LEAP : a precise lightweight framework for enterprise architecture

This paper proposes LEAP, a simple framework for Enterprise Architecture (EA) that views an organization as an engine that executes in terms of hierarchically decomposed communicating components. The approach allows all aspects of the architecture to be precisely defined using standard modelling notations. Given that the approach is simple and precisely defined it can form the basis for a wide range of EA analysis techniques including simulation, compliance and consistency checking. The paper defines the LEAP framework and shows that it can be used to represent the key features of ArchiMate whilst containing fewer orthogonal concepts. We also show that the precision of LEAP, achieved through the use of OCL, can be used to verify both the claims made for inter-layer relationships in EA models and for extensions to ArchiMate.