The Zachman framework overview
In short: The Zachman framework is a grid for organising descriptions of an enterprise. Its columns are six questions (what, how, where, who, when, why) and its rows are perspectives from executive to technician. It tells you what to describe, not how to do the work, so it is often used alongside a method such as TOGAF.
A classification, not a method
The Zachman framework was introduced by John Zachman in the 1980s, based on his work at IBM, and has been refined since. It is often called an ontology: a structured way of naming and sorting the things you might describe about an enterprise. Unlike TOGAF, it does not give you steps to follow. Think of it as the labelled shelves in a library, while TOGAF is the process for writing the books.
The six columns
Every column answers one basic question. If you want a complete picture of an organisation, you need answers to all six. A network engineer naturally thinks about the Where column (locations and connections), but the framework reminds you that the network exists to serve the How (processes) and Why (goals).
The six rows
Each row is a different audience looking at the same enterprise. The executive cares about scope; the business manager about business concepts; the architect about logical system design; the engineer about physical technology; the technician about detailed configuration. The bottom row is the real, running enterprise. Each cell, where a row meets a column, holds one type of model.
| Example cell | What it might contain |
|---|---|
| Executive, Where | List of countries and sites where the business operates |
| Business manager, How | Order-to-cash business process |
| Architect, What | Logical data model of customers and orders |
| Engineer, Where | WAN design with links between sites and the cloud |
| Technician, Where | Router and switch configurations |
| Engineer, Who | Role-based access design for the main applications |
Using Zachman well
Two rules make the grid useful. First, each cell should be unique: a model should answer one question for one audience. Mixing several makes documents hard to maintain. Second, cells in the same column should trace to each other, so a router configuration (technician, where) can be linked back to the site list (executive, where).
- Use the grid as a completeness check: which cells have no documentation for a critical system?
- Use it to pick the right view for an audience: do not show executives switch configs.
- Do not try to fill all 36 cells for everything. Focus on the cells that support current decisions.
Tip: Zachman and TOGAF work well together. Use the TOGAF ADM to run the work, and the Zachman grid to organise the artefacts in your architecture repository.
In exam answers, the key comparison is: Zachman is a taxonomy (what to describe); TOGAF is a process (how to develop architecture). Mention the six interrogatives and the perspective rows to show you understand its structure.
Practice
What are the six columns of the Zachman framework?
Why is Zachman described as a classification rather than a method?
Which Zachman cell would a set of firewall rules most likely fall into?
Key takeaways
- Zachman is a grid for classifying enterprise descriptions.
- Columns: what, how, where, who, when, why.
- Rows: perspectives from executive to technician and the running enterprise.
- Use it as a completeness check and to choose the right view for an audience.
- Zachman says what to describe; TOGAF says how to do the work.
Original content written by Mohamed Fayas for FM TecHub. © 2026 FM TecHub. You're welcome to share a link to this page; please don't copy the text elsewhere without permission.