---
title: "Business Architecture: capabilities, processes, ownership"
description: "Business architecture describes how your company really works: capabilities, processes, ownership and decision paths. The basis for every data decision."
canonical: "https://simo-online.com/en/services/business-architecture"
---

# Business Architecture: capabilities, processes, ownership

Business architecture describes how your company really works: capabilities, processes, ownership and decision paths. The basis for every data decision.

Dargestellte Fassung: https://simo-online.com/en/services/business-architecture

## Business Architecture

Business architecture describes how your company really works: which capabilities it has, which processes create value, who is accountable for what and how decisions are made. It is the starting point for every data and technology decision, because it defines what data and systems are there for.

### First understand how your company works

- Many companies know their systems better than their own capabilities. There are lists of applications, contracts and servers, but no shared answer to the question of what the company must be able to do to reach its goals. This is where business architecture comes in.
- We describe your company in terms of capabilities rather than departments. A capability is something your company has to deliver, such as costing orders, managing suppliers or assessing risks. For each capability we record which processes carry it, who owns it, which data it needs and which systems are involved today.
- The result is a picture that the management board, business units and IT can all read. It shows where your strategy reaches day-to-day work and where it does not: duplicate responsibilities, decisions without a clear basis, processes that break off at system boundaries.
- Only on this foundation does the question of data and technology pay off. Every later recommendation, whether on data architecture, infrastructure or AI, can be traced back to a capability and a business goal. That makes decisions transparent and protects you from projects with no business purpose.

### Clarity that every further decision can rest on

#### A shared view of the company

Management, business units and IT talk about the same map. Discussions that used to stall on different terms become shorter and more factual.

#### Investments with a rationale

Every spend can be assigned to a capability and a business goal. You see where money has an effect, where duplicate structures cost you and where an investment can wait.

#### The most critical gaps first

The gap analysis names the three to five most critical gaps between current and target state. Instead of a long list of shortcomings you get a sequence you can work with.

#### A foundation for everything else

Data strategy, system decisions and AI build on the same map. What has been settled once does not need to be renegotiated in every project.

- Business model, goals and constraints
- Business capability map
- Value streams and core processes
- Responsibilities and decision paths
- Dependencies on systems and service providers
- A business capability map on a single page
- An overview of processes and responsibilities
- The places where strategy and day-to-day work drift apart

### Conversations on site

We talk with management and key people about goals, workflows and decision paths.

### Map the capabilities

We build the business capability map and assign processes, responsibilities and systems.

### Name the breaking points

We show where strategy and day-to-day work drift apart and what that means for your business.

### Decide together

We discuss the result with you and agree which capabilities need attention first.

### Three sites, one tender

A mid-sized company with three sites is planning a new ERP system. Each site describes its requirements differently, and the tender is at risk of becoming a wish list. The capability map shows that most capabilities are the same at every site and only a few genuinely set the business apart. The tender gets shorter, the bids become comparable, and the discussion focuses on the points that really matter.

- Before growth, an acquisition or a succession
- When strategy and day-to-day work drift apart
- When IT projects run without a clear business purpose

Understand and Define. In the BEIA, business context, capabilities, operating model and governance are four of the eight layers.

### What is a business capability map?

A map of your company's capabilities, such as winning customers or fulfilling orders, regardless of the technology used to deliver them today. It shows on a single page where investment belongs.

### How does business architecture differ from process management?

Process management improves workflows. Business architecture connects workflows with goals, responsibilities, data and systems into one overall picture that guides every further decision.