Aligning the EBMM with Archimate

I just recently had a conversation with a talented enterprise architect who had brought together the EA framework elements from numerous different sources in order to address the needs of his business.  Included in that list was the Enterprise Business Motivation Model which I developed and which I continue to maintain.

He reminded me of one of the bits of feedback that I’ve been given over the years, and that is “integrate the EBMM with other frameworks.” 

The challenge I have with that is that many other frameworks don’t have a metamodel.  The EBMM is a business architecture metamodel.  Of course, that is a quickly vanishing excuse.  The open group is largely using Archimate for their metamodel these days, and other frameworks have had metamodels from the start.  So it is time to get off my back and start taking a look at how the EBMM relates with, or differs from, standard metamodels.

I’m starting with Archimate?  Why?  Because it is at the right level of abstraction, fits well with the gaps in the EBMM (in the IT space, where Archimate excels, there is nothing in the EBMM), and allows a good relationship with tools implementation.

So over the course of the next few months, in my copious spare time, I’ll be diving in on Archimate and trying to improve my skills there, and find the ways to connect it to the EBMM.  If you have insight that you can share, please let me know.