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Business Capability Maps: Current Practices and Use Cases for Enterprise
Architecture Management

Conference Paper · January 2018

DOI: 10.24251/HICSS.2018.581

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 Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2018

Business Capability Maps: Current Practices and

Use Cases for Enterprise Architecture Management
Pouya Aleatrati Khosroshahi, Matheus Hauder Stefan Volkert
Florian Matthes, Martin Gernegroß Allianz Deutschland AG BMW Group
Technical University of Munich matheus.hauder@allianz.de stefan.volkert@bmw.de
{p.aleatrati, matthes, m.gernegross}@tum.de

Abstract communication between business and IT stakeholders

[5], [12], [19], [22]. Unlike business processes,
This paper provides a state-of-the-art report on the business capability does not describe a set of activities
usage of business capability maps in enterprise that needs to be conducted to achieve a concrete result.
architecture management. We conducted expert The EAM standard TOGAF® from the Open Group
interviews with 25 organizations to reveal the benefits describes a capability as “an ability that an
and challenges of capability-based enterprise organization, person, or system possesses.” [21]. In
architecture management and evaluated 14 use cases other words, a business capability describes a skill or
on the feasibility and benefit of using business ability that an organization uses to perform its core
capability maps in practice. The results reveal function. A business capability encompasses and
increasing interest and acceptance of the approach in describes all applications, roles, and skills used to
practice and among support organizations. provide a business function. It illustrates a loosely
coupled group within the organization that aims to
provide a specific capability. The BCM is an ordered
representation of all business capabilities within the
1. Motivation organization. Figure 1 illustrates an example of a
BCM. Consider an organization that develops software
The role of information technology (IT) in
Use Case (01/14): Application Lifecycle
for insurance companies. Such an organization needs
organizations has changed over the last decades; capabilities
Description and to develop software (“Development”), run
Visualization
technology advances have led to new business internal processes (“Enterprise Services”), and
opportunities and have forced organizations to undergo distribute products (“Sales”). Each of these capabilities
fundamental changes in their business models [1], [8],
Capabilities with a high amount
includes sub-capabilities. The mapping of ofapplications
EA-related with an up
the near
[15]. Challenges are not the only thing at the business future(e.g.,
information may require tospecial
applications) business attention
capabilities in order to p
strategy level as organizations have to prepare for because
a enables the BCM to act
of extended support). as a control instrument and
mind shift from a structural and operational point of provides transparency about issues within the EA from
view and undergo fundamental changes in their different viewpoints. However, the use of BCM in
enterprise architecture (EA) [6]. Considering a recent EAM is at a very early stage and there is a lack of
study by Aleatrati Khosroshahi et al. [4], the role of concrete use cases and visualizations that support EA
EA management (EAM) has changed over the last initiatives.
years. The discipline has evolved from an operational
practice (e.g., documenting data objects and analyzing
Development Enterprise Services
processes) to a comprehensive EA optimization
Information
activity (e.g., providing transparency and identifying Design Finance
Technology
bottlenecks in the application portfolio). These
Requirements HR Marketing
demands call for a powerful tool that provides
transparency of the EA from different viewpoints and Prototyping
also considers business demands. Sales
Recent studies have shown that business capability Test CRM After Sales
maps (BCMs) have gained great attention in EAM
[11], [3]. BCMs help to align IT practices and
investments with business demands, support EAM Figure 1: Example of a BCM
tasks from different viewpoints, and are essential for

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/50470 Page 4603

ISBN: 978-0-9981331-1-9
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Guided Research - Using Business Capability based Heat Maps

