Business Capability Modelling for M&A

The new era of digitization increases the impact of IT on the overall success of organizations. Even though the business generally recognizes the importance of IT, business-IT alignment is still considered a major challenge by IT executives. A widely adapted Enterprise Architecture Management tool addressing this challenge is the business capability map. However, there are only few approaches specifying the creation and apotion of business capability maps.

We present a case study describing the initiation and apdotion of a business capability map at a medium-sized, state-controlled organization in two phases. In the first phase, we created an initial business capability map following an approach to business capability map implementation presented by The Open Group and analyzed improvement potentials. In the second phase, the business capability map is adapted due to a merger. 

In the following we will detail the results of each of these phases. 

In the first phase of the project, a business capability map is developed. The approach to the business capability map developement as well as the deliverables of each phase is presented in Fig. 1.

Fig.1: Approach to BCM implementation with actions and artifacts assigned to each process step.

Furthermore, we identified lessons learned for developing business capability maps. A major lesson learned is the observation that the equal involvement of the whole business leadership created the feeling of a “shared ownership” of the BCM instead of it being just another artifact produced in IT. This leads to a better understanding between business and IT, but also in between business units, by creating a common language and a shared understanding of pain points in the organization. Moreover, the head of IT reported that after the end of the case study, she used the BCM to align a newly created IT strategy to business needs. Also, she used the BCM for visualizing the impact of the IT strategy to business stakeholders, proving that the BCM is a suitable tool for strategy alignment and communication.

Phase 2: Extension of the business capability map due to a merger (October 2019 - May 2020)

Due to a merger, the business capability map needs to be updated. This project phase is ongoing and results will be provided as soon as they are available.

The TOGAF Standard, Version 9.2,” The Open Group, Standard, Apr. 2018.

Open Group Guide - Business Capabilities,” The Open Group, Open Group Guide, Mar. 2016.