FEA (Federal Enterprise Architecture)

FEA (Federal Enterprise Architecture) represents a description of the Enterprise Architecture for the Federal Government of the U.S. ( the whole system of public administration in the USA). Its aim is to improve the way the federal government uses and develops information technologies. Obligation to use FEA in all federal institutions and offices in the U.S. is given by the law (Clinger-Cohen Act, 1996), which requires authorities to establish effective processes for managing IT investments according to their performance in compliance with the FEA. Offices that do not reach the required performance, are not permitted to invest.

Federal Enterprise Architecture consists of a set of reference models:

• Performance Reference Model (PRM)
• Business Reference Model (BRM)
• Service Component Reference Model (SRM)
• Data Reference Model (DRM)
• Technical Reference Model (TRM)

Sometimes the concept of FEAF (Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework) is used, which is actually a framework that helped build FEA. Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) was published in 1999 by the Federal CIO Council, in order to create Enterprise Architecture, which breaks the boundaries across federal authorities. FEAF is based on the general rules and creates a permanent standard for architecture description and development of the U.S. Federal Government.

FEA in practice: FEA can be used in the management of public administration systems in other countries and in architecture management of the organization.