 We aim to reveal the role of BCMs in EAM and critical information that should be analyzed in a
identify use cases that can be addressed by BCM capability-based setup (e.g., customers, suppliers,
visualizations. In cooperation with two industry operational business processes, and strategic
partners, we identified 14 use cases for a capability- objectives).
based EAM and conducted expert interviews with 25 Other researchers distanced themselves from
organizations to evaluate the usability of these cases conceptual research activities and investigated concrete
(see Table 1 for details regarding the participants). Our methodologies for a capability-based EAM. Freitag et
questionnaire includes questions regarding the use of al. [11], for instance, provided a methodology to
the BCM within the respective organization to reveal identify dependencies between business capabilities
the benefits and challenges of BCMs in practice. and evaluated their approach within a
telecommunication company. Klinkemüller et al. [13]
We aim to investigate the following research questions provided a visualization methodology by introducing a
(RQs): three-dimensional visualization of business capabilities
 RQ1: To what extent are BCMs used in practice that considers vertical and logical dependencies
for EAM? between business capabilities.
 RQ2: What are suitable use cases for a Concrete applications of business capabilities in the
capability-based EAM? EAM domain were provided by Keller [12] who
The paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, we named concrete use cases (e.g., investment decisions,
provide an overview of related work. In Section 3, we IT/business alignment, and outsourcing decisions),
illustrate our research approach. An overview of our although visualizations are missing.
evaluated use cases and the results of our expert There are further investigations on how BCM can
interviews are illustrated in Sections 4 and 5. The add value to EAM [7], [20], [23]. A state-of-the-art
paper ends with a discussion of the results in Section 6 contribution that outlines the challenges, benefits, and
and a conclusion and an outlook in Section 7. current status of BCMs in organizations is missing.
Moreover, our contribution aims to identify concrete
use cases and visualizations of BCMs for EAM.
2. Related work To have a first sample of BCM use cases that could
support architectural decisions from different
The TOGAF standard outlines the value of viewpoints, our literature review considers the
capability-based planning of EAM and states, “from an identification of metrics that affect such decisions. The
EA and IT perspective, capability-based planning is a review considers technical (e.g., lifecycle of
powerful mechanism to ensure that the strategic applications and interfaces) and organizational (e.g.,
business plan drives the enterprise from a top-down compliance issues and costs) metrics. Moreover, we
approach.” [21]. The standard elaborates the considered the needs and challenges within EAM
relationship between business capabilities and EAM practice that could be addressed with BCM use cases.
and explains the different dimensions that need to be Since these contributions investigate other
considered when defining business capabilities (i.e., disciplines of EAM and information systems research
people, processes, and materials). Due to the nature of (e.g., application portfolio management and
the framework, TOGAF does not provide results from complexity of IT), rather than BCM, the results of the
research activities or name concrete characteristics identified metrics and use cases are not detailed in this
(e.g., an application of a characteristic for material section. Section 5 provides an overview of the
dimension). evaluated use cases and, for each description, includes
Barroero et al. [5] bridged the gap between the the sources on which the definition is based.
TOGAF concept and missing data, application, and Our literature review reveals that several activities
technology architecture by extending the TOGAF have already taken place to analyze the use and
meta-model and considering business capabilities. benefits of BCMs for EAM practice. Related work also
Their contribution considers new architectural artifacts elaborates how the TOGAF framework could be
for TOGAF and names changes to the meta-model enriched with a capability-based view, how to
when considering TOGAF as a capability-centric differentiate between types of business capabilities,
approach. A further conceptual work by Brits et al. and what kind of information could be analyzed with
[10] provided a framework on business capability this view. However, a state-of-the-art analysis that
modeling and elaborated guidelines on how to evaluates the current challenges and benefits for large
differentiate between types of business capabilities. organizations is still missing. Moreover, related work
Their contribution differentiates between functional, outlines the value of BCMs, but does not provide
integral, dynamic, and strategic capabilities and names concrete use cases for EAM practice.

