A quick guide to business capability maps

Reading time: about 7 min

People have been using maps for thousands of years as a way to identify where they are and to understand what they need to do to get where they need to go. As technology continues to rapidly change our world, businesses that want to identify where they are and where they need to go should also use maps.  

There are several different types of maps businesses might use to understand roles, responsibilities, processes, systems, and standards. These business maps can take many different forms, including flowcharts, diagrams, org charts, timelines, and so on. Maps give you a bird’s eye view of how your business works so you can more easily see what’s working and where improvements need to be made.  

Business maps are basically visual representations of the various types of planning, strategic, and other business knowledge documents that companies track and maintain. They are good companions to text-heavy documents because they are easy to read and understand, keep the focus on the big picture, and align internal processes.

In this article we’ll focus on business capability maps—a type of map that gives businesses clarity into what they do instead of how they do it.

What is a business capability map?

We often think of business mapping in terms of processes and tasks used to reach specific goals. These maps focus on how things are done. But a business capability map looks at a business in terms of its capabilities. These maps focus on what the company does and can do. 

A business capability describes the capacity, materials, and expertise an organization has or needs to complete their work. So a business capability map is a visual representation of the capabilities you’ve identified and defined.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, it can be challenging as your team works to determine what is or is not a capability. Here are a few guidelines to help you to define capabilities:

• Capabilities describe “what” not “how” something is done. For example, account management is a capability because it describes that a business is capable of managing accounts. It does not describe who manages the accounts or how and where they are managed. 
• Capabilities have outcomes. Again, account management works as an example because the outcome is client retention and loyalty.
• Capabilities need to be clearly defined. If you are identifying account management as a capability, you need to define “account” and “management.” This can help to create a common language.
• A capability’s intent is unique. For example, if you have a capability called customer management and another one called partner management, these might seem like the same thing. A customer and a partner may be the same person, but the roles of customer and partner are different and require a different set of management capabilities.
• A capability can be tangible or intangible. Product manufacturing is a tangible business capability because you can see the factory floor, the machinery, and the people used to make the product. An intangible capability might be the description of your company’s alignment with Agile principles and its ability to work in an agile environment.