The functions and capabilities of activity systems
Business Function as logical Component
In TOGAF, a Business Function is a bounded unit of business capability. It is an
encapsulated component that delivers business services - a container of business
processes (or partial processes) that are logically related, and for which you can define
the skills needed.
Successive composition of elementary functions into composite functions produces a
Business Function hierarchy - a logical composition structure - a structural model akin
to a management hierarchy, but devoid of managers or resources. A bottom-level
Business Function may be a role, which may or may not be supported by IT. If it is a
purely clerical role (does nothing but data processing) then it might be automatable as
a software application.
Organisation unit as physical Component
When you allocate managers and resources to execute the processes of a Business
Function, then you have something new, an Organisation. To make an enterprise
work, you can devise various management hierarchies. You may divide the
Organisation by customer, by location, by product (or indeed by Business Function).
But you still have your logical Business Services, Business Functions and roles,
which should be more stable than the physical Organisation structure.
For more on this topic:
http://avancier.co.uk. > Methodology > “Business Architecture Rationalisation”.
Capability conceived as broad Business Function
The idea of defining a Business Function as an organisation-independent unit of a
business is very old. The concept of Capability is a relative newcomer, which has
become fashionable through cross-organisational capability-based planning. But does
the new word add a new concept?
In TOGAF, a Capability is a macro-level Business Function. In the TOGAF meta
model, Capability is not related to other architectural entities - surely because to
connect it would reveal it has all the same relationships as a Business Function.
Capability realised as Organisation
A colleague says: “I think of a Capability as a collection of skills, resources, processes
and systems, brought together from one or more parts of the enterprise or extended
enterprise, to meet a business outcome.”
OK. So you set out to develop an enterprise architecture (EA) Capability. You define
an EA Business Function, along with the processes, skills and roles required. Then, to
realise it, you must add objectives, a budget, a manager, and employees with the skills
needed to play roles and perform processes. So, the result (your managed EA team)
has all the properties you would associate with an Organisation unit.
Capability-based planning is a process that starts with a high-level Business Function,
then extends it for implementation to become an Organisation. The Organisation for a Capability is likely to be cross-organisational. It may also be temporary. But it is still
an Organisation, with all the properties you would expect an Organisation to have.
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