CBA (ASQ) key terms

A blueprint of the enterprise that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands. It describes what the business does, how it does it, and what capabilities it needs.

A particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome. Capabilities describe what the business can do, independent of who performs it, how it is done, or where it sits.

A hierarchical, structured catalog of an organization's capabilities arranged by levels. It provides a stable, business-wide view of what the enterprise is able to do and is used as a foundation for planning and investment decisions.

An end-to-end collection of activities that create a result of value for a customer. It describes the sequence of stages through which value is delivered, crossing organizational boundaries and showing how capabilities are activated.

A visual representation of one or more value streams, showing the stages of value delivery and the capabilities that enable each stage. It links customer value directly to the capabilities that support it.

A statement of the tangible and intangible benefits an organization offers to a specific customer or stakeholder segment. It articulates why a customer would choose the organization's products or services over alternatives.

A description of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It identifies customers, offerings, delivery channels, revenue mechanisms, and the capabilities required to sustain the business.

Any individual, group, or organization with an interest in, or affected by, the activities and outcomes of the enterprise. Stakeholders influence and are influenced by the architecture and its decisions.

A view that identifies key stakeholders, their interests, influence, and relationships to the architecture. It helps the architect plan engagement and communication so that the architecture meets real audience needs.

A set of aligned architectural views that collectively describe the business from multiple perspectives. It typically includes capability, value, information, organization, and strategy views used to inform decisions.

A specification of the conventions for constructing and using a view, addressing a particular set of stakeholder concerns. Viewpoints determine what is shown, for whom, and at what level of detail.

A representation of a system from the perspective of a related set of concerns. In business architecture, a view presents selected architectural content to a specific audience for a specific purpose.

A standardized, reusable model that provides common vocabulary and structure for a domain, often derived from industry practice. It can be adapted to a specific organization to accelerate modeling and improve comparability.

A model that defines the concepts, relationships, and rules used to construct other models. It establishes the vocabulary and structure that keep architectural content consistent across views and domains.

A structured set of concepts, relationships, and methods used to organize and guide architecture work. It provides a common approach for describing, analyzing, and governing the enterprise across domains and layers.

The decision-making structures, roles, and processes that direct and oversee business architecture work. It ensures architectural content is maintained, decisions are accountable, and the architecture stays aligned with strategy.

A governing body that reviews architectural proposals and ensures alignment with principles, standards, and strategy. It provides a forum for approving, rejecting, or conditioning changes that affect the architecture.

A general, enduring rule or guideline that guides architectural decisions and design. Principles express agreed intent and are used to evaluate options consistently across the enterprise.

The system of rules, practices, and processes by which an organization is directed and controlled. In architecture, it establishes accountability, decision rights, and oversight for architectural change.

The state of conforming to established standards, principles, regulations, or architectural decisions. Compliance is monitored and enforced through governance processes and reviews.

A time-sequenced plan showing how an organization will move from its current state to a target state. In business architecture, roadmaps sequence initiatives and capability changes in support of strategy.

A description of the enterprise as it exists today, including its capabilities, processes, and structures. It provides the baseline against which change and future-state designs are assessed.

A description of the desired future condition of the enterprise, aligned to strategic intent. It guides transformation by defining the capabilities, structures, and outcomes the organization intends to achieve.

A comparison of current and target states that identifies missing capabilities, resources, or conditions. The results inform roadmaps, investment decisions, and prioritization of change initiatives.

The measurable benefits business architecture delivers, such as improved decision-making, reduced duplication, faster change, and better strategic alignment. Value is demonstrated through outcomes valued by stakeholders, not through artifacts alone.

The ongoing organizational discipline of establishing, operating, and evolving business architecture. It includes roles, methods, governance, and engagement needed to deliver value consistently over time.

A structured method for assessing how developed a practice or capability is against defined levels. It helps organizations benchmark current practice, set improvement goals, and plan progression.

A practitioner who translates strategy into architectural insight by modeling capabilities, value streams, and information. The role facilitates decisions, aligns stakeholders, and guides change across business and technology domains.

A structured approach describing what architectural information will be shared, with whom, when, and in what form. It tailors messaging to stakeholder needs so that architecture influences decisions effectively.

A set of interrelated activities that transform inputs into outputs of value to a customer. Processes describe how work is performed and are often aligned to and enabled by capabilities.

A view of the enterprise's structure, including units, roles, and reporting relationships. It shows where work is performed and how organizational elements relate to capabilities and value streams.

A structured representation of the key information concepts an organization uses and how they relate. It links business vocabulary to data and helps ensure shared meaning across capabilities and processes.

A pre-built model of common capabilities, processes, or value streams for a particular industry. Organizations use it as a starting point to compare, adapt, and accelerate their own architecture work.

A simplified representation of a subject created for a specific purpose. In architecture, models capture selected aspects of the enterprise so they can be analyzed, communicated, and used for decisions.

The set of choices an organization makes about where to compete and how to win. Business architecture connects strategy to execution by expressing strategic intent in capabilities, value streams, and roadmaps.

A planning approach that uses business capabilities as the primary unit for analysis and investment. It aligns funding and change initiatives to capability gaps and strategic priorities rather than to organizational silos.