Business Architecture layer

This weeks topic is to reflect on the business architecture layer and its relationship to the enterprise information technology architecture.
When i hear the word business architecture, things like business processes, strategic directions, underlying business rules come in mind. Over the course of the weeks, i have talked about different architectural layers, from technology to security. But without having a well defined business layer, that surrounds the processes, strategic road maps, and rules, the organization is deficient.

According to Gartner " Business architecture is an EA process that delivers business values to the enterprise producing several things; such as:

1. Strategic requirements of the enterprise
2. Models of the future state
3. Road map of the change initiatives
4. Requirements, principles, standards and guidelines that will steer the implementation of change initiatives."

By standardizing the rules, principles, and requirements that are established on companies policies and rules need to be well defined. A business architecture layer is the one that brings all the other architecture layers together. The rules, goals of the enterprise which are defined at this stage act as dependencies for the rest of the architectural layer within an organization. These rules and processes also define the interaction of the organization with its external vendors.

According to Wikipedia, Business architecture is "A part of an enterprise architecture related to corporate business, and the documents and diagrams that describe the architectural structure of that business."

Business architecture with the help of business analysts define the functional structure of an enterprise in terms of its business services and business information.