Systems architecture framework

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (I-EEE) defines architecture as follows:

"The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution." IEEE 1471-2000, 21 Sep 2000

Wikipedia defines an architecture framework as:

"An Architecture framework is a specification of how to organize and present an [...] Architecture."

Based on those two definitions, one can conclude that a Systems Architecture Framework specifies how to organize and present the fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other, and to the environment and the principles guiding its design and evolution.

The Department Of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF), the Ministry of Defense Architecture Framework (MoDAF), the Zachman framework, and The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) have been used to some degree of effect as Systems Architecture Frameworks. In general, the processes and artifacts used in these frameworks support the description of Systems architectures, although examples and instructions tend to lean towards IT or software systems as opposed to other classes of system.