Page 4604
3. Research approach Both organizations were working on large
transformations within their enterprises and stated that
We conducted this research in collaboration with the BCM was being used as the central artifact to steer
two organizations. One organization is an automotive and orchestrate the EA transformation. However, they
company, headquartered in Europe with approximately also stated that definitions of concrete use cases for a
120,000 employees. The other organization is an capability-based EAM are still missing. On the basis of
insurance company, headquartered in Europe with this feedback, we sharpened our RQs and conducted a
approximately 30,000 employees. Both organizations literature review, considering various journals and
have profound knowledge about BCMs and their use in online catalogs (i.e., ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore
EAM and assisted us in defining our research scope Digital Library, ACM Digital Library, and Google
and possible use cases. Group discussions with these Scholar). Related work about BCM is illustrated in
organizations helped us to ensure that a wide range of Section 2 while EA metrics that need to be considered
relevant use cases was considered for our expert for the use cases are shown in Section 5.
interviews. Hence, the use cases considered in our
expert interviews are based on input from research Define interview guideline and use cases: Based on
(literature review) and relevant topics from practice. our findings from the literature review and the
The evaluation of the use cases and the identification feedback from the research partners, we defined an
of current challenges and benefits of a capability-based interview guideline and use cases for the evaluation.
EAM are based on expert interviews with 25
organizations. We aimed to have intensive discussions The interview guideline is divided into three parts (1.
with practitioners who have profound knowledge about general information about interview partner and
BCMs. Thus, we used a qualitative research approach, company, 2. benefits and challenges of BCM, and 3.
rather than a quantitative one. The research took place evaluation of use cases) and follows a semi-structured
from September 2016 to June 2017 and is illustrated in approach to discuss a wide range of aspects.
Figure 2. An overview of the interview partners is
illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: Interview partners
Head Experience
ID Industry
Identify problem and motivate: In the first phase, we count (~k) EAM (yrs)
defined the scope of our research, concretized our RQs, Org.01 Insurance 30 5
and conducted a literature review. The activities were Org.02 Automotive 120 10
conducted in strong collaboration with our research Org.03 Energy 60 6
partners. We had several group discussions with Org.04 Financial Services 60 12
enterprise architects at the respective organizations. Org.05 Financial Services 13 6
Org.06 Insurance 44 8
Sep 2016
Org.07 Logistic 500 10
Identify problem • Literature review Org.08 Chemicals 65 7
& motivate • Definition of research questions
Org.09 Media 3.5 4
Oct 2016
Org.10 Chemicals 17 4
• Derive interview guideline Org.11 Telecom 225 10
Define interview Org.12 Information Tech. 380 18
• Define capability-based use cases
guideline & use
cases Org.13 Consumer Goods 57 3
Nov 2016 Org.14 Telecom. 150 25
• Conduct expert interviews
Conduct • Continuous optimization of Org.15 Insurance 10 8
interviews interview guideline and use cases Org.16 Conglomerate 350 >20
Org.17 Financial Services 6 10
Apr 2017
• Aggregation of interview results Org.18 Financial Services 0.5 3
Analyze • Identify state-of-the art usage and Org.19 Conglomerate 375 4
interviews trends of BCM in the EA practice
Org.20 Financial Services 11 16
May 2017 Org.21 Information Tech. 85 10
• Aggregation of results Org.22 Conglomerate 150 7
Report • Communication and discussion of
findings findings with interview partners Org.23 Financial Services 3.5 10
Org.24 Public Sector 1 7
Jun 2017
Figure 2: Research approach Org.25 Consumer Goods 18 6

