The Zachman Framework 36 Cells: The Complete Matrix Explained

The Zachman Framework is fundamentally a 6x6 matrix containing 36 cells. Each cell represents a unique intersection of one interrogative (What, How, Where, Who, When, Why) and one perspective (Planner, Owner, Designer, Builder, Sub-Contractor, Enterprise).

This guide walks through all 36 cells and explains what architectural artefacts and models should populate each one.

The Complete 36-Cell Matrix

Here is the full Zachman Framework matrix:

	What (Data)	How (Process)	Where (Network)	Who (People)	When (Time)	Why (Motivation)
Row 1: Planner	Entity list	Process list	Site list	Org chart (outline)	Event list	Goal list
Row 2: Owner	Entity-relationship model	Business process model	Logistics network	Organisation chart (detailed)	Business event model	Business strategy & rules
Row 3: Designer	Logical data model	Logical system model	System distribution	Access control model	State/timing model	System requirements
Row 4: Builder	Physical data model	Application architecture	Infrastructure topology	Security architecture	System scheduling	Technology choices
Row 5: Subcontractor	Data definition language	Code & algorithms	Configuration details	Access control lists	Job scheduling	Implementation rules
Row 6: Enterprise	Live database	Running processes	Deployed infrastructure	Active users/sessions	Real-time events	Operational constraints

Understanding the Matrix Structure

Rows (Perspectives)

Row 1 (Contextual/Planner): Executive scope view - high-level, business language
Row 2 (Conceptual/Owner): Business owner's mental model - detailed business view
Row 3 (Logical/Designer): Architect's design - technology-independent
Row 4 (Physical/Builder): Engineer's implementation - specific technologies
Row 5 (Detailed/Sub-Contractor): Developer's component details - code and config
Row 6 (Functional/Enterprise): Working system - actual operating reality

Columns (Interrogatives)

Column 1 (What): Data, entities, inventory
Column 2 (How): Processes, functions, workflows
Column 3 (Where): Locations, networks, distribution
Column 4 (Who): Organisations, roles, people
Column 5 (When): Time, schedules, events
Column 6 (Why): Motivation, strategy, goals

Detailed Breakdown: Each Cell Explained

COLUMN 1: WHAT - Data and Inventory

Cell 1.1 - Planner, What

Name: Entity List / Scope Data
Question: What entities (nouns) does the business deal with?
Artefacts:

List of business entities (customer, order, product, account, employee)
Brief description of each
Data scope boundaries

Example: "Our bank maintains data on customers, accounts, transactions, cards, and loans."

Cell 1.2 - Owner, What

Name: Entity-Relationship Model / Business Data Model
Question: How do business entities relate to each other?
Artefacts:

Entity-relationship diagram (ER diagram)
Entity definitions with attributes (non-technical)
Relationships and cardinalities (one-to-many, many-to-many)

Example: "Each customer has many accounts. Each account has many transactions. Each account is linked to one card."

Cell 1.3 - Designer, What

Name: Logical Data Model
Question: What is the system's logical data structure, independent of technology?
Artefacts:

Normalised logical ER diagram
Entity definitions with attributes
Constraints and business keys
No database-specific details

Example: "Customer entity has attributes: CustomerID (PK), FirstName, LastName, Email. Relationships to Account and ContactInfo entities."

Cell 1.4 - Builder, What

Name: Physical Data Model
Question: What is the actual database design with specific technology?
Artefacts:

Database schema (Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB schema)
Table definitions with column types
Indexes and partitioning strategy
Performance optimisation decisions

Example: "Oracle schema: CUSTOMER table (CUSTOMER_ID NUMBER PK, FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2(100), LAST_NAME VARCHAR2(100)). Clustered index on CUSTOMER_ID."

Cell 1.5 - Sub-Contractor, What

Name: Data Definition Language
Question: What is the actual DDL code to create the database?
Artefacts:

SQL DDL scripts (CREATE TABLE, CREATE INDEX)
Migration scripts
Data loading scripts
Backup/recovery scripts

Example: "CREATE TABLE CUSTOMER (CUSTOMER_ID NUMBER PRIMARY KEY, FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2(100) NOT NULL...);"

Cell 1.6 - Enterprise, What

Name: Live Database
Question: What data actually exists in the running system?
Artefacts:

Actual database contents
Current data volumes and growth rates
Data quality metrics
Backup and recovery status

Example: "The CUSTOMER table currently has 145.2 million active customers. Average growth: 2.1% per year."

