Insight · TOGAF ADM

TOGAF Phase B: Business Architecture in Sparx EA: Capability Maps, Processes and Gaps

By Sparx Services · December 12, 2025

TOGAF Phase B produces four deliverables: a baseline business architecture, a target business architecture, a capability gap analysis, and roadmap components that feed Phase E. In Sparx EA you build them on the ArchiMate business layer: capability maps with heat mapping, BPMN process models, organization-structure elements, and value stream diagrams. The gap analysis compares baseline and target capability profiles and outputs a prioritized list of capability changes that drives the Phase C application and data decisions.

Phase B is where business and IT architecture converge. Done well, it answers one question with model-based evidence rather than consultant opinion: which business capabilities need investment, in what order, and why.

For an architect, Phase B is where business strategy becomes a structure leaders can fund against. The decisions are the architect's and the sponsors': what the capability structure is, how deep to decompose it, and what maturity the organization needs. Today the architect then builds the capability map, process models and gap analysis by hand. The AI-augmented way is to state those decisions and have AI build and maintain the elements, diagrams and comparisons in the model. The skill is defining capabilities clearly and keeping them distinct from processes, because AI builds on the definition you give it.

The four Phase B deliverables

Phase B has a clear input-output structure that many practitioners shortcut. The inputs are the approved Phase A outputs (the Architecture Vision, the Statement of Architecture Work, and the principles), plus any existing baseline documentation. The four outputs are distinct, and each lands in the model as a package of elements rather than a narrative document.

Output 01

Baseline business architecture

A structured description of the current-state business: how the organization is structured, what capabilities it has, what processes it runs, and how value flows through it. In Sparx EA this is a package of diagrams and model elements, not prose.

Output 02

Target business architecture

The desired future state: specific capability profiles, process designs, and organizational models that trace back to the goals and drivers established in Phase A. The target is specific rather than aspirational.

Output 03

Capability gap analysis

A structured comparison of baseline and target capability profiles. Each capability is assessed on current maturity, target maturity, and gap priority. The output feeds the roadmap directly.

Output 04

Roadmap components

Work packages and capability increments that translate the gap analysis into initiative sequences. These are architecture-level groupings of change, refined later in Phase E, not detailed project plans.

Sparx EA artifacts for Phase B

Capability map. The capability map is the central Phase B artifact. Model capabilities as ArchiMate Capability elements, available with the ArchiMate 3 MDG Technology, arranged in a hierarchy: L1 strategic capabilities decomposing to L2 and L3 operational capabilities.

Add the same set of tagged values to every capability element:

baseline_maturity: scored 1-5 against a defined maturity scale
target_maturity: the agreed target for the program horizon
strategic_priority: High/Medium/Low, agreed with sponsors
capability_owner: the business role accountable for the capability

These are judgments from your business owners and belong in the model. With them in place, heat mapping in Sparx EA renders the capability map as a color-coded maturity view: red is a critical gap, amber needs improvement, green is at target. It is the most useful executive artifact Phase B produces.

BPMN process models. For key capabilities with significant process complexity, build BPMN 2.0 process models and link each one to the capability it enacts using an ArchiMate Realization relationship. That gives you a traceable link from process to capability, useful for both gap analysis and Phase C application mapping.

Organization structure. Model the organization with ArchiMate Business Actor elements for the organization units. Capture reporting lines, accountability, and the relationship between organization units and the capabilities they own. This feeds the workforce and organizational-change components of the roadmap.

Value stream. ArchiMate 3.1 introduced the Value Stream element. Model the end-to-end value-delivery flow as a Value Stream made up of stages, and link each stage to the capabilities that enable it. Executives get a business-language view of how the organization creates value, and where gaps or inefficiencies sit in that flow.

The capability gap analysis

The gap analysis is where Phase B produces its hardest-edged output, and it belongs in the model rather than in a spreadsheet.

In Sparx EA, build a Capability Gap Analysis view using the Relationship Matrix or a custom SQL query against the repository. The query returns each capability element with its baseline_maturity, target_maturity, and the calculated gap (target − baseline). Filter to capabilities where the gap is greater than zero and strategic_priority is High.

The result is a model-driven gap analysis that is always current, because it draws from live tagged values, not a static spreadsheet that goes stale within a week of the workshop.