Page 4605
Conduct
12 interviews:10We interviewed 25 organizations 7
(“Org.<number>”
10 in Table 1)
9 9from Germany and 6
6
Switzerland. The participants were identified on the
8
basis 6of contacts
4
5 from 5previous research projects
4
and 5
postings
4 on social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn).2 2 4
4
Each 2interview lasted approximately one0hour and was
0 3
conducted via phone
Yes, Yes,
call orYes,in person.No
We onlyn/a 3
considered people for
intensive our interviews
frequently barely that had profound 2 2 2 2 2
knowledge about EAMStrategic
and stated that further insights 2
Operational
about BCM support their EAM strategy. The experts 1 1
1
received the interview guideline about one week before 0
the interview. After each interview, we reviewed our 0
interview guideline and updated our questions based on 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 n/a
the gathered information. Our interview partners Figure 3: Years of use of BCM
operated in various branches, which indicates that
BCMs do not have a branch focus. There are two peaks in Figure 3, one at two years of
experience, the second at seven years. The peak at two
Analyze interviews: After the completion of all years underlines that using BCMs within EAM
interviews, the gathered information was aggregated activities is still in the early stages in some
and analyzed for findings. The analysis of the organizations. The second peak at seven years can be
interview follows the matrix-based method by Webster explained by the growing popularity of the EAM
and Watson [23]. The findings were aggregated to discipline in the interviewed organizations: on average,
statistics that illustrate the general use of BCMs in the interviewed organizations have about eight years of
practice (see Section 4) and implemented use cases experience with EAM, so a considerable number of
(see Section 5). organizations introduced BCMs in their EAM activities
very quickly.
Report findings: The findings were aggregated and 92% of the interviewees stated that BCMs are used
documented in a presentation and communicated to the for strategic purposes and 76% said that they are used
interview partners. as operational decisions support. Although our results
show that BCMs serve mostly for strategic purposes,
4. Use of BCMs the statistic reveals the multifacetedness of BCMs in
organizations. A correlation between the experience
level and the type of use could not be proven.
4.1 Current use of BCM
12 7
Of the 25 surveyed organizations, 23 use BCMs. 10 6
Most of them use BCM to strengthen the 10 9 9 6
communication between the management and IT, 8 5
achieve transparency in the EA, and develop target
architectures that consider business characteristics. The 6 5 5 4
two organizations that do not use BCM provided clear 4 4
4 3
reasons: a lack of understanding and acceptance by 2 2 2 2
stakeholders and missing data. 2 2
In our interviews, we asked the participants how many 0
0 1
years they have been using BCMs and whether the
Yes, Yes, Yes, No n/a
BCM is used for strategic purposes (e.g., EA intensive frequently barely 0
investments and target architecture) or operational 1 2 3
purposes (e.g., analysis of dependencies and number of Strategic Operational
applications in each capability). Figure 4: Strategic vs. operational
Figure 3 provides an aggregated overview of the use of BCM
answers regarding the years of use. Figure 4 provides One question in the interviews asked which data are
an overview of how many organizations use BCMs for mapped to single business capabilities. On the basis of
strategic and how many do so for operational purposes. our literature review and group discussions with our
research partners, we asked about the mapping of ten
information objects illustrated in Table 2 that consider

Page 4606
architectural (e.g., applications and technologies), 4.2 Challenges of BCM
business-related (e.g., projects and business demands),
and other metrics that might affect EA decisions. The Although we outlined the benefits of BCMs for
results show that most of the interviewed organizations EAM, our results revealed the novelty of the concept.
map their applications, responsibilities, and processes Thus, we asked the respondents to describe challenges
on the BCM. Applications still have a major role that arise when defining and communicating the BCM
within architectural decisions; they are measurable and to stakeholders within the organization. Figure 6
further data objects can be assigned to these (e.g., provides an overview of the most mentioned
costs, incident tickets, and interfaces), which enable challenges. A lack of understanding is the most
the analysis of the EA from different viewpoints. The mentioned challenge (by 64% of organizations);
results also show that practitioners devote much business capabilities differ from business process
attention to assigning responsibilities, also called thinking and require a mind shift within the
capability “owner,” during the interviews. organization. Our results show that this poses a hurdle,
Some interviewees provided us with additional underpinned by missing acceptance (by 44% of
information mapped to their BCM, including capability organizations) and lack of management support (28%).
priority, strategic direction, interfaces, business Operative challenges (e.g., creation efforts) were also
organizations, business functions, and mentioned, which show that the implementation of a
locations/regions (named by three organizations). capability-based EAM calls for major efforts.
IT Business
Table 2: Information mapped to BCMs Intra
Business demands

