Chapter 2: What Reference Models Are (and Are Not )

"Reference model" is a term that gets used loosely. Consultants call their frameworks reference models. Vendors call their product templates reference models. Some of these actually are. Many are not. This chapter draws the line. You will learn the taxonomy (model, reference model, reference architecture), the architectural strategies that make reference models useful for managing complexity, and the structure of the HERM suite that will serve as your worked example for the rest of the course. By the end, you will be able to look at any organizational artifact and say with confidence whether it qualifies and why.