The business architecture serves as the interface between the needs of the enterprise as reflected in its work and the IT solutions that facilitate that business. As reflected in many architecture guides (e.g.,
TOGAF), the business processes serve as the foundation for a number of important architectural decisions in the information architecture.
As described above, the purpose of enterprise information technology (IT) architecture is to improve the coordination of IT development, so that the overall goals of the enterprise are better served.
The business architecture captures the enterprise’s core mission and the business practices of the enterprise as the primary set of requirements that the information architecture must serve. It represents the enterprise's most important work activities and assets. The business architecture shows what processes the NIH performs and provides a framework that allows IT to map its activities to business processes.
The business architecture is derived from the IT Architect's observations of the NIH’s business. It represents the current state of the business of NIH, though in some cases it reflects plans for the future.
The business architecture is recorded as a series of models. The modeling methodology is described briefly at Business Architecture Modeling Methodology. The models begin with the NIH Enterprise Business Model, which is an overall model for NIH that includes NIH’s major business functions.
Additional models are developed to show individual parts of the model at greater levels of detail.