Federal Enterprise Architecture

The Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) is an initiative of the US Office of Management and Budget that aims to comply with the Clinger-Cohen Act and provide a common methodology for information technology (IT) acquisition in the United States federal government. It is designed to ease sharing of information and resources across federal agencies, reduce costs, and improve citizen services.

Overview

The FEA is currently a collection of reference models that develop a common taxonomy and ontology for describing IT resources. These include the Performance Reference Model, the Business Reference Model, the Service Component Reference Model, the Data Reference Model and the Technical Reference Model.

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; and
# 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 Measurement 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)

The Business Reference Model is a function-driven framework for describing the business operations of the Federal Government independent of the agencies that perform them.

The Business Reference Model provides an organized, hierarchical construct for describing the day-to-day business operations of the Federal government using a functionally driven approach. The BRM is the first layer of the Federal Enterprise Architecture and it is the main viewpoint for the analysis of data, service components and technology.

The BRM is broken down into four areas:

*Services For Citizens
*Mode of Delivery
*Support Delivery of Services
*Management of Government Resources

ervice Component Reference Model (SRM)

The Service Component Reference Model (SRM) is a business and performance-driven, functional framework that classifies Service Components with respect to how they support business and/or performance objectives.

The SRM is intended for use to support the discovery of government-wide business and application Service Components in IT investments and assets. The SRM is structured across horizontal and vertical service domains that, independent of the business functions, can provide a leverage-able foundation to support the reuse of applications, application capabilities, components, and business services.

The SRM establishes the following domains:

*Customer Services
*Process Automation Services
*Business Management Services
*Digital Asset Services
*Business Analytical Services
*Back Office Services
*Support Services

Data Reference Model (DRM)

The Data Reference Model (DRM) describes, at an aggregate level, the data and information that support government program and business line operations. This model enables agencies to describe the types of interaction and exchanges that occur between the Federal Government and citizens.

The DRM categorizes government information into greater levels of detail. It also establishes a classification for Federal data and identifies duplicative data resources. A common data model will streamline information exchange processes within the Federal government and between government and external stakeholders.

Volume One of the DRM provides a high-level overview of the structure, usage, and data-identification constructs. This document:

* Provides an introduction and high-level overview of the contents that will be detailed in Volumes 2-4 of the model;
* Encourages Community of Interest development of the remaining volumes; and
* Provides the basic concepts, strategy, and structure to be used in future development.

The DRM is the starting point from which data architects should develop modeling standards and concepts. The combined volumes of the DRM support data classification and enable horizontal and vertical information sharing.

The current published version of the DRM is undergoing revision. The FEA PMO is collaborating with members of the interagency DRM working group, chartered by the Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council, to further enhance and improve this reference model.

Technical Reference Model (TRM)

The TRM is a component-driven, technical framework used to categorize the standards, specifications, and technologies that support and enable the delivery of service components and capabilities.

The Technical Reference Model provides a foundation to categorize the standards, specifications, and technologies to support the construction, delivery, and exchange of business and application components (Service Components) that may be used and leveraged in a Component-Based or Service-Oriented Architecture. The TRM unifies existing Agency TRMs and E-Gov guidance by providing a foundation to advance the re-use of technology and component services from a government-wide perspective.

The Service Areas in the TRM are:

*Service Access and Delivery
*Service Platform and Infrastructure
*Component Framework
*Service Interface and Integration

Source: [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/a-2-EAModelsNEW2.html]

Tools

A number of modeling tools enable you to capture the Federal Enterprise Architect reference models and align your enterprise architecture against them; some of these are listed below.

*Future Tech Systems, Inc. [http://www.future-tech.com Envision® VIP]
*Telelogic System Architect (software)
*Troux Technologies Architect

ee also

*U.S. Department of Defense Architecture Framework
*Office of Management and Budget Circulars OMB Circular A-11 and OMB Circular A-130
* Service-Oriented Modeling Framework (SOMF)

External links

* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/a-1-fea.html e-gov FEA Program Office webpage]
* [http://www.feacinstitute.org Federal Enterprise Architecture Institute website]
* [http://www.acartcompliance.com EM&I's ACART Solution (EA Compliance & Traceability Tool)]
* [http://www.cio.gov Federal Chief Information Officers Council website]
* [http://www.dod.mil/nii/ea/DoD_EA_Executive_Summary_V.04.html ASD(NII)/DoD CIO Enterprise Architecture Summary]