Preface

Welcome to TOGAF - The Open Group Architectural Framework.

TOGAF is a framework - a detailed method and a set of supporting tools - for developing an IT architecture. It is described in a set of documentation published by The Open Group on its public web server, and may be used freely by any organization wishing to develop an information systems architecture for use within that organization. (See specific conditions of use.)

TOGAF was developed by The Open Group's own members, working within the Architecture Forum. The original development of TOGAF Version 1 in 1995 was based on the Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM), developed by the US Department of Defense. The DoD gave The Open Group explicit permission and encouragement to create TOGAF by building on the TAFIM, which itself was the result of many years of development effort and many millions of dollars of U.S. government investment.

Starting from this sound foundation, the members of The Open Group's Architecture Forum have developed successive versions of TOGAF each year and published each one on The Open Group's public web site.

If you are new to the field of IT architecture and/or TOGAF, you may find it worthwhile to read the set of Frequently Asked Questions, where you will find answers to questions such as:

What is an architectural framework?
What kind of "architecture" are we talking about?
How does my organization benefit from using TOGAF?

For a longer introduction to TOGAF (but one still readable within a few minutes), you are recommended to read the TOGAF Executive Overview, which focuses on the business benefits of IT Architecture and how TOGAF can help deliver them.

The Structure of the TOGAF Document

There are four main parts to the TOGAF document.

PART I: Introduction (this Part) provides a high-level introduction to some of the key concepts behind IT architecture and in particular the TOGAF approach.

PART II: Architecture Development Method is the core of TOGAF. It describes the TOGAF Architecture Development Method - a step-by-step approach to developing an IT architecture.

PART III: Foundation Architecture describes the TOGAF Foundation Architecture, which comprises a Technical Reference Model and The Open Group's Standards Information Base (SIB).

PART IV: Resources comprises the TOGAF Resource Base - a set of tools and techniques available for use in applying TOGAF and the TOGAF ADM.

Navigation

The TOGAF document set is designed for use with frames. To navigate around the document:

In the main Contents frame at the top of the page, click the relevant hyperlink (PART I, PART II, etc.) to load the Contents List for that Part of the TOGAF document into the Secondary Index frame in the left margin.

Then click in that Contents List to load a page into this main frame.

Where an entry in a Contents List has the prefix (Index to), that hyperlink will load a sub-contents list into the Secondary Index frame.

Downloads

Two downloads of TOGAF Version 7 are available:

A printable PDF file
A ZIP file of the complete set of HTML pages

These downloads are available under license from the TOGAF information web site. The license is free to any organization wishing to use TOGAF entirely for internal purposes (for example, to develop an information system architecture for use within that organization).