1 2 Trainings/Wo
Yes
Business objects
Responsibilities

7
7
Technologies
Applications

No
User stories
Processes

Services

Lectu
Projects

17 n/a
Costs

16

Figure 5: Sufficient communication of BCM

Org.01 x x x x x x x x x
Org.02 x x x x x x x x A further question evaluated whether the BCM is
Org.03 x x x x x x sufficiently communicated to the IT and business
Org.04 x x x x x x departments. The results are illustrated in Figure 5.
Org.05 x x x x x Both departments require additional communication
Org.06 x x x x x techniques, while business stakeholders call for more
Org.07 x x x x x attention; 64% of the organizations stated that their
Org.08 x x x x x business stakeholders are not familiar with their BCM.
Org.09 x x x x x Most of the interviewees stated that business
Org.10 x x x x x stakeholders do not see the added value of the concept.
Org.11 x x x x A third question investigated communication methods
Org.12 x x x x x of the BCM with the following result (relative
Org.13 x x x x frequency in brackets): intranet/wiki (92%),
Org.14 x x x x training/workshops (64%), print (44%), and lectures
Org.15 x x x x (32%).
Org.16 x x x x Lack of understanding 16
Others (as comment):
 Company wide Stand
Org.17 x x x High creation effort 15  Coordination Work
Org.18 x x x Positioning of applications
 Two initiatives (bottom
12 to be synchronized
Org.19 x x x  Responsibilities (Org
Missing acceptance 11
Org.20 x x CapMap Structure)
High maintenance effort 9  Change managemen
Org.21 x x  Meaningfulness
Missing mgmt. support 7 
Org.22 x x Goal and Benefit
Missing information 7  Coordination with BP
Org.23 x x
Missing contact persons 6
Org.24 x
0 5 10 15 20 25
Org.25 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Figure 6: Challenges in communicating BCMs
Total 22 14 13 12 8 8 8 7 6 5 in EAM

Page 4607
 5. Use Case evaluation The following enumeration provides an overview
of the additional use cases that were evaluated during
our interviews. Each use case can be illustrated on a
5.1 Overview of use cases
BCM (like Figure 7 and 8) using heat maps.
We evaluated 14 use cases on their usability. The  Application extended support: Both industry
use case is described in the prepared interview partners mentioned that applications that have
guideline for the interview partners. Figure 7 and 8 already run out of support by the software vendor
illustrate two use cases (application lifecycle and produce extensive costs for extended support. A
capability spanning applications, respectively) in heat map on business capabilities indicate the
detail. All use cases assume a full mapping of amount of applications that have run out of support
applications to their supported business capabilities. (red = high, yellow = medium, green = low).

 Application lifecycle: This use case addresses the  Cost vs. user count ratio: In the literature, the
retirement dates of applications. The age of an number of users indicates the importance of an
application is a complexity driver for EAs (e.g., application because a failure of an application
high amount of customization and extended support might hinder users in their daily work [14], [24].
costs); thus, applications nearing retirement should Other researchers argued that the number of users
be addressed early by enterprise architects [2], [17] indicates the complexity of an application (e.g.,
[24]. Heat mapping (red, yellow, and green) in number of business requirements and incident
UseFigure
Case (01/14):
7 indicatesApplication Lifecycle
which applications call for tickets) [2], [17]. However, in this case, we evaluate
Description
furtherand Visualization
attention from a lifecycle point of view. A the number of users from a different viewpoint.
business capability that is supported by applications Applications with a low number of users but high
Capabilities with a high amount of applications with an upcoming retirement date in
thatfuture
the near lose software
may require specialsupport
attention inmight lead further
order to prevent to costs (e.g.
operating costs should be evaluated on their need.
unnecessary
because of extendedcosts due to extended support costs or
support). Decomposition can save high operating costs with a
security issues due to missing updates from small business impact. Color-coding at the
software providers. capability level indicates the ratio of operating
costs and number of users on average.
Capability < 6 months
Capability Capability
 Cloud candidates: Our industry partners mentioned
5 < 1 year
Capability Capability Capability
12 < 5 years

