A federal enterprise architecture framework (FEAF) is the U.S. reference enterprise architecture of a federal government. It provides a common approach for the integration of strategic, business and technology management as part of organization design and performance improvement.FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document.FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document Version 2.3 October 2007. Accessed 28 April 2009.
The most familiar federal enterprise architecture is the enterprise architecture of the Federal government of the United States, the U.S. "Federal Enterprise Architecture" (FEA) and the corresponding U.S. "Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework" (FEAF). This lemma will focus on this particular enterprise architecture and enterprise architecture framework.
Overview Enterprise architecture (EA) is a management best practice for aligning business and technology resources to achieve strategic outcomes, improve organizational performance and guide federal agencies to better execute their core missions. An EA describes the current and future state of the agency, and lays out a plan for transitioning from the current state to the desired future state. A federal enterprise architecture is a work in progress to achieve these goals.
The U.S. Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is an initiative of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Office of E-Government and IT, that aims to realize the value of enterprise architecture within the U.S. Federal Government. Enterprise Architecture became a recognized strategic and management best practice in U.S. Federal Government with the passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act in 1996.
There are numerous benefits that accrue from implementing and using an enterprise architecture within the U.S. Federal Government. Among them is to provide a common approach for IT acquisition in the United States federal government. It is also designed to ease sharing of information and resources across federal agencies, reduce costs, and improve citizen services.
History
In September 1999, the Federal CIO Council published the "Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework" (FEAF) Version 1.1 for developing an Enterprise Architecture (EA) within any Federal Agency for a system that transcends multiple inter-agency boundaries. It builds on common business practices and designs that cross organizational boundaries, among others the NIST Enterprise Architecture Model. The FEAF provides an enduring standard for developing and documenting architecture descriptions of high-priority areas. It provides guidance in describing architectures for multi-organizational functional segments of the Federal Government. At the time of release, the Government's IT focus on Y2K issues and then the events of September 2001 diverted attention from EA implementation, though its practice in advance and subsequent to this may have ameliorated the impact of these events. As part of the President's Management Agenda, in August 2001, the E-Government Task Force project was initiated (unofficially called Project Quicksilver). A key finding in that strategy was that the substantial overlap and redundant agency systems constrained the ability to achieve the Bush administration strategy of making the government "citizen centered". The Task Force recommended the creation a Federal Enterprise Architecture Project and the creation of the FEA Office at OMB. This was a shift from the FEAF focus on Information Engineering, to a J2EE object re-use approach using reference models comprising taxonomies that linked performance outcomes to lines of business, process services components, types of data, and technology components. Interim releases since that time have provided successive increases in definition for the core reference models (see below), as well as a very robust methodology for actually developing an architecture in a series of templates forming the Federal Segment Architecture Methodology (FSAM) and its next generation replacement, the Collaborative Planning Methodology (CPM), which was designed to be more flexible, more widely applicable, and more inclusive of the larger set of planning disciplines.
These federal architectural segments collectively constitute the federal enterprise architecture. In 2001, the Federal Architecture Working Group (FAWG) was sponsoring the development of Enterprise Architecture products for trade and grant Federal architecture segments. Methods prescribed way of approaching a particular problem. As shown in the figure, the FEAF partitions a given architecture into business, data, applications, and technology architectures. The FEAF overall framework created at that time (see image) includes the first three columns of the Zachman Framework and the Spewak's Enterprise Architecture Planning methodology.
In May 2012 OMB published a full new guide, the "Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture". Released as part of the federal CIO's policy guidance and management tools for increasing shared approaches to IT service delivery, the guide presents an overall approach to developing and using Enterprise Architecture in the Federal Government. The Common Approach promotes increased levels of mission effectiveness by standardizing the development and use of architectures within and between Federal Agencies. This includes principles for using EA to help agencies eliminate waste and duplication, increase shared services, close performance gaps, and promote engagement among government, industry, and citizens.
On January 29, 2013, the White House released Version 2 of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF-II), to government agencies, making it public about a year later.FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document. Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework version 2 January 29, 2013. Accessed 2 April 2015. The document meets the criteria set forth by Common Approach, emphasizing that strategic goals drive business services, which in turn provide the requirements for enabling technologies. At its core is the Consolidated Reference Model (CRM), which equips OMB and Federal agencies with a common language and framework to describe and analyze investments.
