Enterprise Business Capabilities Model: AI-Ready Edition

This Business Architecture Reference Model describes the whole enterprise in three levels, 10 L1, 112 L2 and 865 L3 capabilities, with an AI profile and KPIs for every Level 3 capability. It is industry-neutral and leaves out industry-specific core operations such as lending, so teams in banks, insurers, asset and wealth managers and payments firms use it for the enterprise around their core: strategy, finance, people, technology, risk, shared services and workplace. They add their own core operations alongside it and use the ratings, which describe a typical large enterprise, as a starting point.

What it is

Inside the Enterprise Business Capabilities Model

The model has three levels: 10 Level 1 domains, 112 Level 2 capability groups and 865 Level 3 capabilities, each with its definition. Level 4 is not included. It is designed as one model of the enterprise rather than functional models placed side by side, so work that crosses functions has one home and is defined once, and work that sits above or between functions, such as corporate strategy and planning, enterprise portfolio management, public affairs, workplace and real estate and shared services, is part of the model. The About This Model document explains the design and the choice of three levels.

The AI layer sits at Level 3. Each of the 865 capabilities has an AI profile with work patterns, target AI mode, human oversight, AI fit, value, feasibility, data readiness, risk tier and wave, along with AI opportunities, what stays human, roles, prerequisites, key risks and workforce impact. There are 3,369 KPIs with AI measures across the Level 3 capabilities, and every Level 2 capability shows the rollup of its Level 3 profiles, so a domain can be read at summary level or opened to the detail. AI is part of every domain rather than a domain of its own.

The sample profile, strategic environment analysis (EN-1.1.1), shows the pattern. AI can scan licensed market research, competitor announcements, analyst coverage and industry news each week and summarize the developments that touch the enterprise's markets, with a link to every source. The Chief Strategy Officer decides which developments the strategy must respond to, on the analysis the Strategic Planning Lead prepares. The capability is rated Moderate risk, with a human in the loop, and placed in Wave 1.

The Problem Behind It

Enterprise capability maps are often assembled from the bottom up: each function contributes its own list, and the result is stitched together. The same work then appears under two or three functions with different names, while work that belongs to no single function, such as portfolio management or shared services, falls between the lists. An enterprise AI plan built on that kind of map double-counts some opportunities and misses others.

This model starts from the enterprise. Each capability is defined once, in one place, with an AI profile that uses the same scales as every other capability, so a proposal in procurement can be compared with one in strategy or in workplace services on equal terms. Leadership can see where AI is concentrated, which domains carry the highest risk tiers and which waves they fall into, without first reconciling a dozen functional maps.

Three Levels

The model has three levels: 10 Level 1 domains, 112 Level 2 capability groups and 865 Level 3 capabilities. Level 4 is not included. For the next level of detail in a function, use that function's Capability Model alongside this one, such as Finance, Technology and Governance, Risk and Compliance.

One Model of the Whole Enterprise

The model is designed as one model of the enterprise, not the functional models placed side by side. Work that crosses functions has one home and is defined once. Work that sits above or between functions is part of the model, such as corporate strategy and planning, enterprise portfolio management, public affairs, workplace and real estate, and shared services. AI is part of every domain rather than a domain of its own, and the model is industry-neutral: it describes what enterprises in any industry do. The About This Model document in the package explains the design and why the model has three levels.

The deliverables

What's Inside

• 10 L1, 112 L2 and 865 L3 enterprise capabilities, each with its definition
• An AI profile for every Level 3 capability: work patterns, target AI mode, human oversight, AI fit, value, feasibility, data readiness, risk tier and wave, with AI opportunities, what stays human, roles, prerequisites, key risks and workforce impact
• 3,369 KPIs, with AI measures, across the Level 3 capabilities
• Every Level 2 capability with the rollup of its Level 3 profiles
• A prioritization model you re-score with your own ratings and weights
• An AI heatmap of the whole model
• A 40-question AI readiness assessment
• The Capability Navigator: the whole model in one page you open in any web browser, with search and filters by AI mode, oversight, risk tier and wave
• A Welcome document, About This Model, the capability map deck, standalone capability definitions and KPIs documents, the Excel workbook, the user guide
• Bonus files: an enterprise glossary, A Practical Guide to Business Architecture, a capability modeling overview, an AI-ready capability profile template and capability relationship mapping templates
• Free corrections, and new versions free for 180 days

Every file names your organization and carries your license ID. Ratings describe a typical large enterprise and are a starting point for your own.

Putting it to work

Use Cases

Enterprise AI portfolio planning. Re-score the Level 3 profiles with your own ratings and weights to rank AI opportunities across every domain. The Level 2 rollups show where opportunity and risk are concentrated, which helps decide where the program should start and where it should wait.

Target operating model and shared services design. Use the model's single home for cross-functional work to decide what is centralized, what is shared and what stays in business units. Because each capability is defined once, the design does not have to resolve duplicate definitions first.

Enterprise application portfolio rationalization. Map applications across the enterprise to the 865 Level 3 capabilities to find duplicates, gaps and systems supporting work the organization no longer needs. The stable IDs give every business unit the same key.

Merger and acquisition integration. Map both organizations to the same model to compare how each performs the same capabilities and to plan which processes, systems and teams are combined. Work that only one side performs shows up as an explicit decision instead of a late discovery.

