Some enterprises define their business by means of business capabilities that describe the main functions and competencies about what is necessary to run the business. A business capability is captured as an abstract description of what is done in a company to meet its business objectives independent of the organization's structure, business processes, and people. This approach helps companies to understand which core capabilities of the business need to be supported and which parts of the IT architecture contribute to these core capabilities and are therefore most important for business success.

In contrast, a business process details the set of activities that represent the work required to achieve a business objective. This would include processes such as selling products, delivering services, distributing products, invoicing for services, and accounting for money received. For example, Support and Services is a high-level abstract description of a business capability whereas Deliver Services is a description of a repeatable activity (business process) that takes place.

You company's main business capabilities should be defined as the highest level business capabilities. It is recommended that this is limited to 5-10 generic business capabilities. Each business capability may have multiple subordinate business capabilities, whereby it is recommended that the business capability model not have more than 3 or 4 levels to provide manageability.