Overall the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is mandated by a series of federal laws and mandates. These federal laws have been: GPRA 1993 : Government Performance and Reform Act PRA 1995 : Paperwork Reduction Act CCA 1996 : Clinger-Cohen Act GPEA 1998 : The Government Paperwork Elimination Act FISMA 2002 : Federal Information Security Management Act E-Gov 2002 : Electronic Government Supplementary OMB circulars have been: A-11 : Preparation, Submission and Execution of the Budget A-130 : OMB Circular A-130 Management of Federal Information Resources, first issued in December 1985
Collaborative planning methodology
The Collaborative Planning Methodology (CPM) is a simple, repeatable process that consists of integrated, multi-disciplinary analysis that results in recommendations formed in collaboration with leaders, stakeholders, planners, and implementers. It is intended as a full planning and implementation lifecycle for use at all levels of scope defined in the Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture: International, National, Federal, Sector, Agency, Segment, System, and Application.
Version 2 reference models
The Consolidated Reference Model of the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) equips OMB and Federal agencies with a common language and framework to describe and analyze investments. It consists of a set of interrelated reference models designed to facilitate cross-agency analysis and the identification of duplicative investments, gaps and opportunities for collaboration within and across agencies. Collectively, the reference models comprise a framework for describing important elements of federal agency operations in a common and consistent way. Through the use of the FEAF and its vocabulary, IT portfolios can be better managed and leveraged across the federal government, enhancing collaboration and ultimately transforming the Federal government.
The five reference models in version 1 (see below) have been regrouped and expanded into six in the FEAF-II.
Performance Reference Model (PRM) This reference model supports architectural analysis and reporting in the strategy sub-architecture view of the overall EA. The PRM links agency strategy, internal business components, and investments, providing a means to measure the impact of those investments on strategic outcomes. Business Reference Model (BRM) This reference model, which combines the Business and Service Component Reference Models from FEAF v1, supports architectural analysis and reporting in the business services sub-architecture view of the overall EA. The BRM describes an organization through a taxonomy of common mission and support service areas instead of through a stove-piped organizational view, thereby promoting intra- and inter-agency collaboration. Data Reference Model (DRM) The DRM facilitates discovery of existing data holdings residing in "silos" and enables understanding the meaning of the data, how to access it, and how to leverage it to support performance results. Application Reference Model (ARM) The ARM categorizes the system- and application-related standards and technologies that support the delivery of service capabilities, allowing agencies to share and reuse common solutions and benefit from economies of scale. Infrastructure Reference Model (IRM) The IRM categorizes the network/cloud related standards and technologies to support and enable the delivery of voice, data, video, and mobile service components and capabilities. Security Reference Model (SRM) The SRM provides a common language and methodology for discussing security and privacy in the context of federal agencies' business and performance goals.
Version 1 reference models
The FEA is built using an assortment of reference models that develop a common taxonomy for describing IT resources. FEA Version 1 reference models (see image) included the following: performance reference model, business reference model, service component reference model, data reference model and technical reference model.
It is designed to ease sharing of information and resources across federal agencies, reduce costs, and improve citizen services. It is an initiative of the US Office of Management and Budget that aims to comply with the Clinger-Cohen Act.
Performance Reference Model (PRM)
The PRM is a standardized framework to measure the performance of major IT investments and their contribution to program performance. The PRM has three main purposes:
Help produce enhanced performance information to improve strategic and daily decision-making; Improve the alignment — and better articulate the contribution of — inputs to outputs and outcomes, thereby creating a clear "line of sight" to desired results; Identify performance improvement opportunities that span traditional organizational structures and boundaries
The PRM uses a number of existing approaches to performance measurement, including the Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige Criteria, value measuring methodology, program logic models, the value chain, and the theory of constraints. In addition, the PRM was informed by what agencies are currently measuring through PART assessments, GPRA, enterprise architecture, and Capital Planning and Investment Control. The PRM is currently composed of four measurement areas:
Mission and Business Results Customer Results Processes and Activities Technology
Business Reference Model (BRM)