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A.3.6. Capability Map

Defining what a business does and which outcomes it wants to achieve.

The capability Capability Map (A.3.6) is part of the capability area Business Enablers in the Business Pillar.

Defining what a business does and which outcomes it wants to achieve.

Understanding what a business does is at least as important as understanding how it does it. Focusing on the what rather than on the how often provides the right level of abstraction of complex ecosystems in a way that can be easily digested by business executives and planning teams.

In recent years, the word capability has steadily been drawing attention in the business world as a way to narrow the gap between business and IT. A capability is described by Ulrich and Rosen, (p.1, 2011) as:

A business capability, or simply a “capability,” defines what a business does. It does not communicate or expose where, why, or how something is done---only what is done. Specifically, the business capability is “a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome.

Understanding what a business does is at least as important as understanding how it does it. Focusing on the what rather than on the how often provides the right level of abstraction of complex ecosystems in a way that can be easily digested by business executives and planning teams. Dissecting a business as a set of basic capabilities allows one to view complex organizations and business environments in a wide range of different ways. Additionally, one could zoom in on lower levels of abstraction to reach higher levels of detail depending on the needs of the target audience.

Consider the example of the high-level capability called customer 360°. This capability refers to having a complete picture of the customer and this is a capability many organizations may benefit from. A customer may be called a taxpayer in the context of a government institution, a patient in the context of a hospital and a student in the context of a university. Being able to manage different aspects of a customer might be imperative for many businesses depending on their business strategy. For instance, customer 360° as a high-level capability could entail the customer trend analysis and customer management information capabilities as lower-level capabilities.

In other words, this means that capabilities are concerns that could be refined into lower-level capabilities that in turn could be further refined. The advantage of functional decomposition in this hierarchical and modular way is that it increases the reusability of capabilities across business lines, enterprises or even industries. Additionally, decomposing capabilities in different levels of abstraction offers a better sense of how capabilities fit in on the overall view of the enterprise.

Capabilities should follow certain principles as follows:

  1. Capabilities define what a business does and not how a business does it. This implies that a capability does not refer to a process or value stream.
  2. Capabilities are nouns, not verbs. To make the distinction between a capability and a process, capabilities should be named with nouns such as customer management instead of a verb managing customers.
  3. Capabilities should be defined in business term and not in technical terms. Executives and other business professionals should be able to clearly understand what a capability means ---and take ownership of it---without being bothered with the technical details of the systems that implement it.
  4. Capabilities should be stable (i.e. least volatile) as possible. There is a fundamental set of high-level capabilities that are necessary to run a business regardless of the sector of industry it is located in. Additionally, high-level capabilities may rarely change within an organization unless there are significant changes to its business strategy or organization.
  5. Capabilities are not redundant. Capabilities appear once and only once on a capability maps even though they are shared by more than division, business line or business unit of an enterprise.
  6. There should only be one business capability map per business. In order to bring transparency across the organization, there should be a single unified and harmonized business capability map per business. Therefore, business capabilities spread throughout different business units, divisions, department, lines of business, etc should be only appear once in the business capability map.
  7. Capabilities map to---but are not the same as---business processes, business units, Lines of Business (LOBs) and value streams. There is rarely a one-to-one mapping between a business process, a business unit, an LOB or a value stream, and a capability. Therefore, mistaking a capability with one these other concepts may result in an overly complex overview of things that are constantly repeated across the enterprise. Additionally, we’re trying to understand the what rather than the how and this would not be possible if capabilities are mistaken with process-related concepts.
  8. Automated capabilities are still business capabilities and not IT capabilities. Capabilities are owned by the business as they are made by and for the business. Therefore, a capability that has been automated with an IT system is not an IT capability. Instead, it is nothing else than an automated business capability.
  9. Capabilities are the most valuable when incorporated in the overall pictures of a business’ ecosystem. While being useful in a stand-alone basis for discussion and planning, capabilities fulfil their biggest potential by being combined into a larger business capability map that represents the business ecosystem of an enterprise.

