Classification

Before conducting any classification activities, the practitioner should engage with the business planning unit, the enterprise architecture unit or other business stakeholders within the organisation to identify which elements relevant to the planning engagement are already classified. Practitioners need to understand which EA Classification models are used by the organisation and whether they are appropriate for the planning activities to be conducted.

Enterprise architecture classification models

Seven Enterprise architecture (EA) classification models are used as part of the Queensland Government Enterprise Architecture (QGEA) to classify business services, business processes, information management functions, information security classifications, information assets, applications and technologies into manageable but meaningful categories. Agencies may also have additional models or have extended the domains with the QGEA EA-Classification models to reflect specific agency needs.

We recommend classification of information, applications and technology assets or services to the QGEA EA Classification models as part of whole-of-government reporting. See the Queensland Government ICT Profiling standard for an outline of the minimum classification requirements.

Classification should only be conducted once the practitioner is satisfied all relevant elements have been gathered and documented in the relevant registers including:

• Business service register
• Business process register
• Information assets/services register
• Application assets/services register
• Technology assets/services register.

EA classification models used for planning purposes should be meaningful to the business, have clearly defined definitions for each domain and be applied consistently across business areas within the agency.

The categories below demonstrate how elements are classified to domains within each layer of the QGEA EA-Classification models. It is important to attempt to classify each element to the lowest level of domain possible within an EA-Classification Model.

Business architecture

Business services and processes

• Business services classification framework
• Business process classification framework
• Information management classification framework

Classification

• Classification to primary domain business services and processes
• Classification to a primary domain for information management related processes

Information architecture

Information assets and services

• Information classification framework
• Information security classification framework

Classification

• Classification to primary domain and up to 3 secondary domains if required
• Classification to a primary information security domain

Application architecture

Application assets and services

• Application classification framework

Classification

• Classification to primary domain and up to 3 secondary domains if required

Technology

Technology assets and services

• Technology classification framework

Classification

• Classification to primary domain and up to 3 secondary domains if required

See the resources section of this page for framework diagrams and additional resources for the classification of services, business processes, information assets, application and technologies .

Classification to multiple domains

While classification to multiple domains within a framework is possible, the classification to many domains may indicate the element has been defined at too high a level. It may be necessary to redefine the element into two or more discreet elements.

Last updated:

7 December 2022