Charterion™ — Agentic Enterprise Architecture Framework (Version 1.1)

EL HASSANI, SAMIR

doi:10.5281/zenodo.22552494

Agentic Enterprise Architecture Framework

Your architecture describes systems people operate. Your agents never read it.

An enterprise architecture framework for organisations whose software agents act under authority the organisation grants.

Read the framework How it compares

v1.1 · September 6, 2026 2 archived releases 10.5281/zenodo.22552494

Authority, not access

The business grants authority; systems enforce it.
Machine-checkable

A validator can reject the model.
Runtime admissibility

Each action is tested as it is attempted.
Named accountability

Delegation resolves to a person.

The gap

Enterprise architecture assumes a human reads it

Autonomous agents act without consulting the model. That breaks an assumption underneath TOGAF, ArchiMate and Zachman alike.

01
Models describe, agents act

An agent calling an API at 03:00 consults no architecture document.
02
Access control is not authority

A credential proves the call is permitted. It says nothing about whether the organisation authorised it.
03
The model and the system diverge

Architecture is reviewed quarterly; the system changes daily. Nothing measures the gap.
04
Delegation dissolves accountability

One agent calls another, across teams and organisations. Nobody can say who authorised the act.

Classical EA Charterion

Subject: – Systems people operate; → Actors that execute on their own
Form: – Diagrams and documents; → A model a validator can reject
Moment: – True at design time; → Tested at the moment of action
Authority: – Policy prose; → Formal semantics
Permission: – What a credential may call; → What the organisation authorised
Accountability: – By convention; → By chain, to a named human

What Charterion adds

Six capabilities classical EA leaves implicit

Native

Agents as enterprise principals

The agent is a first-class actor in the model, with its own constraints and accountability.

AI agent as an enterprise principal

Authority to entitlement

The path from the authority a business confers to the entitlement a system enforces, readable in both directions.

Business authority → technical entitlement

Formal semantics of authority

Authority stated in a form that can be reasoned about and checked.

Formal semantics of authority

Admissibility at runtime

The architecture decides whether the action is admissible, while it is being attempted.

Runtime admissibility

Design and runtime coherence

Model and running system are compared continuously, and drift is reported.

Design ↔ runtime coherence

Formalised

Accountability chain

Delegation across agents, teams and organisations resolves to a named human who stays answerable.

Human accountability chain

Positioning

Next to the frameworks you already use

It does not replace TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman. It adds what an autonomous actor may do.

Capability coverage across enterprise architecture frameworks
Capability	TOGAF	ArchiMate	Zachman	NIST / ISO 42001	AWS Agentic Guidance	Charterion v1.1
AI agent as an enterprise principal	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered	Native Covered — Native
Explicit business authority	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial	Covered
Business authority → technical entitlement	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered
Formal semantics of authority	Not covered	Partial	Partial	Not covered	Not covered	Covered
Machine-checkable architecture	Partial	Partial	Not covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered
Runtime admissibility	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Covered	Covered
Design ↔ runtime coherence	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Partial	Partial	Covered
Human accountability chain	Partial	Partial	Partial	Covered	Covered	Formalised Covered — Formalised
Multi-agent delegation	Not covered	Not covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered	Covered
Inter-organisational agent boundaries	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial	Boundary Plane Covered — Boundary Plane
Machine-consumable architecture	Partial	Covered	Not covered	Not covered	Covered	Native objective Covered — Native objective
Complete enterprise architecture	Covered	Partial	Covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered
Business → Application → Technology	Covered	Covered	Covered	Not covered	Partial	Covered
Ecosystem / industry adoption Charterion is new; the others have decades.	3 out of 3	3 out of 3	2 out of 3	3 out of 3	3 out of 3	Today Not covered — Today

AI agent as an enterprise principal

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Native Covered — Native
Explicit business authority

TOGAF

Partial

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Business authority → technical entitlement

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Formal semantics of authority

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Machine-checkable architecture

TOGAF

Partial

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Runtime admissibility

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Design ↔ runtime coherence

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Human accountability chain

TOGAF

Partial

Charterion v1.1

Formalised Covered — Formalised
Multi-agent delegation

TOGAF

Not covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Inter-organisational agent boundaries

TOGAF

Partial

Charterion v1.1

Boundary Plane Covered — Boundary Plane
Machine-consumable architecture

TOGAF

Partial

Charterion v1.1

Native objective Covered — Native objective
Complete enterprise architecture

TOGAF

Covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Business → Application → Technology

TOGAF

Covered

Charterion v1.1

Covered
Ecosystem / industry adoption

Charterion is new; the others have decades.

TOGAF

3 out of 3

Charterion v1.1

Today Not covered — Today

Covered Partial Not covered Maturity, 0–3

What it does not have. Ecosystem maturity. TOGAF has three decades of practitioners, tooling and procurement weight; Charterion has a specification and a short version history.

Charterion's own assessment, not an independent benchmark. TOGAF, ArchiMate, Zachman, ISO/IEC 42001 and the NIST AI RMF are the property of their respective bodies and are referenced here for comparison only.

Specification

Read the framework

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2 releases are archived, each with its own DOI and citation formats, on the releases page · 3 files in v1.1, 1.8 MB.

Contribute

Tell us where it is wrong

Charterion is open and early. The most useful thing you can send is a row of the comparison you would grade differently, and why.

Enterprise architects · Extend the practice you already run to cover autonomous agents.
Risk, audit and compliance · A formal chain from granted authority to executed action.
Platform and agent engineering · Architecture your systems can read and enforce.

contact@charterion.com LinkedIn Zenodo

Your architecture describes systems people operate. Your agents never read it.

Models describe, agents act

Access control is not authority

The model and the system diverge

Delegation dissolves accountability

Agents as enterprise principals

Authority to entitlement

Formal semantics of authority

Admissibility at runtime

Design and runtime coherence

Accountability chain

Tell us where it is wrong