36C77618R0091-009.pdf

For additional support, contact the Business Architecture Team at VHA10P2ESIMBACommunications@va.gov.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE VHA BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE REPOSITORY (BAR)

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Business Architecture Repository (BAR) is an architecture repository that serves as a single access point to multiple business architecture products and artifacts. These include: VA/VHA Strategies, VHA Organizational Offices List, VHA Application List, Department of Defense (DoD)/VA integrated Business Reference Model, Business Function Framework (BFF), architectural mappings, and informational documents. The VHA BAR demonstrates relationships between business and architectural artifacts, as well as supports business analysis, reporting and decision making. The Business Architecture (BA) Business Reference Architecture (BRA) unit updates the VHA BAR on a quarterly basis with what’s known as BAR Releases.

What is in the VHA BAR?

The Table of Contents, shown in the partial view below, is the first screen displayed in the VHA BAR. Users can select a link to navigate to the selected product or artifact. Users may also select any of the tabs visible at the bottom of the screen to navigate to artifacts, Release Notes and the Glossary.

VHA Business Architecture Repository Table of Contents (Partial view)

There are four categories of business architecture products and artifacts in the BAR:

• References – A reference is a source used to build our basic inventory or list of items. References are related to VA/VHA strategy, business functions, requirements, applications, and standards. Some references are maintained by BA, others reflect content maintained by stakeholders external to BA. Reference examples include: VHA USH Priorities, VHA Strategic Objectives, VHA Medical Facilities, VHA BFF, and the VHA Application list.

• Direct Mappings – A direct mapping shows the alignment between two source artifacts with components that represent the same or similar function. Direct mappings contain architectural mapping reports for direct alignments, including mapping reports to references that are maintained by stakeholders external to BA. Direct mapping examples include the BFF mapping to Business Process Model Names and VHA USH Priorities mapping to the VHA Health IT Goals.

• Derived Relationships – A derived relationship is another method of showing an alignment. In a derived relationship, source one is aligned with source two and source two is aligned with source three; through a crosswalk and merging of the two alignments, we can show that source one is aligned with source three. Derived relationship examples include Legacy VistA Menu Items to the BFF and VHA IT Business Needs to the BFF.

• Informational Documents – An informational document is supplementary material or a tool for products and artifacts in the VHA BAR Release. This category also features an archive of previously published products and artifacts. Informational document examples include the BFF User Guide, Mapping Guidelines, and BAR Logical Information Model.

Where can I find the VHA BAR?

The VHA BAR is available at https://vaww.vashare.vha.va.gov/sites/BA/SitePages/BA%20Products.aspx.

STRATEGIC INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT OFFICE BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE

mailto:VHA10P2ESIMBACommunications@va.gov https://vaww.vashare.vha.va.gov/sites/BA/SitePages/BA%20Products.aspx