Technical Reference Model

A conversation from a couple weeks ago has been festering in the back of my mind. I was speaking with someone about Technical Reference Models (TRM). The TRM is the most detailed aspect of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA). The conversation I had was to compare the current TRM that I currently work under with the TRM from another Agency like HUD.

My current TRM provides very specific visibility into the various technologies that are utilized for systems and applications in the Agency. The HUD TRM is not tied to any particular system or application. But it is not generic, it is exhaustively specific.

My point in the discussion was that the HUD TRM is more useful, but I couldn't articulate why I found it to be more useful until today. The HUD TRM is prescriptive. In the HUD TRM, if you want to do something, it prescribes the technical parameters in which you are able to operate. The Agency TRM that I use today is descriptive. It reflects what we are using, but it does not constrain what technologies we could consider to do the job.

I like the HUD model better because I can come up with an endless supply of solutions to meet a technical challenge. But the solution that serves the Agency BEST is the one that is sustainable within the organization. We increase the opportunity for sustainability by leveraging the technology stack that is used to meet other needs as well.