"The concept of EAs dates back to the mid-1980s. At that time, John Zachman, widely recognized as a leader in the field, identified the need to use a logical construction blueprint (i.e., an architecture) for defining and controlling the integration of systems and their components. Accordingly, Zachman developed a “framework” or structure for logically defining and capturing an architecture. Drawing parallels to the field of classical architecture, and, later, to the aircraft manufacturing industry, in which different work products (e.g., architect plans, contractor plans, shop plans, bills of lading) represent different views of the planned building or aircraft, respectively, Zachman’s framework identified the kind of work products needed to understand and thus build a given system or entity. In short, this framework provides six perspectives or windows from which to view how a given entity operates. The perspectives are those of the (1) strategic planner, (2) system user, (3) system designer, (4) system developer, (5) subcontractor, and (6) system itself. Associated with each of these perspectives, Zachman also proposed six abstractions of the entity, or models covering (1) how the entity operates, (2) what the entity uses to operate, (3) where the entity operates, (4) who operates the entity, (5) when entity operations occur, and (6) why the entity operates. Zachman’s framework provides a way to identify and describe an entity’s existing and planned component parts and the parts’ relationships before the costly and time-consuming efforts associated with developing or transforming the entity begin."