Dimensions

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Work in progress, this is just the results of an initial brainstorm session, needs to be worked out

  1. Capability Map Coverage: does your capability map cover your whole business? Scale of 0-100%
  2. Is your capability map represented in the EKG itself and if so, what’s the coverage? Scale 0-100%
  3. Is your Capability Map an executable model (and is it actually executed)? Scale 1 to 5.
  4. Note: this is “just” about the capability map model itself, not about executing all related models as well.
  5. Percentage of business capabilities that can be fully automated?
  6. TODO: work on this one
  7. Did you identify, per business capability, which EKG use cases will deliver on that capability? Scale 0-100%
  8. Did you identify the why of each business capability? Scale 1 to 5.
  9. Notes: the who, what, when and how is more important for the other pillars
  10. Do you understand the value of each capability
  11. How does each capability fit in the business mission/vision/strategy
  12. Did you identify the what of each business capability? Scale 1 to 5.
  13. Notes: the who, what, when and how is more important for the other pillars

Here is how the maturity levels of developing a capability map with an Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG) might progress:

  1. EKG initiation: At this stage, the organization has just begun using an EKG to develop a capability map. The EKG may be used to store and manage data on the organization's capabilities, but it is not yet fully integrated into the organization's processes and systems.

  2. Extensible platform: At this stage, the organization has made significant progress in integrating the EKG into its processes and systems, and is using it to manage and update the capability map on an ongoing basis. The EKG has become an important tool for storing and organizing data on the organization's capabilities, and is being used to inform decision-making and strategic planning.

  3. Enterprise ready: At this stage, the EKG is a fully integrated and essential part of the organization's operations. It is being used to manage and update the capability map in real-time, and is providing valuable insights and information to help the organization make informed decisions.

  4. Strategic asset: At this stage, the EKG is seen as a strategic asset by the organization, and is being used to drive innovation and competitive advantage. It is being used to identify new opportunities and areas for growth, and to develop strategies to build and strengthen the organization's capabilities.

  5. Operational ecosystem: At this final stage, the EKG has become a key part of the organization's operational ecosystem, seamlessly integrating with other systems and processes to support the organization's operations and decision-making. The capability map is an integral part of this ecosystem, providing a clear and comprehensive view of the organization's capabilities and how they align with its goals and objectives.

Levels

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Work in progress

Contribution to the EKG

The Business Capability Map enables an enterprise to structure their Enterprise Knowledge Graph. Each capability is a candidate to become a use case for the EKG.

A well-designed mature EKG is a facade in front of all technical and organizational silos which means that---without any further structure---users do not experience the negative effects of these silos anymore. In many ways that may be a good thing but having silos---or different perspectives---can also be necessary. The EKG allows an organization to rethink their silos without being held back by their current data or technology landscape (or "technical debt").

The Business Capability Map is the ideal initial structure for the new EKG "silos". Business Capability Maps are usually rather coarse-grained and visualized in a three-level hierarchy whereas the structure of the EKG goes much further than that. Translating each capability to a use case is a good start but each of these use cases can be further broken down into smaller use cases where each use case becomes a highly reusable component of the EKG. This leads to a hierarchical structure---a taxonomy so you will---of all use cases, also called "the Use Case Tree" (UCT). This use case tree, at the higher levels, corresponds with the Business Capability Map and allows a business and its executives to "own" and control all the various parts of their EKG.

Contribution to the Enterprise

As a business/IT transformation enabler, capabilities may provide certain benefits to enterprises:

  • Capabilities provide business with a common language.
    Capabilities offer business professionals and C-level executives a common understanding of which areas of an enterprise they need to address. The larger the enterprise, the more useful this idea is since business issues and strategy may revolve around many business units, lines of business, business processes, or even enterprise boundaries.
  • Capabilities may enable more precise investments.
    Measuring the ROI of investment projects can be very difficult as the results might be spread across a myriad of different LOBs or business units. Instead of reconciling results from all these different places, one could merely look at the resources being allocated at a certain capability and this may allow business executives to have better estimates of the impact of their investments on the enterprise as a whole.
  • Capabilities serve as a baseline for strategic planning, change management and impact analysis.
    By shifting the focus from business units, lines of business, IT systems and business processes to business capabilities, one is able to increase the traceability of strategic decisions into the daily operations and the business performance of the enterprise as a whole. So, capabilities serve as a starting point for tracking the impact horizontal and vertical impacts of strategic and tactical decisions from the executive team.
  • Capabilities lead to better business service specification and design.
    Capabilities provide business-focused abstraction of the functionalities and information that information systems must provide. For instance, such capabilities may help in the selection or construction of services in a SOA as they directly embody business requirements.

