Chapter 6. Column Three: Locations

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	Requirements Analysis: From Business Views to Architecture By David C. Hay
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In John Zachman's original framework there were only three columns : data, function, and location. In 1989, the elements that concerned developers were primarily data and processes, although the implications of distributed systems were significant as well, and it was clear that any requirements analysis project would have to address them. Location was easily as important as data and processes. Only later did Mr. Zachman realize that there were three other columns as well.

The problem is that location is not really another column: It is a third dimension. That is, each of the other columns has a location dimension to it. It's as though the real Architecture Framework were as shown in Figure 6.1, with "Location" as a distinct dimension. We want to know the location of the data, the location of the activities, and so on.

Figure 6.1. Locations and the Architecture Framework.

Thus, more than any other column, location is intimately associated with the other columns, and it cannot be examined in isolation. Indeed, its relationships with the other columns can be very complex.

The only graphic modeling technique for this column (both Rows Two and Three) is the trusty map. In the business owner's view (Row Two), one can lay out the geography of the city, state, country, or Earth, and place offices, warehouses, and plants on it.

In the architect's view (Row Three), these sites may be shown on a map as well, but the important thing is to document all the other columns for each site. This is a kind of network map, with the aesthetics left up to the mapmaker. In whatever way it is represented, though, in Row Three this network must be linked to the information in the other five columns.

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