14.4 Supporting the ADM Work: The TOGAF Library, Series Guides, Patterns, and Security
Key Takeaways
Fundamental Content and the TOGAF Series Guides together form the TOGAF Standard, and the TOGAF Library is a structured library of resources that support it.
Series Guides cover general how-to, establishing an EA team, agile methods, Business Architecture, data, security, and reference models and method, with the TRM and III-RM marked historical.
TOGAF says a building block is what you use, while a pattern tells you how you use it, when, why, and what trade-offs you have to make.
Architecture Building Blocks capture architecture requirements in Phases A to D and guide the selection of Solution Building Blocks in Phase E.
The Integrating Risk and Security Series Guide addresses security and risk in every ADM phase, from Preliminary principles to Phase H change triggers.
14.4 Supporting the ADM Work: The TOGAF Library, Series Guides, Patterns, and Security
"Supporting the ADM Work" is the eighth Level 2 topic area. Its learning outcome asks you to choose applicable supporting means to execute the ADM. That means using the TOGAF Library to support practitioner work, applying the Business Scenarios technique, and understanding the purpose of compliance assessments. You should also know how migration planning techniques review and consolidate gap analysis results, how a repository can be structured using the TOGAF repository, how architecture levels organize the Architecture Landscape and set the expected level of detail, and the role of Architecture Building Blocks and when they are used. Most of these are taught elsewhere in this guide. This section ties them together and adds the TOGAF Library, architecture patterns, and security guidance.
The TOGAF Standard and the TOGAF Library
The TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition consists of two parts:
- TOGAF Fundamental Content: six documents (Introduction and Core Concepts; Architecture Development Method; ADM Techniques; Applying the ADM; Architecture Content; Enterprise Architecture Capability and Governance).
- TOGAF Series Guides: guidance on applying the standard in particular situations.
Together these form the TOGAF Standard. The TOGAF Library is a structured library of resources that support the standard.
Series Guides by Purpose
The 10th Edition groups its Series Guides roughly as follows:
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| General how-to | A Practitioners' Approach to Developing EA Following the TOGAF ADM; Using the TOGAF Standard in the Digital Enterprise; Digital Technology Adoption |
| Establishing an EA team | The TOGAF Leader's Guide to Establishing and Evolving an EA Capability |
| Agile methods | Enabling Enterprise Agility; Applying the TOGAF ADM Using Agile Sprints |
| Business Architecture | Business Capabilities; Business Capability Planning; Business Models; Business Scenarios; Information Mapping; Organization Mapping; Value Streams |
| Data and information | Business Intelligence and Analytics; Customer Master Data Management; Metadata Management |
| Security | Integrating Risk and Security within a TOGAF Enterprise Architecture |
| Reference models and method | Architecture Maturity Models; Architecture Project Management; Architecture Skills Framework; Digital Business Reference Model; Government Reference Model; Microservices Architecture; and historical guides such as the TRM and III-RM |
The Practitioner Body of Knowledge draws on a subset of these guides, including the Practitioners' Approach, the Leader's Guide, Enabling Enterprise Agility, the Business Architecture guides, Integrating Risk and Security, the Digital Enterprise guide, and Digital Technology Adoption. In Part 2, the Reference button opens this Body of Knowledge.
Choosing the Right Supporting Means
| Situation in a scenario | Supporting means |
|---|---|
| A stakeholder proposes a product instead of describing the problem | Business Scenarios technique |
| Executives need to see what the business does, independent of the org chart | Business Capabilities guide: capability map |
| The team must show how value reaches a customer and which capabilities enable it | Value Streams guide: value stream map and value stream/capability cross-mapping |
| Information concepts need to be clarified before data modeling | Information Mapping guide |
| Responsibilities across business units and partners are unclear | Organization Mapping guide |
| Agile teams want to apply the ADM in sprints | Enabling Enterprise Agility; Applying the ADM Using Agile Sprints |
| Security concerns appear late, or risk ownership is unclear | Integrating Risk and Security guide plus the Risk Management technique |
| Gaps from several domains must be turned into projects | Migration planning techniques (Section 8.3 and 9.2) |
| The team must check that a project conforms | Architecture Compliance review (Section 10.3) |
| Reusable designs exist for a recurring problem | Architecture patterns (below) and the Reference Library |
Architecture Patterns
Architecture Patterns are an ADM Technique in the 10th Edition. A pattern is generally described as an idea that has been useful in one practical context and will probably be useful in others. TOGAF relates patterns to building blocks this way: a building block is what you use; a pattern can tell you how you use it, when, why, and what trade-offs you have to make in doing so.