Capability Capability Capability >= 5 years

that the identification of cloud candidates takes
Capability
Capability Capability
high priority in their organization. Color-coding at
Capability Capability Capability
1
< 6 months
< 1 year
business capability level indicates the amount of
2 5
3 < 5 years applications (percentage) that are operated in the
>= 5 years
cloud.
Figure 7: Application lifecycle
 Capability spanning applications: As mentioned by  Compliance issues: Based on the covered business
our industry partners, the EA should align with the requirements, each business capability meets
Use Case BCM. (06/14): Capability
Applications Spanning/Verticalization
that support multiple business
Guided Research - Using Business Capability based Heat Maps
different compliance criteria – e.g., regulatory
© sebis 12

Description and Visualization

capabilities indicate unnecessary dependencies requirements and security policies [12], [16]. Heat
within the EA and act as complexity drivers [12], mapping indicates the number of compliance issues
Each capability should encapsulate everything needed in order to perform its
[24]. Heat mapping
function. Applications, which are at the business
located in multiplecapability
capabilities,level
generate within the business capability and provides
indicates whether the capability
unnecessary dependencies / more complexity. is supported by a transparency for project definitions.
high (red), medium (yellow), or low (green)
number of capability spanning applications.  Capability dependencies: The literature classifies
interfaces (or any type of dependencies between
Capability Capability applications) as complexity drivers in EA [2], [9],
Capability Capability Application [14], [16], [17], [24]. Based on the mapping of
Capability Capability Capability
Application Application
applications to business capabilities, dependencies
Capability Capability Capability Application
between two applications indicate dependencies
Capability
Capability Capability Capability between business capabilities. Based on the
Capability Capability Capability Application Application
feedback of our industry partners, business
Application Application
capabilities should be highly decoupled and, thus,
Figure 8: Capability spanning applications avoid a high number of dependencies to other
business capabilities. Heat mapping at the business

Page 4608
Guided Research - Using Business Capability based Heat Maps © sebis 17
 capability level illustrates the number of that are on extended support, on average, for each
dependencies to other business capabilities. application (percentage) within a business
capability.
 Harmonization potential: Functional redundancy is
an indicator for complexity of the EA and We evaluated whether the interviewed
avoidable IT costs [17], [18]. Redundancies of organizations have already implemented (or plan on
applications within a business capability indicate implementing) the use cases and the benefit of each use
harmonization potentials. case (transparency or deriving of concrete actions). We
also asked for the feasibility of each use (effort for
 IT costs: The literature already discussed intensely implementation in an EA tool, gathering information to
that the amount of IT costs (e.g., for releases, realize use cases, etc.). On the basis of the benefit and
upgrades, and operating) are a crucial factor for EA the feasibility, we calculated a benefit/feasibility rating
decisions [14], [17], [20], [24]. A heat mapping for each use case. The results are illustrated in Section
should indicate the average operating costs for each 5.2.
application within a business capability.
5.2 Implementation of use cases in practice
 Projects: Our industry partners mentioned that a
mapping of running EA projects within business In every interview, we elaborated whether the
capabilities supports the long-term planning of IT interviewed organization plans to implement or has
budget and projects. A heat mapping indicates the already implemented the use cases. The results are
number of EA projects or average project costs in illustrated in Figure 9. Although the results show a
each business capability. fragmented picture, some use cases deserve higher
attention. Use cases that aim to decrease hidden
 Business impact: Based on discussions with our complexity in EAs (e.g., harmonization potential and
industry partners, a measure to determine the capability spanning applications) are highly identified
business impact – or business value [16], [20] – of in EAM practice (or planned practice). Use cases that
a business capability supports the long-term support EAM decisions based on expenses (e.g.,
planning of the EA and projects. A heat mapping projects and IT costs) are also in use or planned for
indicates the importance of a business capability. implementation. The results also show that many use
cases are in the “planned” status, which proves the
 Agile team organization: One industry partner novelty of capability-based EAM.
mentioned that the BCM is used in the EAM to 25 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
evaluate the staffing of their project teams; their
project team organization strongly aligns with agile 20 7 7
software engineering principles. The definition of 12 12 11
13
15
user stories is one essential process in their agile 15 4
16
6 18 19 19
approach. These user stories are mapped to the 21 22
22
addressed business capabilities and provide advice 10 4 6
5
as to whether a project team addresses one or 5
13 5
several business capabilities. Heat mapping 5 11
1
5
8 2 2
indicates missing or incorrect staffing within a 7 7 6
4 4 1
3 3 3 2
business capability. 0
2 1
0 0
Harmonization potential

