TOGAF

 📘 What Is TOGAF? 

TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) is a framework and methodology used to design, plan, implement, and govern enterprise architecture. 
It helps organizations align IT strategy with business goals. 

🧱 Key Components of TOGAF 

1. Architecture Development Method (ADM) 

The core of TOGAF, a step-by-step method to build architecture. 

ADM Phases: 

Phase	Description
Preliminary	Define architecture principles, stakeholders, tools
A – Architecture Vision	Define what the architecture should achieve
B – Business Architecture	Model business strategy, governance, processes
C – Information Systems Architecture	Data & Application architectures
D – Technology Architecture	Infrastructure: servers, network, cloud, etc.
E – Opportunities & Solutions	Identify key projects and solutions
F – Migration Planning	Build roadmap and transition plan
G – Implementation Governance	Ensure execution aligns with plan
H – Architecture Change Management	Manage changes to the architecture

 

Enterprise App: Loan Origination System (LOS) on AWS using TOGAF 

🎯 Goal: 

Build a secure, scalable, cloud-native LOS platform using AWS, following TOGAF architecture principles. 

 

🧭 TOGAF ADM Phases — Mapped to AWS 

 

🔰 Preliminary Phase – Foundation Setup 

• Define Architecture Principles: 

• Cloud-first 

• Zero-trust 

• Microservices 

• IaC-first (Terraform/CDK) 

• Identify Stakeholders: CTO, Security Lead, AWS Solutions Architect 

• Select Tools & Repositories: 

• Code: AWS CodeCommit / GitHub 

• IaC: Terraform or AWS CDK 

• Architecture Repo: Confluence, Lucidchart, S3 for diagrams 

 

📌 Phase A – Architecture Vision 

• Business Goal: Digitize loan application process end-to-end 

• Architecture Vision: Serverless & microservices architecture on AWS 

• Key AWS Services: 

• API Gateway – Secure API access 

• Cognito – User authentication 

• CloudFront + S3 – Serve web portal 

 

📊 Phase B – Business Architecture 

• Processes: 

• Submit application → KYC → Credit check → Underwriting → Disbursal 

• AWS Mapping: 

• Step Functions – Model and orchestrate business workflows 

• Simple Notification Service (SNS) – Notify customers/staff 

• SQS – Decouple stages (e.g., async credit scoring) 

 

🧱 Phase C – Information Systems Architecture 

Data Architecture: 

• Entities: Customer, Loan, Score, Status 

• AWS Services: 

• RDS (PostgreSQL) – Structured data 

• DynamoDB – Event logs or high-velocity non-relational data 

• S3 – Document storage (ID proofs, income docs) 

• KMS – Encrypt PII data 

• Macie – Detect sensitive data 

Application Architecture: 

• Microservices for: 

• Authentication → Cognito 

• KYC → Lambda + third-party API 

• Scoring → Lambda + internal rules engine 

• Decision → AppSync or API Gateway + Lambda 

• CI/CD: AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild 

 

🖥️ Phase D – Technology Architecture 

• Compute: 

• ECS Fargate / Lambda – Stateless microservices 

• Network: 

• VPC – Isolated private network 

• Transit Gateway – Connect VPCs (e.g., app, data, shared services) 

• Security: 

• IAM – Role-based access 

• WAF – Protect API Gateway 

• Secrets Manager – DB/API credentials 

 

🧩 Phase E – Opportunities & Solutions 

• Opportunities: 

• Replace monolith with services 

• Integrate third-party KYC providers via Lambda 

• Solution Building Blocks: 

• Authentication Stack (Cognito, API Gateway) 

• Processing Stack (Lambda, SQS, Step Functions) 

• Persistence Stack (RDS, S3, DynamoDB) 

 

📅 Phase F – Migration Planning 

• MVP: 

• Application intake + KYC 

• Phase 2: 

• Credit scoring + underwriting 

• Phase 3: 

• Full core banking integration 

 

✅ Phase G – Implementation Governance 

• Tools: 

• Service Catalog – Standardize environments 

• AWS Config + CloudTrail – Governance and auditing 

• Terraform Validate / OPA – IaC policy enforcement 

• Checkpoints: 

• Architecture reviews before each major deployment 

 

🔁 Phase H – Architecture Change Management 

• Track Changes: Architecture Decisions Records (ADRs) 

• Prepare for future needs: 

• Multiregion failover with Route 53 + Global Accelerator 

• Add ML scoring models with SageMaker 

 

📦 Summary: AWS Services by TOGAF Layer 

Layer	AWS Service(s)
Business	Step Functions, SQS, SNS
Data	RDS, DynamoDB, S3, Glue, Macie, KMS
Application	Lambda, ECS, AppSync, API Gateway, Cognito
Technology	VPC, Transit Gateway, WAF, Secrets Manager, CloudTrail
Security	IAM, SCPs (Org), Security Hub, GuardDuty
Operations	CloudWatch, X-Ray, Config, CodePipeline

 

🧠 Why TOGAF Matters for AWS Architects 

• Encourages modular, scalable, and secure design 

• Forces alignment with business capabilities 

• Enables clear documentation and change control 

• Drives governance and reusability in multi-account AWS environments