COLUMN 2: HOW - Process and Function

Cell 2.1 - Planner, How

Name: Process List
Question: What major business processes exist?
Artefacts:

List of key processes (Order Management, Billing, Collections, Support)
High-level process descriptions
Process scope boundaries

Example: "Order Management, Inventory Management, Billing, Customer Support, Returns Processing."

Cell 2.2 - Owner, How

Name: Business Process Model
Question: How do business processes actually work?
Artefacts:

Business process flowcharts (with business language)
Value chain diagrams
Process steps and decision points
Actors and roles involved

Example: "When customer places order → system reserves inventory → payment is processed → warehouse picks order → shipping prepares package → tracking is sent to customer."

Cell 2.3 - Designer, How

Name: Logical System Model
Question: What is the logical system architecture and workflows?
Artefacts:

Logical system flowcharts (technology-independent)
System functions and capabilities
Use cases and scenarios
Interface specifications (input/output, data formats)

Example: "OrderService receives order JSON → validates via OrderValidator → queries InventoryService → calls PaymentService → publishes OrderCreatedEvent."

Cell 2.4 - Builder, How

Name: Application Architecture
Question: How will specific technologies implement the processes?
Artefacts:

Application architecture (monolith vs microservices)
Technology stack (languages, frameworks)
Integration patterns (synchronous, asynchronous)
API specifications

Example: "Java Spring Boot microservices: OrderService (REST API), InventoryService (REST API), PaymentService (REST API). Asynchronous communication via Kafka."

Cell 2.5 - Sub-Contractor, How

Name: Code and Algorithms
Question: What is the actual implementation code?
Artefacts:

Source code (Java classes, Python modules, etc.)
Algorithms and business logic
Code libraries and dependencies
Version control repositories

Example: "OrderService.java class implements order receipt logic. PaymentValidator.java validates payment. OrderRepository.java handles persistence."

Cell 2.6 - Enterprise, How

Name: Running Processes
Question: What processes are actually executing?
Artefacts:

Actual running applications
Current transaction volumes
Performance metrics (response times, throughput)
Active workflows and process instances

Example: "Currently processing 50 orders/second. Average OrderService response time: 245ms. Kafka queue has 1.2M pending events."

COLUMN 3: WHERE - Network and Location

Cell 3.1 - Planner, Where

Name: Site List
Question: What are the major geographic locations?
Artefacts:

List of headquarters, offices, data centres
Geographic scope (global, regional, national)

Example: "Headquarters in New York. Regional offices in London, Tokyo, Sydney. Data centres in us-east-1, eu-west-1."

Cell 3.2 - Owner, Where

Name: Logistics Network
Question: How is the business geographically distributed?
Artefacts:

Network diagram showing which sites handle which functions
Supply chain and distribution network
Customer geographic segments

Example: "New York office handles North American orders. London office handles European orders. Tokyo office handles Asia-Pacific."

Cell 3.3 - Designer, Where

Name: System Distribution
Question: How is the system distributed across sites?
Artefacts:

Logical network architecture (presentation tier, business logic tier, data tier)
Data replication and synchronisation requirements
Latency and availability requirements

Example: "Web tier globally distributed via CDN. Application logic in us-east-1 and eu-west-1. Master database in us-east-1, replica in eu-west-1."

Cell 3.4 - Builder, Where

Name: Infrastructure Topology
Question: What specific infrastructure and networking?
Artefacts:

Physical network diagram (servers, routers, firewalls)
Data centre locations and configurations
Disaster recovery and failover architecture
VPC/networking infrastructure (AWS, Azure, on-prem)

Example: "Primary data centre: AWS us-east-1 (4 availability zones). Disaster recovery: AWS us-west-2. Load balancer: Application Load Balancer. CDN: CloudFront."

Cell 3.5 - Sub-Contractor, Where

Name: Configuration Details
Question: What are the specific network configurations?
Artefacts:

IP addressing schemes and CIDR blocks
DNS configurations
Firewall rules and security groups
VPN and connectivity configurations

Example: "Production VPC: 10.0.0.0/16. Public subnets: 10.0.1.0/24, 10.0.2.0/24. Security group: Allow 443 inbound (HTTPS only)."

