Thierry Perroud and Reto Inversini wrote a book about Enterprise Architecture Patterns because we are fascinated by the idea of patterns. The pattern catalog contains 13 patterns, divided into three categories. The patterns in the categories use or provide interface to the other patterns in the same category or in another category.
The Business Patterns are directly related to a core business process. The use of these kinds of pattern is dependent on the sector the company or organization makes business.A business pattern uses often far more interfaces from other patterns than it provides. We can easily imagine that the catalogue may be extended with industry specific patterns, like patterns for health care, finance or automotive industry. We think that we have found three generic patterns that can be applied in different industries.
The Support Patterns are related to the typical support processes of a company like human resources, financial services and logistics. We put all patterns in this category that are not directly involved in a core business process, but are nevertheless essential for the direct provision of core business services. We believe that these patterns will be useful in practically all ICT environments.
The Infrastructure Patterns provide basic services for all patterns. The services are often not directly visible to end users, but are essentials for the effective and efficient functioning of an ICT environment. An infrastructure pattern often provides more interfaces than it requires itself.