Benefits and challenges of architecture frameworks

Architecture frameworks have become a popular means to cope with the complexity of today's enterprises. They support the specification of architectures by providing a method for designing and describing them. An architecture framework typically defines a common terminology, a set of views focusing on particular aspects of the architecture, a set of architecture types with varying levels of detail, and a methodology for the development and maintenance of an architecture and its views. Despite their benefits, the adoption of an architecture framework is non-trivial in practice and does not always meet the expectations of the target audience. There are several reasons: First, the semantics of views - both in terms of what and how { leaves room for interpretation that must be filled by the architect(s). Second, the definition and maintenance of an architecture involves many different stakeholders and requires a modeling process. Finally, proper tool support is an important aspect when it comes to collaboration and promoting one's findings. In this paper, we introduce the concepts of architectures and architecture frameworks. Next, we describe the core features of the NATO architecture framework. Thereafter, we present potential pitfalls when adopting a framework and conclude with a short summary.