Business Capability Mapping

Create hierarchical business capability models that bridge strategy and architecture. Based on BABOK v3 Business Capability Analysis (10.6).

What is a Business Capability?

A business capability defines "what" a business does at its core, independent of:

• How it's done (processes)
• Who does it (organizational structure)
• Where it's done (locations)

Capabilities are stable over time, even as processes, technology, and org structure change.

Capability Hierarchy

Level	Scope	Example	Description
L1	Domain	Customer Management	Strategic capability areas (typically 8-15)
L2	Sub-Domain	Customer Onboarding	Decomposition of L1 (3-7 per L1)
L3	Activity	Identity Verification	Detailed activities (3-10 per L2)
L4+	Optional	KYC Document Processing	Granular (map to SOA services)

Capability Types

Type	Description	Investment Priority
Strategic	Drive competitive advantage	High - differentiate
Core	Essential to value delivery	Medium - optimize
Supporting	Enable other capabilities	Low - commoditize/outsource

Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery

Before creating a capability map, understand the business domain:

1. Analyze existing documentation

   • Review business processes, org charts, strategy docs
   • Identify actors, work objects, activities

2. Conduct stakeholder interviews

   • Invoke stakeholder-analysis skill to identify key stakeholders
   • Interview domain experts for capability insights

3. Use discovered patterns as L1 capability candidates

Phase 2: Capability Identification

Step 1: Define L1 Capabilities

Start with industry frameworks, then customize:

## L1 Capabilities (Example: Retail)

| # | Capability | Type | Description |
|---|------------|------|-------------|
| 1 | Product Management | Core | Manage product lifecycle |
| 2 | Customer Management | Core | Manage customer relationships |
| 3 | Order Fulfillment | Core | Process and deliver orders |
| 4 | Supply Chain | Core | Manage suppliers and inventory |
| 5 | Finance & Accounting | Supporting | Financial operations |
| 6 | Human Resources | Supporting | People management |
| 7 | IT Services | Supporting | Technology operations |
| 8 | Marketing | Strategic | Brand and customer acquisition |

Step 2: Decompose to L2

For each L1, identify sub-capabilities:

## L2 Decomposition: Customer Management

| L2 Capability | Owner | Maturity | Systems |
|---------------|-------|----------|---------|
| Customer Onboarding | Customer Success | 3 | CRM, KYC |
| Customer Support | Support Team | 4 | Ticketing, Chat |
| Customer Retention | Marketing | 2 | CRM, Analytics |
| Customer Analytics | Data Team | 2 | BI Platform |

Step 3: Decompose to L3 (as needed)

Only decompose where detail is needed for planning:

## L3 Decomposition: Customer Onboarding

| L3 Capability | Description | Status |
|---------------|-------------|--------|
| Identity Verification | Verify customer identity | Automated |
| Account Creation | Create customer account | Automated |
| KYC Processing | Know Your Customer compliance | Semi-manual |
| Welcome Communication | Onboarding emails/guides | Automated |

Phase 3: Cross-Mapping

Map capabilities to other domains for strategic analysis:

Cross-Map Domain	Purpose	Example Questions
People	Ownership	Who owns this capability?
Process	Execution	What processes implement this?
Technology	Enablement	What systems support this?
Strategy	Alignment	How does this support strategy?
Investment	Prioritization	Where should we invest?
Risk	Exposure	What are the risks?

Phase 4: Assessment

Score each capability on maturity and strategic importance:

Maturity Scale (1-5):

1. Initial - Ad hoc, reactive
2. Developing - Some structure
3. Defined - Standardized processes
4. Managed - Measured and controlled
5. Optimizing - Continuous improvement

Heat Map Visualization:

## Capability Heat Map

| Capability | Maturity | Importance | Gap | Action |
|------------|----------|------------|-----|--------|
| Customer Onboarding | 3 | High | Low | Maintain |
| Customer Analytics | 2 | High | High | Invest |
| IT Services | 4 | Medium | Low | Maintain |
| HR Admin | 3 | Low | Low | Outsource? |

Output Format

Narrative Summary

Provide human-readable analysis:

## Capability Map Summary

**Organization:** [Name]
**Scope:** [Enterprise / Business Unit / Domain]
**Date:** [ISO date]

### Key Findings

1. **Strategic Capabilities:** [List with assessment]
2. **Investment Priorities:** [Capabilities needing attention]
3. **Optimization Opportunities:** [Capabilities to streamline]

### Recommendations

1. [Specific, actionable recommendation]
2. [...]

Structured Data (YAML)

capability_model:
  version: "1.0"
  organization: "Acme Corp"
  scope: enterprise
  generated: "{ISO-8601-date}"
  generated_by: capability-analyst

  capabilities:
    - id: CAP-001
      name: "Customer Management"
      level: 1
      type: core
      description: "Manage customer lifecycle and relationships"
      owner: "Chief Customer Officer"
      children:
        - id: CAP-001-01
          name: "Customer Onboarding"
          level: 2
          owner: "Customer Success Director"
          maturity: 3
          importance: high
          systems:
            - CRM
            - KYC Platform
          processes:
            - "Customer Registration"
            - "Identity Verification"
          children:
            - id: CAP-001-01-01
              name: "Identity Verification"
              level: 3
              maturity: 4
              automation: high

Mermaid Diagram

mindmap
  root((Enterprise))
    Customer Management
      Customer Onboarding
        Identity Verification
        Account Creation
        KYC Processing
      Customer Support
        Ticket Management
        Live Chat
      Customer Retention
    Product Management
      Product Catalog
      Pricing
      Promotions
    Order Fulfillment
      Order Processing
      Shipping
      Returns

Integration Points

Upstream (Discovery)

• stakeholder-analysis - Identify capability owners and domain experts
• process-modeling - Understand AS-IS processes
• value-stream-mapping - Understand value flow

Downstream (Consumers)

• Requirements - Capability → Requirements traceability
• Systems design - Capability → System mapping
• Investment planning - Capability → Budget allocation

When to Use

Scenario	Use Capability Mapping?
Strategic planning	Yes - align investments
M&A integration	Yes - identify overlaps
Digital transformation	Yes - prioritize initiatives
Application rationalization	Yes - map apps to capabilities
Process improvement	Partial - use with process modeling
Specific feature design	No - too high-level

References

• Load references/capability-hierarchy.md for detailed hierarchy guidance
• See BABOK v3 Section 10.6 for formal technique definition

Related Skills

• stakeholder-analysis - Identify capability owners
• value-stream-mapping - Map value flow across capabilities
• benchmarking - Compare capability maturity against industry standards
• prioritization - Prioritize capability investments
• swot-pestle-analysis - Strategic context for capabilities
• decision-analysis - Evaluate capability investment options

Version History

• v1.0.0 (2025-12-26): Initial release