Cell 3.6 - Enterprise, Where

Name: Deployed Infrastructure
Question: Where is the system actually deployed and running?
Artefacts:

Actual running infrastructure
Current resource utilisation
Geographic distribution of running instances

Example: "Currently running 47 instances in us-east-1, 23 in eu-west-1. Database master: 8-core, 256GB RAM. Read replicas: 4-core each."

COLUMN 4: WHO - People and Organisation

Cell 4.1 - Planner, Who

Name: Organisational Chart (Outline)
Question: What are the major organisational units?
Artefacts:

High-level org chart (VP level)
Major departments and divisions

Example: "CEO → CFO, CTO, Chief Operations Officer. Each has multiple directors and managers."

Cell 4.2 - Owner, Who

Name: Organisation Chart (Detailed)
Question: What are the detailed roles and responsibilities?
Artefacts:

Detailed org chart (all roles)
Role descriptions and responsibilities
RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)

Example: "Order Manager responsible for order processing. Approval authority: Orders >$50K require Manager approval, >$500K require VP approval."

Cell 4.3 - Designer, Who

Name: Access Control Model
Question: What are the system access requirements?
Artefacts:

Role-based access control (RBAC) design
User types and personas
System permissions and capabilities

Example: "Customer role can view orders and accounts. Staff role can modify orders. Admin role has full system access."

Cell 4.4 - Builder, Who

Name: Security Architecture
Question: How is security implemented?
Artefacts:

Authentication architecture (OAuth 2.0, SAML, etc.)
Authorisation framework (policy-based, role-based)
Identity management system integration

Example: "OAuth 2.0 via AWS Cognito. Roles stored in AWS IAM. Application enforces permissions via Spring Security."

Cell 4.5 - Sub-Contractor, Who

Name: Access Control Lists
Question: What are the specific user permissions and credentials?
Artefacts:

User accounts and group memberships
Database user permissions
API key and credential management
SSH key management

Example: "app_user database role with SELECT on tables, INSERT/UPDATE on specific tables. API key: redacted. SSH key: id_rsa."

Cell 4.6 - Enterprise, Who

Name: Active Users and Sessions
Question: Who is actually using the system?
Artefacts:

Current active users and sessions
User geography and device types
Authentication logs
Permission compliance status

Example: "Currently 12,450 active sessions. 8,230 from web, 4,220 from mobile. Average session duration: 23 minutes."

COLUMN 5: WHEN - Time and Schedule

Cell 5.1 - Planner, When

Name: Event List
Question: What major business events occur?
Artefacts:

List of key events (month-end close, annual planning, quarterly earnings)
Event frequency

Example: "Month-end financial close, quarterly board meeting, annual physical inventory count, holiday peaks."

Cell 5.2 - Owner, When

Name: Business Event Model
Question: When do events occur and how should they be handled?
Artefacts:

Business event diagrams
Event triggers and responses
Processing timelines (SLAs)

Example: "When month-end arrives, all invoices must be sent by the 5th. When Q-end arrives, financial reports due within 10 days."

Cell 5.3 - Designer, When

Name: State and Timing Model
Question: What are the system's states and timing requirements?
Artefacts:

State machine diagrams
Timing and sequencing requirements
Event notification requirements
Asynchronous vs synchronous specifications

Example: "Order states: Received → Reserved → Processing → Shipped → Delivered. Max time in any state: 24 hours."

Cell 5.4 - Builder, When

Name: System Scheduling
Question: How are jobs and processes scheduled?
Artefacts:

Batch job schedules
ETL timelines
Maintenance windows
Performance peak times

Example: "Nightly batch: midnight UTC, runs for 3 hours. Daily reporting: 6 AM UTC. Peak load: 9-11 AM EST and 2-4 PM EST."

Cell 5.5 - Sub-Contractor, When

Name: Job Scheduling Configuration
Question: What are the specific job schedules?
Artefacts:

Cron jobs and scheduler configurations
Queue processing parameters
Timeout settings

Example: "0 0 * * * /scripts/nightly-batch.sh (runs at midnight). Queue consumer: 50 workers, timeout 5 minutes."

