capability

ArchiMate 3.2 Equivalent: Capability (Strategy Layer)

Represents a business capability—a foundational ability that an enterprise possesses or requires to execute its strategy and business model.

Capabilities can be nested hierarchically to represent Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 capability decompositions.

Visual Styling

To apply custom icons, borders, shapes, or CSS styles to capabilities, use a Style Rule (e.g. style capability where time == "Invest" { icon "chart-growth" }).

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Syntax

capability <id> "<Display Name>" {
    # Properties
    description "<text>"
    owner "<team_or_person>"
    tags ["tag1", "tag2"]
    time "Tolerate" | "Invest" | "Migrate" | "Eliminate"
    number "1.1" | auto
    maturity "High" | "Medium" | "Low"

    # Special Blocks
    lifecycle { phase ... }
    score { business_value ... tech_fit ... }

    # Nested Sub-Capabilities
    capability <sub_id> "<Sub Capability Name>" { ... }

    # Relationships
    relationships { ... }
}

---

Properties

Property	Type	Allowed Values	Description
description	string	Free text	Comprehensive explanation of what the capability delivers
owner	string	Free text	Accountable business unit or owner
tags	string[]	Array of strings	Categorization tags (e.g. tags ["core", "differentiating"])
time	enum	"Tolerate", "Invest", "Migrate", "Eliminate"	TIME portfolio classification
number	string / auto	String like "1.1" or literal auto	Hierarchical capability numbering
maturity	string	e.g. "Initial", "Managed", "Optimized"	Business capability maturity rating

---

Special Blocks

lifecycle

lifecycle {
    phase Run start "2023-01-01" end "2027-12-31"   # Preferred single-line format
}

score (Strategic Assessment)

score {
    business_value 9     # Numeric 1 to 10
    tech_fit 8           # Numeric 1 to 10
}

---

Allowed Relationship Verbs & Targets

Verb	ArchiMate Relation	Allowed Target Entity Types
composed_of	Composition	capability (Nested sub-capabilities)
realizes	Realization	capability, goal, stage
serves	Serving	actor, process, system, app
reads, writes	Access	data_object
flows_to	Flow	system, app, component, process, data_object
triggers	Triggering	process
influences	Influence	goal, kpi
migrates_to	Transformation	system, app, component, infrastructure, environment
depends_on	Dependency	capability, app, system, component, infrastructure, process
governed_by	Governance	policy, standard

---

Complete Example

capability cap_payments "Payment Processing" {
    description "End-to-end payment capture, tokenization, and settlement"
    owner "Global Payments Tribe"
    tags ["fintech", "core-capability"]
    time "Invest"
    maturity "High"

    lifecycle {
        phase Run start "2022-06-01"
    }

    score {
        business_value 10
        tech_fit 8
    }

    # Nested Child Capability (Level 2)
    capability cap_tokenization "Card Tokenization" {
        description "Secure vaulting of cardholder payment data"
        number "1.1"
    }

    relationships {
        this realizes goal_market_expansion "Supports global expansion goal"
        this serves actor_online_shopper
        this governed_by pol_pci_dss
    }
}