Architecture has been defined in many ways, but if we accept the IEEE 1471-2000 standard definition, business architecture should be "the fundamental organization of a [business] system, embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles governing its design and evolution."

架构的定义有许多种，但是如我们接受IEEE 1471-2000的标准定义，业务架构就应该是“[业务]系统的基本组织，体现为它的组件，组件之间关系和组件与环境关系，以及管控其设计和演进的原则”。