2. Abstract
When you are dealing with big business, huge agencies and governments with multiple facets it
is important to be able to create a duplicitous system in order to create, share, buy and build.
Thus no matter how many agencies are created under a branch of government or how many
children a parent company creates there is a standard for operation that can be used to easily
build the enterprise architecture.
3. Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework (TEAF)
At one point the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework was the authority and only
source for guidance concerning the development of information systems architecture for the
Department of Treasury. Although the authority framework has changed and has a new name;
the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework still provides fundamental guidance to the
Treasury, other government agencies and private sector.
TEAF Purpose
The Treasury Enterprise Architecture has one main objective. That objective is to offer a blue
print for producing an Enterprise Architecture (EA) and managing the assets of the EA. The
Treasury Enterprise Architecture also focuses on simplifying the use of EA. The EA is divided
into many parts to make it possible to use the components autonomously or in unison with other
projects.
TEAF Scope
In order to understand the scope of TEAF, it is important to first understand what the F stands for
in TEAF. The F stands for framework. The framework is a common-sense configuration used to
arrange and catalogue complicated information. After understanding what the F stands for then
one must understand what the EAF stands for in order to get an understanding of the TEAF
scope. EAF stands for enterprise architecture framework. EAF builds on the definition of
framework. EAF is a framework that focuses on the systemization of software/hardware, how the
4. components communicate with one another (interoperability), metadata (data that describes other
data) and other IT related functions.
TEAF Principles
Typically, when one thinks of principles they may think that principles are rules. However, the
Treasury TEAF documentation clearly states that the principal section of the TEAF
documentation are not rules. The principles are statements of preferred guidelines with the
intention of creating a standard procedure throughout all the agencies under the guise of The
Treasury. Some of the principles listed within the aforementioned document are:
1. Information processing actives shall comply with applicable laws, orders and
regulations
2. Business objectives must be well defined before initiating information technology
solutions
3. Total business value is the primary objective when making information
technology decision
4. Enterprise architecture is an integral part of the Investment Management Process
5. Architecture decisions shall maximize interoperability and reusability
Structure of TEAF
In order to understand the structure of anything, visuals are needed. It is hard to use only words
in order to describe a structure that is created because of an inherit need to organize words (data).
The pictures below provide a visual of the TEAF structure. In the matrix below there are sixteen
cells. Filling out each cells helps to create a work product. The business dictionary defines a
work product as a deliverable that must be produced to complete a project and achieve the
5. objectives. According to Version 1 documentation provided by the Treasury itself about TEAF,
even though the matrix below has fewer cells than other frameworks; it is not important to fill
out all cells. Only fill out the cells that are germane to the actual project.
TEAF Strengths & Weakness
Now that the scope, principles, and structure are understood it is important to understand the
strengths and weaknesses. Now per a personal interview with an IRS employee, the weaknesses
are evident because TEAF is a benumbed framework that only shows up as a guideline in older
legacy system architecture for the government agencies. Thus the biggest weakness of TEAF is
that it is outdated and has not been updated in order to keep up with technological and
methodological advancements. Its strength is that it has multiple views as displayed above in the
picture with the 16 cells.
6. The Treasury and TEAF
The Treasury is a fascinating organization because not only does it conduct business, but it is
also responsible to set the mold for several other organizations under its umbrella. The Treasury
is like the grandfather agency with several children agencies and grandchildren agencies and
services. Some of the better-known services are: Economic Policy, Internal Revenue Service,
Comptroller of the Currency ,Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (the group that
polices the employees of the Treasury) and Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes.
The graphic below of the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes’ infrastructure is
purposed to give an example of how many agencies are under just one of the agencies that are
7. under the treasury’s umbrella:
As you can see from the graph above, within one agency there are several agencies.
The way it works is the Treasury releases the requirements and guidelines for agency
Enterprise Architecture and the different agencies use those requirements in order to
create their own architecture. Here is an example of how the tiers work:
8. The IRS and TEAF
In order to discuss the relationship between the IRS and TEAF, here is a snippet of an interview
with an Information Technology employee at the IRS:
The IRS’s active architecture is called ABA. The ABA architecture is
built per requirements contained in the Treasury Enterprise Architecture
Framework document released by the CIO in 2001. ABA stands for As-Built
Architecture and represents the IRS’s current production environment with over
600 systems. ABA is a single definitive representation of the IRS operation
environment using several domains of change. Some of the domains include:
Business-oriented domain, which includes the organization and location
changes, and the technological domain, which includes the application and data
portion. These are only a few of the domains, but they are only ones that can be
9. discussed. The ABA which is built using TEAF serves us as it relates to the way
employees install information technology and helps determine the effects of the
IT changes on high level to the business and information requirements..
The PopKins and TEAF
In 2001, Popkin's System Architect made headlines concerning their exclusive contract with the
United States government. PR News released an article titled, “Leads Industry as the Only
Enterprise Modeling Tool To Offer Comprehensive Support for Government Frameworks
(FEAF, TEAF) and Standards (C4ISR)” (PR:2001). Jan Popkin created then grew system
architecture with the support and backing of Popkin Software. Hence the name Popkins. After
years of evolution it became an enterprise architeure modeling-tool. Allowing the end user (the
individual who uses the product after it has been fully developed) to use many systems and
methods in order to create parts of the agencies repository and distribute information to many
people. Popkin Software was the primary developer of enterprise architecture tools for the
federal government. (Popkins: 2001) System Architect is the single enterprise architecture and
modeling tool that offered comprehensive support for operational, systems and technology
modeling to make required government framework deliverables at the project and enterprise
level. System Architect supports Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework (TEAF)
(Popkins: 2001).
In closing, TEAF is a multi-faceted framework that was used in the early 2000s in order to create
a generic framework for agencies under the treasury to model after. It was used to make the
creation of framework within an agency easier. It has now been replaced.
10. Références
TEAF. (2009). In Encyclopedia of information science and technology. Hershey, Pa.:
Information Science Reference.
Ransom, M. (2005). The solution designer's guide to IBM On Demand business solutions.
United States?: IBM, International Technical Support Organization.
Peace corps selects popkin's system architect as tool platform for enterprise architecture
development. (2003, Sep 16). PR Newswire Retrieved from https://ezproxy.pgcc.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/451862055?accountid=13315
Popkin's System Architect Leads Industry as the Only Enterprise Modeling Tool To Offer
Comprehensive Support for Government Frameworks (FEAF, TEAF) and Standards (C4ISR).
(2001, July 10). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/popkins-system-architect-leads-industry-as-the-only-enterprise-modeling-tool-to-offer-
comprehensive-support-for-government-frameworks-feaf-teaf-and-standards-c4isr-
71279157.html
Goikoetxea, A. (2007). Enterprise architectures and digital administration: Planning, design
and assessment. Singapore: World Scientific.
TEAF Products [Photograph]. (n.d.). Http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588407.pdf, GOA CIO
Office, Washington, DC.
http://www.slideshare.net/Aamir97/treasurey-enterprise-architecture-framework-teaf
http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588407.pdf
