"Since the late 1980s, architecture frameworks have emerged within the federal government, beginning with the publication of the National Institute of Standards and Technology framework in 1989. Subsequently, we issued EA guidance, and our research of successful public and private sector organizations’ IT management practices identified the use of EAs as a factor critical to these organizations’ success. Since that time, other federal entities have issued EA frameworks, including the Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the federal CIO Council. Although the various frameworks use different terminology and somewhat different structures, they are fundamentally consistent in purpose and content, and they are being used today to varying degrees by many federal agencies. The emergence of federal frameworks and guidance over the last 5 years owes largely to the Congress’s passage of the in 1996. This act, among other things, requires the CIOs for major departments and agencies to develop, maintain, and facilitate the implementation of information technology architectures as a means of integrating business processes and agency goals with IT. In response to the act, OMB, in collaboration with us, issued guidance on the development and implementation of EAs..."