Traditionally, ‘architecture’ at the enterprise level is “the fundamental organisation of a system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles governing its design and evolution1”. It is expressed as various viewpoints to understand the information and human activity systems needed to fulfil its purpose. Through architecture frameworks such as the Zachman Framework2 and TOGAF3 these viewpoints are then used to select technologies, define and develop the applications and systems required.

But if boundaries are eroding, and one organisation merges into another, how should we approach ‘architecture’? Are existing approaches invalidated by de-perimeterisation? Will costly re-engineering be needed?