The Zachman Institute for Framework Advancement (ZIFA) is a network of information professionals who understand the critical role of Enterprise Architecture in the ability of the enterprise to successfully participate in the global economy of the 21st century. To this end, the mission of ZIFA is to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience in the use, implementation, and advancement of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture.

In 1987, John Zachman, author of the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, wrote "To keep the business from disintegrating, the concept of information systems architecture is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity." From that assertion over 15 years ago, the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture has evolved and become the model around which major organizations view and communicate their enterprise information infrastructure. The Zachman Framework draws upon the discipline of classical architecture to establish a common vocabulary and set of perspectives, a framework, for defining and describing today's complex enterprise systems. Enterprise Architecture provides the blueprint, or architecture, for the organization's information infrastructure.