Gartner Research

Create a Reference
Architecture Program
That Facilitates
Composability

Enterprise Architecture Research Team
8 March 2022

Create a Reference Architecture Program ThatFacilitates Composability
Peer & Practitioner Research Published 8 March 2022 - ID G00767504 - 4 min read

By Analyst(s): Enterprise Architecture Research Team
Initiatives: Digital Business Change Initiatives; Digital Products and Services

Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders can use
this article to start their journey of creating a reference architecture
program that directly supports the goal of building a composablebusiness.
As enterprise architecture (EA) and technology innovation (TI) leaders embark on orcontinue the journey of enabling resilient growth for organizations (see EnterpriseArchitecture Primer for 2022), the idea of composability keeps popping up (seeBecoming Composable: A Gartner Trend Insight Report). While this idea is by no meansnew, the technology landscape has evolved to a place where composability is moreachievable than ever before. One way to realize composability is to build or update areference architecture (RA) program that begins with enabling composability as the goal.
The recently published Ignition Guide to Building Reference Architectures for a
Composable Business is a great place to start.
This article summarizes key lessons related to composability from the comprehensive
Ignition Guide mentioned above. Please note that the full research has 12 tools andtemplates that you can download and customize to suit your needs.

Ensure a Shared Understanding of Composability
Whether you are instantiating a new RA program or revitalizing an existing one, ensuringthat key stakeholders (e.g., business and IT leaders, solution architects and program
managers, application developers and designers, etc.) have a shared understanding ofwhat composability actually means for your organization is an essential starting point.
Figure 1 offers Gartner’s perspective on the ontology of composability.

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Figure 1: Three Principles of Composability

It may be helpful to consider the tenets of composability deﬁned above as parts of ahierarchy: Modularity is at the heart of composability. However, to be able to compose any
given set of modules, those modules need to exist in a deﬁned, shared architecture that
describes the scope and means of connectivity between building blocks.
The architecture principle includes three distinct properties that help describe modules,
with which you’ll need to be familiar:■

Autonomy: Modules are self-contained and can be easily changed or swapped
without affecting the system.

■

Orchestration: The modules agree on their methods of interaction, and interfaces
support the prevailing standards and protocols.

■

Discovery: Business building blocks are identiﬁed, monitored and managed. It is
possible to ﬁnd the module and what it does through metadata.

Ensure That RAs Support Composability
At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s important to ensure that the RA components you arebuilding do, in fact, support a composable business. A simple checklist of nine questions
can help verify composability for each RA component you develop (see Table 1).

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The more yeses you are able to check off, the more optimized the component will be
for business composability. (For a shortlist of RA components to consider, see Figure
4 and Table 5 in Ignition Guide to Building Reference Architectures for a ComposableBusiness.)
Table 1: Business Composability Checklist(Enlarged table in Appendix)

Work Toward Federated RA Creation and Ownership
A successful RA program can’t be a “one-man band.” Although EA may be heavily involvedin the rollout of an initial RA program, EA typically does not have the bandwidth or subject
matter expertise required to assume primary responsibility for all RA creation. Accordingly,
one of the goals of your RA program should be to work toward the distribution ofresponsibility and ownership over discrete RA components to associates who are closer tothe use case.

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While there will always be a set of core, enterprise-level RAs that should remain undercentral management, look for opportunities to federate ownership of RAs that areapplicable to, and used by, limited local audiences.

Bonus Round: Going a Step Further by Embedding or Automating RAs
The most progressive EA leaders ensure that RA adoption strategies account fororganizational maturity and diverse user experience needs. To do this, you should evolve
your reference implementations to be progressively more automated and embedded in
end-user workﬂows (see Figure 2).
Successfully embedding and automating elements of your RA program is a signiﬁcantstep toward the goal of a composable business, in which individuals compose andrecompose solutions independently, from high-quality building blocks and reusable
assets.
Figure 2. Reference Architecture User Experience Maturity Curve

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Recommended by the Authors
Ignition Guide to Building Reference Architectures for a Composable Business
Quick Answer: What Does It Mean to Be ‘Composable’?EA Unlocks Composability
Use Gartner’s Reference Model to Deliver Intelligent Composable Business Applications
Innovation Insight for Composable Modularity Of Packaged Business Capabilities© 2024 Gartner, Inc. and/or its afﬁliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark ofGartner, Inc. and its afﬁliates. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form
without Gartner's prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of Gartner's researchorganization, which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained inthis publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, Gartner disclaims all warranties
as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner research may
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research is produced independently by its research organization without input or inﬂuence from any
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research may not be used as input into or for the training or development of generative artificial
intelligence, machine learning, algorithms, software, or related technologies.

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Table 1: Business Composability Checklist
Pillar of Business ComposabilityChecklist⬤

1. Will this RA (or RA component) save time andeffort for your developer teams in future?

⬤

2. Can this RA (or RA component) be reused byother developer teams across the enterprise for asimilar or different use case?

⬤3. Did you collaborate with individuals outside yourimmediate team to build or co-create this RA (or RAcomponent)?

⬤

4. Have you built or are planning to build reference
implementations (e.g., guides, prototypes) tosupport future use?

⬤

5. Is the new RA (or RA component) you arecreating mapped to one or more existing businesscapabilities in your organization?

⬤

6. Does this RA (or RA component) model a selfcontained building block that can be assembled
with other building blocks to create new products
and services?

⬤

7. Have your EAs and relevant businessstakeholders reviewed and/or approved the RA

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you have created for reuse?
⬤

8. Does your RA component encourage the use ofAPIs or microservices or other advanced modulartechnologies that enable rapid integration?

⬤

9. Is the new RA (or RA component) mapped tofuture-state technology roadmaps for theenterprise?

⬤

10. Is your RA component designed for reuseregardless of the technology it’s implemented with(for example, source code language-agnostic,platform and database-agnostic)?

⬤ Composable Thinking (a mindset to guide business change in the face of opportunity and uncertainty)⬤ Composable Business Architecture (a blueprint of the business to manage the pace of business change)⬤ Composable Technology (the digital resources to digitalize business)

Source: Gartner (March 2022)

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