An enterprise architecture for a business is divided into a business architecture and an information technology architecture. The business architecture is the main driver for the information technology architecture but the information technology architecture can also have an impact on the construction of the business architecture. A framework tower is built around essential and mandatory components of the enterprise architecture. The framework tower is made up of a plurality of planes representing mandatory components of the enterprise architecture. The components of the framework tower include a strategic plan, a business architecture, an information architecture, an application architecture, a technology infrastructure architecture, an enterprise information technology management architecture, and a security architecture. Each component identifies and categorizes requisite architectural components and elements of a business. Each component in the framework tower addresses the people, processes, and technology of the enterprise architecture so that strategic information technology planning and repeatable and effective information technology enabling solutions can be performed and delivered to the business.