For each capability with a significant gap, create a Gap element linked to both the baseline and target capability instances, and tag it:

gap_type: New capability / Enhanced capability / Decommission
gap_driver: which Phase A business driver this addresses

Relationships from each Gap element to the affected Application Components connect Phase B to Phase C. When the Phase C team asks "which applications need to change?", the answer is traceable from business-capability gap to application implication, not reverse-engineered after the fact.

The traceability chain, driver → goal → capability → process → application, is what distinguishes a model-based EA program from a document-based one.

Heat mapping capabilities, step by step

The heat map is the artifact that gets Phase B outputs in front of executives. These are the steps to set it up in Sparx EA.

Open the capability map and select the elements

Open the capability map diagram and select all Capability elements you want to color. Heat mapping operates on the current selection, so scope it to the level you are presenting.

Set the tagged value as the color source

Use a diagram filter or a script to color elements from the baseline_maturity tagged value. This binds the visual to live model data rather than a manual fill.

Define the color rules

Map the scores: 1-2 is red, 3 is amber, and 4-5 is green. Keep the same scale for baseline and target so the two views are directly comparable.

Toggle three views for the briefing

Use diagram filters to switch between baseline-maturity, target-maturity, and gap-size heat maps. Presenting all three in sequence tells the complete story: where we are, where we need to be, and where the biggest gaps sit.

Connecting Phase B to Phase C

The single most important Phase B output for Phase C is the capability-to-application dependency. Every capability in the target architecture that needs new or changed application support has to be documented. In Sparx EA:

Create ArchiMate Realization relationships from the Application Component elements that currently support each business Capability element (baseline).
For capabilities with gaps, create Realization relationships from candidate Application Components in the target architecture.
Where no application exists to support a target capability, the capability has no Realization relationship, and a query lists these gaps without any stored flag.

The Phase C architect starts from this output. Capabilities with no application support drive the application rationalization and procurement decisions in Phase C, and capabilities with existing realizations inform the baseline application architecture. Because all of this lives in the repository as structured data, it can also feed a Power BI dashboard (see reporting and Power BI), so the investment logic stays current instead of sitting in a slide deck.

Frequently asked questions

How many capabilities should a Phase B capability map contain?

Keep L1 to a number leaders can hold in their head, typically around a dozen strategic capabilities, with a handful of sub-capabilities under each at L2. L3 is optional and appropriate only for capabilities in scope for detailed design. A map that keeps growing usually means capability has been confused with process, so review the definitions before proceeding.

What is the difference between a capability and a business process?

A capability is what the organization can do, a stable, enduring description of ability. A process is how it does it, a sequence of activities. Capabilities change slowly, while processes change more often. That matters for Phase B because capabilities map to long-term investment decisions, while processes map to operational improvement. In Sparx EA, capabilities are ArchiMate Capability elements; processes are BPMN Process or ArchiMate Business Process elements.

Should we model as-is processes if they are going to be replaced?

Yes, selectively. Model as-is processes for capabilities where the gap analysis shows significant change. These are the ones where understanding current state is necessary to design the future state. For capabilities already at target maturity, a lightweight description is enough. Modeling every as-is process regardless of gap priority is the most common Phase B time-sink.

How do we get business stakeholders to validate the capability map?

Run a half-day facilitated workshop with the heat map as the centerpiece. Do not show stakeholders a raw Sparx EA diagram. Export the heat map to a presentation format. Walk through each L1 capability, confirm the baseline maturity rating, and agree the target. Record disagreements as assumptions in the model.

What if the organization has no existing capability model?

Start with an industry reference model. BIAN for banking, TM Forum eTOM for telco, APQC for cross-industry. Import the reference framework into Sparx EA as a baseline, then tailor it. Reference models give you most of the capability taxonomy quickly, and they keep your definitions consistent with industry benchmarks.

What slows Phase B down?

Mostly stakeholder availability and the quality of baseline documentation. AI-augmented work shortens the modeling, while the workshops and the agreement on definitions still take the time they take. Shortcutting Phase B produces a roadmap the business does not trust, because it cannot trace the investment logic back to validated capability gaps.

What this means for the architect

Phase B turns into a repeatable practice when the capability model is governed and the heat-mapping is routine. Once the model is structured, the mechanical work of capturing and comparing capability profiles is the kind of task AI-Augmented Architecture hands to AI, while the architect owns the definitions, the decomposition and the gap priorities. Start from where your architects spend their day.

Turn Phase B into a model that funds the roadmap.

We can teach your architects to run Phase B with AI on your own repository and mentor them until it sticks, or build the plan and the capability model for you and hand them over. Most teams want some of both.

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