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Map business capabilities and their coverage

Management asks you where the IT budget goes, business by business, and where the company depends on a fragile tool. To answer, you need a stable map of what the company knows how to do: sell, invoice, deliver, pay. This is the map of business capabilities. This guide shows how to read it in Boldo, see which applications carry each capability, and spot the gaps, the overlaps and the costs.

Before you start​

  • Being able to view Boldo is enough to follow this guide. To change capabilities or their relationships, you need to be able to edit them: if you cannot, ask an administrator.
  • Applications must be linked to the capabilities they support. Without these relationships, the map stays empty.
  • The views, maps and diagrams used here come from the example. Build your own the same way. An administrator must also configure the computed properties for application counts and annual costs used below.

1. Understand what a capability is​

A capability describes what the company knows how to do, not who does it or with which tool. "Invoicing" stays a capability, whether invoices go through the ERP or through another tool. This is why the capability map stays stable when tools and teams change.

Capabilities are sorted in levels. Level 1 gives the large domains, such as sales or finance. Level 2 details them, for example customer account management or general accounting.

2. See coverage and costs​

Open Visualizations, then Views, and open the view of capabilities and their costs. It groups capabilities by level.

Capabilities by level, with the number of applications that support them and their annual IT cost, computed by Boldo.
Capabilities by level, with the number of applications that support them and their annual IT cost, computed by Boldo.

Three columns marked Σ are computed by Boldo: the number of directly linked applications, their annual IT cost and the consolidated IT cost. Level 1 capabilities show 0 for the direct count and cost because applications are linked to level 2 capabilities. The consolidated cost rolls up the costs of their sub-capabilities.

Sort by cost to see where the money goes. In the example, collaboration and office tools come first, ahead of warehouse management.

3. See who carries each capability​

Open Visualizations, then Nested maps, and open the capability map. Each capability holds its sub-capabilities, then the applications that support them, with their recommendation.

The capability map: capabilities, their sub-capabilities and the applications that support them.
The capability map: capabilities, their sub-capabilities and the applications that support them.

The map is computed from the relationships. When an application is linked to a new capability, it shows in the map, without redrawing anything.

4. Spot gaps and overlaps​

Go through the map and the view with two questions in mind:

  • A gap: a level 2 capability without any application. Either the work is done by hand, or a relationship is missing in Boldo. In the view, its Σ Applications column shows 0.
  • An overlap: several applications on the same capability. Sometimes it is intended, often it is an extra cost. In the example, quotes go through three tools at once.

A capability carried only by an application to eliminate is a warning sign. Plan the replacement before retiring the tool.

5. Show the urbanization plan​

For a presentation, a diagram sorts applications by functional area. Open Visualizations, then Diagrams, and open the urbanization plan.

The urbanization plan: applications sorted by area, their frame colored by recommendation, planned replacements in dotted lines.
The urbanization plan: applications sorted by area, their frame colored by recommendation, planned replacements in dotted lines.

Each frame takes the color of the application's recommendation: invest, tolerate, migrate or eliminate. Dotted lines show planned replacements. Each block stays a real asset: click it to see its information.

Key points​

  • A capability describes what the company knows how to do, not with which tool. The map stays stable when tools change.
  • The capability view gives coverage and costs, the nested map shows who carries what.
  • A capability without an application is a gap, a capability with several applications may be an overlap.

Go further​