In a few words, capabilities provide business executives the possibility to cut through the complexity inherent to most enterprises in order to make sounder decisions for strategic planning, impact analysis and investment planning. Using capabilities enables business to make decisions based on what needs to be resolved without initially dealing with the how. At the same time, it provides a way to tie the how to the results of the _what_for further validation that business efforts are delivery the expected results and for better alignment. On the other hand, the alternative to this approach involves repeating the traditional silo-focused approach of looking at hundreds or even thousands of IT systems, before being able to look at actual business actions and business results.

Without an Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG), the development of a capability map would likely involve manually gathering data on the capabilities that are important to your organization. This could involve reviewing internal documents, conducting market research, and seeking input from experts within the organization.

Once the data has been collected, you would need to manually organize and structure it in a way that allows you to create a visual representation of your organization's capabilities. This could be in the form of a diagram, chart, or other visual tool.

Without the EKG, you would also need to find a way to store and manage the data that you have collected. This could involve creating and maintaining manual records, or using a separate database or spreadsheet tool.

Finally, you would need to find a way to link the capabilities on the map to related information and resources, such as training materials, best practices, and case studies. This could involve manually searching for and compiling this information, or relying on other tools or systems to help you access and organize it.

Overall, the development of a capability map without an EKG would likely be more time-consuming and labor-intensive, as it would involve manually gathering and organizing data, and finding ways to access and link related information and resources. Moreover, certain capabilities may not be able to be implemented with other technologies but EKG.

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Work in progress, describe how this capability is possibly being delivered today in a non-EKG context and optionally what the issues are that EKG could or should improve

A capability map is a visual representation of the capabilities of an organization or business unit. It is typically used to identify areas of strength and areas that need improvement, and can be used to guide strategic planning and decision-making.

To develop a capability map with an Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG), you would first need to identify the capabilities that are important to your organization.

Next, you would need to gather data on these capabilities. This could include data on the current state of each capability, as well as information on trends and changes over time. This data could come from a variety of sources, including internal documents, market research, and external experts.

Once you have collected this data, you can use it to create a visual representation of your organization's capabilities. This could be in the form of a diagram, chart, or other visual tool. The EKG can then be used to store and manage this data, allowing you to easily access and update the capability map as needed.

The EKG can also be used to link the capabilities on the map to related information and resources, such as training materials, best practices, and case studies. This can help to provide context and depth to the map, and can help to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.

Finally, the EKG could also be used to implement such capabilities and even to implement strategic capabilities such as Customer 360°.

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Work in progress, describe how this capability would be delivered or supported using an EKG approach, making the link to the "how" i.e. the EKG/Method.

There are several potential use cases for a capability map, including:

  1. Identifying strengths and weaknesses: A capability map can help an organization identify its areas of strength and weakness, allowing it to focus on areas where it excels and identify opportunities for improvement in areas where it may be lacking.

  2. Strategic planning: A capability map can be used to inform strategic planning and decision-making by providing a clear understanding of the organization's current capabilities and how they align with its goals and objectives.

  3. Resource allocation: A capability map can help an organization allocate resources more effectively by identifying areas where additional investment may be needed to build or strengthen capabilities.

  4. Talent management: A capability map can be used to identify gaps in an organization's talent and to develop strategies for attracting and retaining employees with the necessary skills and expertise.

  5. Collaboration and coordination: A capability map can help an organization understand the capabilities of other business units or departments, facilitating collaboration and coordination across the organization.

  6. Communication: A capability map can be used to communicate the capabilities of an organization to stakeholders, including customers, partners, and investors.

  7. Change management: A capability map can help an organization understand the impacts of changes to its business model, processes, or systems, and identify any necessary changes to its capabilities in response.

  8. Mergers and acquisitions: A capability map can be used to identify overlaps and gaps in capabilities between two organizations during the due diligence process of a merger or acquisition.

  9. Innovation: A capability map can help an organization identify areas where it has the necessary capabilities to pursue new opportunities or ideas, or where it may need to build new capabilities in order to innovate.

  10. Benchmarking: A capability map can be used to compare the capabilities of an organization to those of its competitors or peers, allowing it to identify areas where it may have an advantage or disadvantage.

  11. Risk assessment: A capability map can help an organization identify areas where it may be vulnerable due to a lack of capabilities, and develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

  12. Customer relationship management: A capability map can be used to understand the capabilities that are important to customers, and to identify areas where the organization can differentiate itself from its competitors.

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Work in progress, list examples of use cases that contribute to this capability, making the link to use cases in the catalog at https://catalog.ekgf.org/use-case/..

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