Good Enterprise Architecture creates central artifacts “mental models” that stick in the minds of both business and IT.
A prime example of such a central artifact is the Business Capability Map, which shows the key capabilities of the organization. Business Capabilities provide a common language for business and IT, creating a shared entry point for alignment.
From the IT perspective, a Business Capability answers questions like:
- Which systems support this capability?
- Where do redundancies or legacy systems exist?
- Which data is affected by this capability?
From the Business perspective, a Business Capability answers questions like:
- Who is responsible for this capability?
- Is our organization structured properly to cover this and adjacent capabilities?
- Who is impacted by initiative X or innovation Y and should be involved??
When combined with an overlay or heat map, Business Capability Maps provide excellent aggregated views. For example, they can visualize risk assessments based on system obsolescence and compliance considerations.