The Generic Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM) defines those methods, models and tools which are needed to identify and carry out change in enterprises. Enterprises need a life-cycle architecture that describes the progression of an enterprise from the point of realisation that change is necessary through setting up a project (or enterprise integration programme) and to implementing the change based on a thorough analysis and design. GERAM is a framework in which all necessary ingredients of this process are identified. GERAM allows one to characterise and compare all particular change methodologies and architectures, or helps in deciding how to combine ingredients of individual architectures and methods. GERAM is the result of generalisation, based on the three most complete enterprise reference architectures: CIM-OSA (Vernadat, 1992), the GRAI Integrated Methodology, GIM (Vallespir et al 1991), and the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture, PERA (Williams, 1992), but GERAM extends the scope of enterprise architecture to the life-cycle of Products, Enterprises, Enterprise Integration Projects, and Strategic Enterprise Management. It is also proposed which details of GERAM could be standardised.