Das Zachman Framework ist ein 1987 von John Zachman konzipierter domänenneutraler Ordnungsrahmen zur Entwicklung von Informationssystemen.
Es bildet dabei einen Leitfaden, der Vorschläge enthält, welche Aspekte aus welchen Perspektiven Berücksichtigung finden sollten, um die IT-Architektur einer Unternehmung erfolgreich aufzustellen. Mit Hilfe dieser Modellierung kann sowohl die Dokumentation- als auch die Planung eines solchen Projekts unterstützt werden, wenn bspw. nachvollzogen werden soll, welche Entscheidungen welche technischen Umsetzungen nach sich gezogen haben.
The Zachman Framework is a framework for enterprise architecture, which provides a formal and highly structured way of viewing and defining an enterprise.
The Framework in practice is used for organizing enterprise architectural "artifacts" in a way that takes into account both:
who the artifact targets for example, business owner and builder, and
what particular issue for example, data and functionality is being addressed.
These artifacts may include design documents, specifications, and models.[3]
The Framework is in essence a matrix,[4]. It is named after its creator John Zachman, who first developed the concept in the 1980s at IBM. It has been updated several times ever since.[5]
The MS Rules Framework was a spirited attempt by MS to create a wide-ranging environment that could integrate rules held in different forms in different repositories, mange the deployment of rule sets out across an enterprise environment and even target a range of different rules engines.
Every organization has 4 other domains in which BPM projects are executed; Corporate Performance Management (CPM), IT architecture Management (ITAM) and Governance Risks and Compliance (GRC), Core Application Framework (CAF/SAP). The Enterprise BPM framework can be also used in all these domains, which results in 5 maturity models including the ERP/SAP maturity model (see figure below).