Home · About · A-Z Index · Search · Contacts · Press · Register · Login

Proposing Updates to TOGAF

Background     Timescales     Responsibilities      Procedure

Background

Each year The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) is evolved by the members of The Open Group's Architecture Forum.

Anyone can propose an update to TOGAF as part of the current year's work program: he or she need not be a member of the Architecture Forum, or even of The Open Group.

A proposed update may be to delete, modify / clarify, or add to the existing TOGAF.

Timescales

To provide the users of TOGAF with a sound basis for planning, new Versions of TOGAF are published in the December of each year, following a formal review process described in detail below. This means that any updates must normally be proposed and agreed in principle by the end of June each year, to be eligible for inclusion in the following December's edition of TOGAF. Updates proposed after June will normally be carried over to the following year’s work program.

Responsibilities

Anyone proposing an update to TOGAF will be expected to:

1. draft an Impact Assessment, in sufficient detail to enable the nature and scale of the proposed update to be understood and agreed; and then
2. draft the specific new text and graphics (if any) to implement the proposed update.

The Director of the Architecture Forum acts as the “coordinating editor” of the overall TOGAF document, and is responsible for integrating all the updates from the various sources into a single draft suitable for formal review and approval.

The Architecture Forum has an Executive (a nucleus of active members) which acts as the reviewing authority for TOGAF.

All members of the Architecture Forum vote on acceptance of the evolved TOGAF document before publication.

Procedure

1. Before proposing a change, familiarize yourself with the structure and content of the current  TOGAF documentation.

2. Contact the Director of the Architecture Forum (currently Mr. John Spencer) to discuss your proposed update.

3. Write an Impact Assessment about your proposal, covering the expected changes to TOGAF, the expected work effort, and an estimate of the calendar time required. Send it to the Director of the Architecture Forum (currently Mr. John Spencer).

• A brief template is available: you may find it easier to copy and amend this rather than start from scratch.

4. Brief the members of the Architecture Forum about your proposal, if possible at a regular Forum meeting. Architecture Forum meetings are held within the ambit of the quarterly Open Group Members' Conferences.

5. If Architecture Forum  members agree with your proposed update, draft the specific proposed changes to TOGAF, and route them for review by the members of the Architecture Forum Executive. If feasible, you will normally be expected to present the draft to the Architecture Forum  for their approval at a regular meeting.

• If there is disagreement within the Forum  about whether a proposed update should be accepted or not, this will normally be resolved by a simple majority vote among the Forum  Executive. Proponents should bear in mind that the specific content of any update is subject to change as part of the formal company review procedure.

6. After approval by Architecture Forum  members, individual contributions are merged into an integrated draft by the Director of the Architecture Forum in his role as “coordinating editor” of the overall TOGAF document.

7. The Executive reviews successive iterations of this draft until it is satisfied that it has a draft suitable for submission to the formal company review procedure.

Note:

• The company review procedure is the formal process by which the Open Group membership reviews and adopts proposed Open Group standards. In  summary, the procedure as applied to TOGAF is as follows.
  • The company review of TOGAF is normally open to the industry at large (i.e., to non-members as well as members).
  • The Architecture Forum  Executive considers every change request received, and develops a formal response to each one, indicating how it recommends disposing of the change request. This may be one of: "Accept"; "Accept as amended" (the Executive develops an amended form of the change request, and recommends it be implemented instead of the original); or "Reject". In both the latter cases, a rationale will normally be given.
  • These recommendations are then voted on by the whole membership of the Architecture Forum.
  • Approved recommendations are implemented, and the resultant draft is submitted for a "sanity check" by the Forum Executive before being published as the new Version of TOGAF.
• Once the content of the company review draft has been agreed, the proponent effectively loses control of the content of his or her update to TOGAF. Change requests submitted during the company review draft may result in a signficant change to the content of the update, including amendment or deletion (reversing-out) of any part of the update.

Back to Top