The Architecture Repository is not an alias for a CMDB

Many organisations today try to position the Enterprise Architecture Repository as a single version of the truth and import or merge data from several environments into one. Often organisations will try to merge the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) with the Architecture Repository.

In this white paper, Louw Labuschagne warns of the dangers of such an approach and discusses how the Enterprise Continuum (as outlined in TOGAF 9) should be used by enterprise architects to classify different assets within the organisation. Louw goes on to position the CMDB, Architecture Repository and the Solution Requirements Repository within the Enterprise Continuum and finally shows how the Architecture Development Method (ADM) can be used to align different repositories in the correct manner to ensure success.