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Software Architecture Guide

Business Architecture

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

Business architecture is a blueprint of the enterprise. It gives people a shared understanding of the organization. A newer definition describes it as holistic, multidimensional views of capabilities, end-to-end value delivery, information and organizational structure.

Place among the domains. TOGAF treats it as one of four domains of enterprise architecture. The other three are application, data and technology. See the article on TOGAF for the framework.

What it answers. The description works like a wireframe. It ties business objectives to demand. It commonly answers who, what, where, when, why and how of daily operations.

BIZBOK elements. BIZBOK is a body of knowledge for business architecture. Its stakeholders derive four insights from every domain: organization, capabilities, value streams and information. These are the core elements. Domains also stand for operational concepts such as strategy and metrics. These are the outer elements.

Capabilities. A business capability states what a business can achieve, not how. It ignores people, processes, data and technology. Capability mapping is the BIZBOK technique for defining and developing capabilities. See Business Capability and Business Capability Map.

Value streams. A value stream covers the end-to-end activities that deliver value to external and internal stakeholders. A value stream diagram shows an end-to-end process. It is a different artifact from a capability map.

In arc42. arc42 advises documenting business or domain models in section 8, because many building blocks refer to them. The context section expects all stakeholders to understand which data the system exchanges with its environment.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A parcel company describes a capability called “Deliver parcels”. The name says what the company can do. It says nothing about drivers, software or routes. A separate value stream diagram then shows the end-to-end steps from a customer’s order to the delivered parcel. The two artifacts show the same business from different angles.

Trade-offs

Section titled “Trade-offs”

The facts give no trade-offs. One point of care: capability maps and value stream diagrams are separate artifacts. Do not mix them up in one picture.

Business architecture with BIZBOK core and outer elements, next to the other three enterprise architecture domains.

Diagram source 
mindmap
  root((Business architecture))
    Core elements
      Capabilities
      Organization
      Information
      Value streams
    Outer elements
      Strategies
      Metrics
    Sibling domains
      Data
      Application
      Technology

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • Business capabilities are described as what the business can achieve, without people, processes, data or technology.
  • Capability maps and value stream diagrams are kept as separate artifacts.
  • Business or domain models are documented in arc42 section 8.
  • The context description lets all stakeholders see which data is exchanged with the system environment.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”