Our collective experience designing and building complex systems and providing technology strategy guidance to our clients and employers led the members of Iasa Global to create the Business Technology Architecture Body of Knowledge (BTABoK), now in its third edition. Our aim was to create a body of knowledge to teach, guide, and lead fellow architects to advance their skills in our profession, creating increased value for our clients and employers through better and more reliable outcomes. The BTABoK consists of a core set of compentencies in five pillars:
- Buisness Technology Strategy
- Human Dynamics
- Design
- Quality Attributes
- IT Environment
In addition, we have defined five specialties that build on this common core by adding competencies that are unique to the specialty. We define a specialty as requiring these additional competencies rather than relying on a scope of practice or role title. The specialties are:
- Business
- Information
- Infrastructure
- Software
- Solution
We believe:
- The practice of business technology architecture is a profession with a unique and esoteric body of knowledge
- Knowledge in a profession is attained by achieving mastery, through education and practice, of the of skills, concepts, and facts contained within the body of knowledge
- Mastery is proven through formal certification that consists of examination and peer review
- A professional is ethically and legally responsible for the outcomes of their work
We adopt the following principles:
- Business technology architecture consists of a core set of competencies with additional competencies defined for each recognized specialty
- Mastery of competence is a life-long process that requires continued education and practice
- Specific technologies, architecture styles, architecture tools, and platforms are not competencies
- A business technology architect is identified by what they know and do, not the title of their current job
- There is a level of scope at which an architect cannot retain their proactive activities and become management