Linked.Archi Financial Architecture Extension
Extension ontology for financial aspects of enterprise architecture. Provides vocabulary for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models, cost allocation to business capabilities and value streams, investment case tracking (Run/Grow/Transform), cost-benefit analysis for architecture decision options, and FinOps cloud cost management. Not intended to replace financial planning tools — the goal is to make cost a queryable dimension of the architecture knowledge graph, enabling questions like "What is the annual run cost of all applications supporting this capability?" or "Which decision option has the best NPV?" Motivated by Gartner 2025 Leadership Vision identifying lack of financial acumen as one of the five mistakes EA teams make.
Ontology for financial aspects of enterprise architecture within the Linked.Archi ecosystem.
Linked.Archi
Cost Category
Classification of cost items by type — license, infrastructure, labor, support, integration, compliance, opportunity cost, or technical debt interest.
Investment Type
Classification of architecture investments by strategic intent — Run (keep operational), Grow (expand capabilities), or Transform (fundamental modernization).
Cost Period
The time period over which a cost applies — annual, monthly, quarterly, or one-time.
Cost Model
A Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or cost model for an architecture element or group of elements. Aggregates cost items across categories (license, infrastructure, labor, support) over a defined time horizon. A CostModel can be linked to any arch:Element — an application, a capability, a platform, or a service. It can also be allocated to business capabilities and value streams for cost-per-capability analysis. The totalTCO property holds the calculated total; individual cost items provide the breakdown.
Cost Item
A single line item in a cost model — one specific cost with its category, amount, period, and optional notes. Cost items are the atomic units of financial tracking in the architecture knowledge graph.
Investment Case
A business case for an architecture investment — modernization, new capability development, or decommissioning. Links the investment to the architecture elements it affects, the projected ROI, payback period, and the Run/Grow/Transform classification. Investment cases connect financial planning to architecture decisions: when an architect proposes a modernization, the investment case captures the financial justification.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
A structured comparison of costs and benefits for an architecture decision option. Links to ad:Option from the architecture decisions extension, enabling cost-informed decision making. Captures estimated cost, estimated benefit, net present value (NPV), and supporting notes. Multiple options for the same decision can be compared by their CBA metrics.
Budget
An allocated budget for an architecture initiative, portfolio segment, or organizational unit. Tracks the approved amount, the fiscal period, and the budget owner.
Forecast
A projected cost or benefit over a future time horizon. Used for financial planning and investment tracking. Links to the architecture elements or initiatives being forecasted.
Cloud Cost Allocation
A cloud-specific cost allocation aligned with FinOps practices. Captures cloud provider, service type (compute, storage, network, managed services), and usage-based vs reserved pricing.
Technical Debt Cost
The estimated cost of maintaining or remediating technical debt. Captures both the "interest" (ongoing cost of workarounds and maintenance overhead) and the "principal" (one-time cost to remediate the debt).
Technical debt cost is often invisible in traditional financial reporting. Making it explicit in the architecture knowledge graph enables questions like "What is the total technical debt interest across our portfolio?" and "Which applications have the highest debt-to-value ratio?"
Migration Cost
The estimated cost of migrating an application or platform. Designed to compose with the TIME framework — applications classified as Migrate should have a MigrationCost item in their cost model.
Total Cost of Ownership
The full lifecycle cost of an architecture element — acquisition, operation, maintenance, support, and eventual decommissioning.
Investment Prioritization
Allocating limited investment budget across competing architecture initiatives based on projected ROI, strategic alignment, and risk.
Technical Debt Visibility
Making the financial impact of technical debt visible to business stakeholders — the ongoing cost of workarounds and the investment required to remediate.
Cloud Cost Optimization
Optimizing cloud spending through right-sizing, reserved instances, spot usage, and architectural decisions that reduce cloud cost.
Cost Overview
High-level overview of architecture costs — total cost by capability, by application, by technology platform. The entry point for financial analysis of the architecture landscape.
Investment Portfolio
View of architecture investments — Run/Grow/Transform classification, projected ROI, payback periods, and budget allocation. Used for investment prioritization and portfolio balancing.
Technical Debt Landscape
View of technical debt across the portfolio — which applications carry the most debt, what is the annual interest cost, and what would remediation cost. Makes the invisible visible for business stakeholders.
Cloud FinOps
View of cloud cost allocation — spending by provider, service type, application, and team. Aligned with FinOps Foundation practices.
has cost model
Links an architecture element to its cost model.
has cost item
Links a cost model to its line items.
cost category
Categorizes a cost item (license, infrastructure, labor, etc.).
annual amount
The annual cost amount in the cost model's base currency.
one-time amount
A one-time cost amount (e.g., migration cost, setup fee).
currency
ISO 4217 currency code for the cost model (e.g., EUR, USD, GBP).
cost period type
The time period over which a cost applies.
total TCO
The calculated total cost of ownership over the defined horizon.
TCO horizon (years)
The number of years over which TCO is calculated (typically 3 or 5).
cost model date
The date the cost model was created or last updated.
cost model owner
The stakeholder responsible for maintaining the cost model.
allocated to capability
Allocates cost to a business capability for cost-per-capability analysis.
allocated to value stream
Allocates cost to a value stream for value-stream cost analysis.
allocation percentage
Percentage of cost allocated to a capability or value stream (0-100).
has investment case
Links an architecture element to its investment case.
investment type
Classifies the investment as Run, Grow, or Transform.
projected ROI
Projected return on investment as a percentage.
payback period (months)
Expected number of months until the investment pays for itself.
investment amount
Total investment amount requested.
investment currency
ISO 4217 currency code for the investment case.
investment status
Status of the investment case (proposed, approved, in-progress, completed, cancelled).
investment sponsor
The stakeholder sponsoring the investment.
has cost-benefit analysis
Links a decision option to its cost-benefit analysis.
estimated cost
Total estimated cost of the option.
estimated benefit
Total estimated benefit of the option.
net present value
Net present value of the option over the analysis horizon.
discount rate
Discount rate used for NPV calculation (as a decimal, e.g., 0.08 for 8%).
analysis horizon (years)
Number of years over which the cost-benefit analysis is projected.
CBA currency
ISO 4217 currency code for the cost-benefit analysis.
has budget
Links an initiative or portfolio segment to its allocated budget.
budget amount
The approved budget amount.
budget currency
ISO 4217 currency code for the budget.
fiscal year
The fiscal year the budget applies to.
budget owner
The stakeholder responsible for the budget.
cloud provider
The cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.).
cloud service type
The type of cloud service (compute, storage, network, database, managed service).
pricing model
The pricing model (on-demand, reserved, spot, savings plan).
debt type
The type of technical debt (interest = ongoing cost, principal = remediation cost).
debt description
Description of the technical debt and its impact.