App. extended support

Capability spanning applications

Cost vs. user count

Capability dependencies

Cloud candidates
Projects
IT costs
Application lifecycle

Business impact
Infrastr. comp.

Compliance issues

Infrastr. comp. - extended support

Agile team organization

 Infrastructure components: The number and

diversity of infrastructure components within EAs
is a well-studied complexity driver [17], [18], [24].
Heat mapping indicates the number of
infrastructure components, on average, for each
application within a business capability.

 Infrastructure components – extended support: Yes Planned No n/a

Infrastructure within an extended support indicates
old technologies and avoidable costs for the Figure 9: Implementation of use cases
extended support [9], [18], [24]. Heat mapping
indicates the number of infrastructure components

Page 4609
 Two use cases (i.e., infrastructure component – high
Application Capability
extended support and agile team organization) are spanning applications
lifecycle
implemented by none of the organizations. The experts Projects
mentioned that these use cases would not bring any Cloud
Infrastr. Comp. –
benefit or new insights for EA optimization. Decisions extended support
candidates

are mainly influenced by costs, projects, and 11/6 Harmonization

4.46 potential
complexity that are driven by unnecessary
heterogeneity or redundancy. Most of the interviewed 7/6
3.96 8/4
13/4
4.61
Infrastr.
organizations obtain infrastructure components from comp. 0/1
4.06
3.27
external service providers; thus, these aspects have no 4/5

Feasibility
impact on their EA. 4/1
3.00
3.60 6/5
7/5
3.66
The experts were asked to estimate for each use 3/5
3/2 3.30
3.87

case the benefit (1 = very low, 2 = low, 3 = high, 4 = 0/2

2.76
3/2 3.02
IT costs
2.98
2/1
very high) and the feasibility for implementation (same 3.34 Capability
scale as benefit) in terms of data availability/quality, Agile team dependencies
effort for implementation, etc. We used the answers to organization

calculate a rating for each use case. The result is U: Used

Compliance P: Planned
illustrated in Figure 10. Each use case is categorized issues App. extended Business
U/P Rat.: Rating*
support impact
into one of four quadrants. Rat.

 Upper right: high benefit/high feasibility App. cost vs.

user count
Bubble size:
 Lower right: high benefit/low feasibility
Used + Planned