Linking strategy to the investment portfolio. Tag initiatives and projects with the capabilities they change, so the portfolio can be read by domain and compared with strategic priorities. Capabilities that receive no investment, or too many overlapping investments, become visible.

Anchoring functional models. Use this model for the enterprise view and add a function's Capability Model where you need the next level of detail, such as Finance, Human Resources, Technology or Governance, Risk and Compliance. The enterprise model keeps the functional detail placed within one consistent structure.

Who It Is For

Chief architects and enterprise architecture teams. Adopt the model as the enterprise capability reference, map applications, data and initiatives to it, and decide where functional detail is needed.

Chief strategy officers and planning teams. Use the capabilities and their KPIs to connect strategic priorities to the work that delivers them, and to read the investment portfolio by domain.

CIOs and technology leaders. Plan AI and application investment across domains using the profiles, rollups and the prioritization model.

Transformation and AI program offices. Build the enterprise AI roadmap from the ranked profiles, wave assignments and readiness assessment, and track progress by capability.

Operating model and shared services designers. Use the single definition of cross-functional work to design shared services, centers of excellence and business unit boundaries.

The economics

The Alternatives

An enterprise capability model touches every function, which makes it one of the hardest architecture artifacts to produce and keep consistent. Organizations usually choose one of three routes.

• Building it from a blank slate. Your architects collect capability lists from each function, reconcile overlaps and naming, decide where cross-functional work belongs, and run review cycles with each domain owner. Adding an AI profile with consistent scales to 865 capabilities is a separate, large effort, and keeping the scales consistent across authors is difficult.
• Hiring consultants to build it. An outside team brings a structure and moves faster, but a large share of the engagement goes to drafting the generic enterprise model that any organization shares. The result reflects that team's conventions and tends to stall when the engagement ends.
• Starting from this model. You start with one model of the whole enterprise, each capability defined once, with AI profiles, KPIs and a scoring model already consistent across all domains. Your effort goes to adjusting ratings, adding your industry's core operations and agreeing ownership.

Outside advisers remain useful with this model in place. Their time is better spent tailoring it to your organization, adding the industry-specific core operations the model leaves out and facilitating the decisions it surfaces than on drafting generic definitions. The ratings describe a typical large enterprise and are a starting point.

Getting Started

1. Read the Welcome document and About This Model to understand the three levels and the one-model design.
2. Open the Capability Navigator in a browser and filter by AI mode, oversight, risk tier and wave to see the shape of the enterprise.
3. Add your industry's core operations alongside the model and note where a functional Capability Model should supply more detail.
4. Re-score the Level 3 profiles with your own ratings and weights in the Excel workbook.
5. Run the 40-question readiness assessment and compare its results with the top of the ranking.
6. Map current applications and initiatives to capability IDs so the enterprise portfolio can be read by domain.

Public sample

Read the Public Sample

The sample is one capability profile, strategic environment analysis, and is 0.09% of the content. From the Strategic Environment Analysis (EN-1.1.1) AI profile:

• Work patterns: Analysis & insight, Knowledge retrieval
• Target AI mode: Augment
• Human oversight: Human-in-the-loop
• AI fit / Value / Feasibility / Data readiness: 4 / 4 / 4 / 3 (1–5)
• Risk tier: Moderate
• Roadmap wave: Wave 1
• AI opportunity: Scan licensed market research, competitor announcements, analyst coverage and industry news each week and summarize the developments that touch the enterprise's markets, with a link to every source
• What stays human: The Chief Strategy Officer decides which external developments the strategy must respond to, on the environment analysis the Strategic Planning Lead prepares

Read before you buy

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the model include Level 4?

No. The model has three levels, Level 1 to Level 3, and Level 4 is not included. For the next level of detail in a function, use that function's Capability Model alongside this one, such as Finance, Technology and Governance, Risk and Compliance.

How does it relate to the functional capability models?

It is designed as one model of the whole enterprise. Many of its capabilities also appear, often in more detail, in the functional capability models, which are written from inside one function. Use this model for the enterprise view and a functional model where you need the full depth of one function.

Is the model specific to an industry?

No. It is industry-neutral: it describes what enterprises in any industry do and leaves out industry-specific core operations, such as lending in a bank or patient care in a hospital.

What happens after 180 days?

Your license to use the files does not end. Corrections are free for as long as you use the files. New versions released within 180 days of purchase are free: we email you a new download link when one is released. There is no renewal after that: you can buy a new version at 25% off its price.

Can I load the content into our own AI tools?

Yes, within the license. The Enterprise license allows internal tools, including your own assistants and agents. Neither license allows training, fine-tuning or prompting AI systems for third parties.

Does the model cover AI laws and regulations?

No, by design. It is business architecture: the capabilities and the AI layer describe what the enterprise does and how AI fits, and they hold whichever laws apply where you operate. The risk tiers and oversight levels are durable practices your compliance team maps to your own jurisdictions.

Why not just ask ChatGPT or another AI assistant?

A general-purpose AI assistant can draft an enterprise capability list in a minute, and for orientation that is often enough. Ask it twice and you get two lists, usually built function by function, with overlaps and gaps it does not check. This model is for decisions that have to stand up to review across the whole enterprise: what to automate, under whose oversight and in what order. It has stable IDs for 10 L1, 112 L2 and 865 L3 capabilities, each defined once, an AI profile and risk tier for every Level 3 capability, 3,369 KPIs, Level 2 rollups, and a prioritization model and 40-question readiness assessment scored with your own ratings and weights.