Phase C: Information Systems Architectures (Data)

The ArchiSurance Data Architecture describes the major relationships between its conceptual business objects and its logical data objects. The ArchiMate language defines the Information Structure viewpoint for this purpose:

The Information Structure viewpoint is comparable to the traditional information models created in the development of almost any information system. It shows the structure of the information used in the enterprise or in a specific business process or application, in terms of data types or (object-oriented) class structures.

One of the data viewpoints that the TOGAF Standard defines is the Logical Data diagram.

Figure 27 shows a subset of the business objects that ArchiSurance defines. Part of the customer information is an insurance file, which is composed of insurance requests, insurance policies, and damage claims. A number of specializations of the insurance policy object are defined, one for each type of insurance that ArchiSurance sells.

Figure 27: Information Structure View Showing Main Business Objects

Another data viewpoint that the TOGAF Standard defines is the Data Dissemination diagram:

The purpose of the Data Dissemination diagram is to show the relationship between data entity, business service, and application components. The diagram shows how the logical entities are to be physically realized by application components. This allows effective sizing to be carried out and the IT footprint to be refined. Moreover, by assigning business value to data, an indication of the business criticality of application components can be gained.

Figure 28 shows a Data Dissemination diagram for one ArchiSurance application.

Figure 28: Data Dissemination Diagram