Cell 5.6 - Enterprise, When

Name: Real-Time Events
Question: What events are occurring right now?
Artefacts:

Current event volumes
Processing times
Queue depths
Latency metrics

Example: "Kafka: 2.3M events/min. Avg processing latency: 450ms. Queue depth: 850K events."

COLUMN 6: WHY - Motivation and Strategy

Cell 6.1 - Planner, Why

Name: Goal List
Question: What are the business goals and strategy?
Artefacts:

Strategic goals (growth, profitability, market share)
Mission statement
Success metrics

Example: "Increase revenue by 20% YoY. Achieve 99.99% system availability. Reduce customer churn to <%."

Cell 6.2 - Owner, Why

Name: Business Rules and Strategy
Question: What rules and policies govern the business?
Artefacts:

Business rules (pricing, approval thresholds, compliance)
Policies and procedures
Regulatory requirements

Example: "Customers in Europe pay in Euros. Orders >$50K require approval. Refunds must be processed within 30 days (by law)."

Cell 6.3 - Designer, Why

Name: System Requirements
Question: What system constraints drive the design?
Artefacts:

Non-functional requirements (NFRs)
Performance requirements (throughput, latency, availability)
Scalability requirements
Compliance requirements

Example: "System must support 10,000 concurrent users. 99.99% availability SLA. < second response time. PCI-DSS compliance required."

Cell 6.4 - Builder, Why

Name: Technology Choices
Question: Why were specific technologies chosen?
Artefacts:

Technology selection rationale
Trade-off documentation
Cost-benefit analysis

Example: "Chose AWS for elasticity and global availability. PostgreSQL for data integrity and compliance. Java for team expertise and ecosystem."

Cell 6.5 - Sub-Contractor, Why

Name: Implementation Rules
Question: What rules govern the implementation?
Artefacts:

Code quality standards
Performance tuning rules
Security best practices
Error handling strategies

Example: "All database queries must have indexes. Cache TTL 5 minutes. Retry logic: exponential backoff, max 3 attempts."

Cell 6.6 - Enterprise, Why

Name: Operational Constraints
Question: What constraints are actually enforced in operation?
Artefacts:

Actual business rules enforced
SLA compliance status
Performance metrics vs targets
Compliance audit results

Example: "SLA compliance: 99.97% (vs 99.99% target). Orders processed: 100.2% of forecast. 0 compliance violations this quarter."

Using the 36-Cell Matrix in Practice

As a Completeness Checklist

Before considering your architecture "complete," verify:

All relevant cells are populated (you may skip some, but know which ones)
Cells are internally consistent (no contradictions between cells)
Cells are vertically traceable (Row 1 flows through Row 6)
Cells are horizontally consistent (each row is logically complete)

As a Repository Structure

Organisations often use the matrix as a filing structure:

Store artefacts (diagrams, documents, code) in a system organised by cell
Link related artefacts across cells
Create a searchable repository of architectural knowledge

As a Communication Tool

Different stakeholders focus on different cells:

Executives: Focus on Row 1, especially 6.1 (goals)
Business owners: Focus on Row 2, especially 2.2 and 6.2
Architects: Focus on Rows 3-4
Developers: Focus on Rows 4-5
Operations: Focus on Rows 5-6 and all columns, all rows

Key Takeaways

All 36 cells represent distinct architectural knowledge: Each cell type has a unique purpose.
Each cell requires specific artefacts: Know what should go in each cell.
Rows provide abstraction from abstract (Row 1) to concrete (Row 6): Traceability from business to operation.
Columns represent distinct types of concerns: What, How, Where, Who, When, Why - each is necessary.
Not all cells are always relevant: For a specific project, you may populate only key cells. But understand which ones you are skipping and why.

Next Steps

Explore individual Interrogatives (What, How, Where, Who, When, Why) for deeper dives.
Explore individual Perspectives (Planner through Enterprise) for stakeholder-specific guidance.
Read Artifacts and Deliverables for detailed specifications of what each cell should contain.
Jump to Practical Application to see real examples.

The 36-cell matrix is the foundation of the Zachman Framework. Mastering it - understanding what each cell represents and what should populate it - is key to using Zachman effectively in your organisation.

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