and objectives.

The chart depicted is a Gantt chart, which typically represents the schedule for project activities. In the context of TOGAF's ADM, it is used to illustrate the sequence and interdependencies of tasks across different phases of architecture development. The ADM is an iterative cycle that includes various phases, from the preliminary phase, through architecture vision, business, information systems, and technology architectures, to opportunities and solutions, migration planning, implementation governance, and architecture change management. Each phase must be conducted in a sequence to ensure that the outputs of one phase feed into the next, thereby producing a coherent and structured architecture.

One of the guidance for creating value streams is to start with customer-based value streams2. Customer-based value streams are those that describe how an enterprise creates and delivers value for its external customers2. Starting with customer-based value streams can help to ensure that the value streams are aligned with the customer needs and expectations, as well as the enterprise’s value proposition and strategic objectives2. Customer-based value streams can also provide a foundation for identifying and defining other types of value streams, such as internal or partner-based value streams.

In the context of the TOGAF ADM (Architecture Development Method), the phase labeled as item 1, which conducts implementation planning for the architecture defined in previous phases, corresponds to Phase E: Opportunities and Solutions. Here’s a detailed explanation:

Phase E: Opportunities and Solutions:

Objective: This phase focuses on identifying delivery vehicles (projects, programs, or portfolios) that can deliver the target architecture identified in previous phases. It bridges the gap between the architecture vision and the detailed implementation.

Implementation Planning: In this phase, the architect develops the detailed Implementation and Migration Plan. This includes identifying work packages, sequencing activities, and preparing for the transition to the target architecture.

Key Activities:

Identify Opportunities and Solutions: This involves identifying potential solutions that address the gaps identified during the architecture definition phases (Phases B, C, and D).

Work Package Definition: Work packages are defined, which include specific projects or initiatives required to implement the architecture.

Transition Planning: Detailed plans for transitioning from the baseline to the target architecture are developed, ensuring that all necessary steps and resources are accounted for.

TOGAF References:

Phase E Deliverables: Key deliverables of this phase include the Implementation and Migration Plan, project charters, and work package descriptions.

Alignment with Business Strategy: This phase ensures that the implementation plans are aligned with the business strategy and objectives, providing a clear path for executing the architecture vision.

Benefits:

Structured Implementation: Conducting implementation planning ensures that the architecture is implemented in a structured and controlled manner, reducing risks and enhancing the likelihood of success.

Resource Allocation: It helps in efficient allocation of resources by identifying the specific projects and initiatives needed to achieve the target architecture.

In summary, Phase E of the TOGAF ADM focuses on conducting implementation planning for the architecture defined in previous phases, ensuring a structured and controlled approach to executing the architecture vision and achieving the desired business outcomes.

A business capability is a conceptual representation that reflects the core abilities or capacities of a business. It is defined as an intrinsic ability that an organization possesses or can develop to consistently deliver a specific outcome or set of outcomes. Business capabilities abstract away from the organizational structure, processes, and technology to focus on the 'what' the business can do, rather than the 'how' it does it. This concept is fundamental in business architecture as it helps in aligning strategic objectives with operational efficiency.

The purpose of this activity is to identify which business capabilities (out of the total set of capabilities) are critical to delivering stakeholder value, and therefore which ones need to be performed to a sufficient standard of quality to meet stakeholder expectations. It also helps to identify those business capabilities that do not contribute toward any of the core value streams, and which may be eliminated from the business.

The primary purpose of mapping capabilities to value stream stages within the TOGAF framework is to analyze how each capability contributes to delivering value to the customer. This process helps to identify:

Capabilities essential for value creation: These are the capabilities that directly contribute to the activities within the value stream and are critical for delivering customer value.

Capabilities with indirect or unclear contributions: These may require further investigation to determine their role in the value stream.

Non-contributing capabilities: These capabilities do not play a role in the value stream and may be candidates for elimination or optimization to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Phase A (Architecture Vision) of the TOGAF ADM builds out initial organizational maps to understand high-level organizational needs and link them to architecture goals. This step provides foundational insight that informs subsequent phases, particularly for stakeholder alignment.

References: TOGAF ADM Phase A.

In TOGAF, Phase A (Architecture Vision) is where the organization map is developed in detail and linked to overviews to understand the organizational needs. This phase focuses on:

Defining the scope of the architecture: This includes identifying the parts of the organization that will be affected by the architecture and the timeframe for the architecture development.

Identifying stakeholders and their concerns: Understanding the needs and expectations of different stakeholders is crucial for developing an architecture that meets their requirements.

Creating a high-level architecture vision: This vision outlines the desired future state of the architecture and how it will support the organization's strategic goals.