This document specifies a reference base of concepts and principles for enterprise architectures that enable enterprise development, enterprise integration, enterprise interoperability, human understanding and computer processing. This document further specifies requirements for models and languages created for expressing such enterprise architectures.

This document specifies those terms, concepts and principles considered necessary to address stakeholder concerns and to carry out enterprise creation programmes as well as any incremental change projects required by the enterprise throughout the whole life of the enterprise. This document forms the basis by which enterprise architecture and modelling standards can be developed or aligned.

This document does not define standard enterprises, standard organizational structures, standard enterprise processes, or standard enterprise data. In addition, this standard does not specify enterprise modelling processes.