 Lower left: low benefit/low feasibility

*Rating: ; (Benefit: [1,4]; Feasibility [1,4])
low Benefit high
 Upper left: low benefit/high feasibility Figure 10: Use case rating (benefit/feasibility)
The size of the bubble indicates how many
organizations have implemented or plan to implement
the use case. The use cases in the upper-right quadrant 6. Discussion
indicate high attraction in the EAM community; they
are feasible for implementation and bring high benefit. In our first RQ, we asked to what extent BCMs are
In this quadrant, we identify seven use cases: capability used by EAM practitioners. According to our
spanning applications, harmonization potential, interviews with 25 organizations from different
projects, capability dependencies and partly IT costs, industries, our results reveal that the concept is novel
cloud candidates, and application lifecycle. The lower- in the EAM community and most of the interviewed
left quadrant illustrates use cases that are neither organizations started considering BCMs in their EAM
feasible nor bring benefit for EAM practice (e.g., agile two years ago (see Figure 3). However, the diversity of
team organization, applications with extended support). the interviewed organizations (in industry and size in
The other use cases either do not bring high benefit or terms of employees) reveals that the concept has a
are not feasible for implementation. broad attraction in practice. Organizations use BCM
The most cited reason for low feasibility is low data for strategic and operational purposes (see Figure 4).
quality or missing information. Given the number of However, the experts also mentioned major challenges
companies actively using or planning to implement that they must meet; 64% of the participants explained
each use case (e.g., 13 in application lifecycle) as well that the concept is hard to understand by stakeholders
as the calculated benefit/feasibility rating (see the in organizations and 60% mentioned the high amount
calculation of rating in the bottom of Figure 10), a of effort in defining the BCM in their organizations
correlation between these values was proven (Pearson (see Figure 6). One further challenge is the
correlation coefficient: 0.92). communication of the BCM to non-EAM stakeholders
In general, a capability-based EAM is considered a (e.g., other IT and business department). Although
novel approach by practitioners, but more experienced 68% of the experts mentioned that the BCM is
users of BCM or experts already consider feasibility sufficiently communicated to their IT departments, the
and benefit in their use case implementation agenda. results show major challenges in terms of sufficient
This indicates a strong maturity level, since these communication to the business departments (64% of
organizations have learned to concentrate on participants mentioned insufficient communication).
meaningful use cases.

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 In our second RQ, we evaluated which concrete use attractive in the community. Of the 25 organizations,
cases are considered by the experts as useful for EAM 23 have BCM on their EAM agenda and are planning
practice. We defined 14 use cases with two industry on implementing or have already implemented use
partners in advance and discussed their feasibility and cases for a capability-based EAM. However, the results
benefit in the interviews. Moreover, we elaborated also show that the experts face major challenges (see
which of the mentioned use cases are already Figure 6) considering organizational and conceptual
implemented, planned, or out of scope by the experts. challenges.
The results in Figure 9 show a fragmented picture; Our results also show that there are dedicated use
although some use cases reveal complexity in the EA cases that gain more attraction (e.g., capability
(e.g., capability spanning applications and spanning applications and harmonization potential)
harmonization potential), the results also show that than others (e.g., agile team organization and
some organizations are still at the very beginning applications with extended support). This positioning is
(many use cases are “planned”). However, the results based on a benefit/feasibility rating that was evaluated
of our study also show that organizations consider both for each case during the interviews.
the feasibility and benefit in their use case choice; the Our results shed light on the BCM for EAM
results in Figure 10 show that there are dedicated use research. It provides a state-of-the-art report and
cases that are feasible for implementation, bring high illustrates the current benefits and challenges. The
benefit, and raise high attraction in the EAM results can be used in practice for selection of use
community (correlation between the implementation cases. Moreover, the results act as a signal for those
plan in Figure 9 and the benefit/feasibility rating in organizations that are still evaluating whether they
Figure 10). The results also show that there are use should use BCMs in their EAM practice or not; a large
cases that are neither planned for implementation nor number of organizations already considered this
bring any benefit or are not feasible (e.g., agile team approach in their EAM. Further research should
organization and infrastructure component – extended conceptualize the heat mapping of the use cases and
support). Although the research provides further derive a clear methodology on how to define and
insights into BCM for EAM research, there are some communicate the BCM approach in large
limitations within the results. Our results provide organizations. Furthermore, clustering of organizations
transparency about challenges when defining a BCM in based on attributes, such as size, industry sector, or
large organizations, whereas clear solutions are not experience with EAM, could be evaluated to make
provided yet (e.g., methodologies and software support more precise recommendations for particular use cases.
to decrease effort). Our results do not provide any
insights on how organizations approach BCM 8. References
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