A pattern is commonly documented with:
- Name
- Problem: the issue the pattern addresses
- Context: the preconditions under which it applies
- Forces: the relevant constraints and how they interact
- Solution: how to resolve the forces
- Resulting context: the state after the pattern is applied, including trade-offs
- Examples, Rationale, Related patterns, and Known uses
TOGAF distinguishes architecture patterns, which express fundamental structural organization, from design patterns, which refine subsystems or components. Patterns are typically kept in the Reference Library of the Architecture Repository and used in Phases B to D and in Phase E when solutions are assembled.
Architecture Building Blocks and Architecture Levels
The Level 2 outcomes stress the role of Architecture Building Blocks and when they are used. ABBs capture architecture requirements: what functionality, interfaces, and qualities are needed, independent of products. They are defined and refined in Phases A to D, and in Phase E they guide the selection of Solution Building Blocks (Section 8.2). They are stored in the repository for reuse and classified by the Enterprise Continuum.
The level at which an architecture is developed determines its expected detail:
- Strategic: an enterprise-wide summary for executive direction.
- Segment: operating models and roadmaps at program or portfolio level.
- Capability: detail on a unit of capability and its capability increments, enough to group and govern work packages.
Recognizing the level stops you from choosing an answer that is too detailed for a strategy engagement or too vague for a capability engagement.
Security Across the ADM
The Integrating Risk and Security guide treats security as a concern in every phase rather than a separate stage:
| ADM phase | Security and risk focus |
|---|---|
| Preliminary | Security and risk principles, risk appetite, and how security governance fits the Architecture Capability |
| A | Security stakeholders and concerns; how much security-specific architecture design is needed; business transformation risks |
| B | Business security requirements, including roles, responsibilities, and the business assets to protect |
| C | Information classification and protection; application security services |
| D | Technology security services and infrastructure controls |
| E and F | Security risks in transition states and their mitigation in the plan |
| G | Security criteria in compliance reviews and contracts |
| H | Changes in threats, regulations, and technology that trigger architecture change |
| Requirements Management | Security requirements tracked like any other, with impact assessment when they change |
Using These Means in Part 2
When a scenario describes a problem, ask which supporting means the standard offers for it before choosing an answer. The strongest answers usually apply the right technique, guide, or repository asset at the right level of detail, instead of inventing a new process or skipping straight to a product.
Which statement correctly describes the relationship between TOGAF Fundamental Content, the Series Guides, and the TOGAF Library?
The Series Guides replace the Fundamental Content in the 10th Edition, which is why the core documents were reduced to a short introduction
The TOGAF Library is the official name for the Architecture Repository inside each enterprise, holding its own landscapes and standards
Fundamental Content and the Series Guides together form the TOGAF Standard, and the TOGAF Library is a structured library of resources that support it
Only the historical guides, such as the TRM and III-RM, are part of the TOGAF Standard; everything else is optional supporting material
A solution architect asks how an architecture pattern differs from a building block. Which answer reflects TOGAF?
A building block is what you use; a pattern can tell you how you use it, when, why, and what trade-offs you have to make in doing so
A pattern is a product or service that realizes an Architecture Building Block, chosen in Phase E from the Solutions Landscape
A pattern is a governance record stored in the decision log, describing why a building block was approved for enterprise reuse
There is no difference: TOGAF uses the two terms interchangeably for any reusable element of an architecture description
An agile product organization wants to apply the ADM through short sprints without abandoning enterprise coherence, and asks which TOGAF material to consult first. Which is the best answer?
The historical Technical Reference Model, which defines the platform services that agile teams build on
The Series Guides Enabling Enterprise Agility and Applying the TOGAF ADM Using Agile Sprints
The Architecture Compliance review checklists only, applied to each sprint before its increment is released
The Government Reference Model Series Guide, used as a reference for public-sector business architecture
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.
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