The definitive truth? Business Capabilities vs. Business Services

[Daniel Carvalho]

Hello All

The document "Application Portfolio Management (APM) Product View and use cases for CSDM V3" brings us a very straight forward and hard-put definition:

Frequently Asked Questions
• What is the difference between a Business Capability and a Business Service?
Business Services are what IT provides to the customer, while Business Capabilities describe what the business does.

But, so far, all available examples are very ambiguous:

HR Business Service Example - Onboarding

Finance Business Service Example - Financial accounting

Health Business Service Example - Registration

By simply reading "Onboarding", "Financial accounting" and "Registration" I really can not rest 100% sure that those represent "things" that IT provides to the (internal) customer (and/or user).

It could be a matter of language barrier, but the semantics of those examples seems more prone to the meaning of "business processes / business functions" then of "IT resources / IT data processing features/capacities".

Can someone help on setting a definitive understanding on this best-use approach (according CSDM) of root cmdb_ci_service?

Cordial

Daniel

[Daniel Carvalho]

Hello @mark_b , All

When I was reading Mark´s answer, it felt to me very much like as the concept of "Maturity Model".

Trying to systematize a (proposed/recommended) actionable approach for all of us interested practitioners:

- "Business Service Maturity Model" grade zero - No (pure) Business Service set up at all (compatible with Foundation, Crawl and Walk stages of CSDM 3.0 step-by-step adoption plan).

- "Business Service Maturity Model" grade 1 (not-relating to Crawl/Walk/Run/Fly anymore) - Business Services are then set up towards a more IT-driven view (Internet Access, Office Printing Capabilities, VPN Connectivity, Batch Payroll Processing, Physical Access Automation etc.).

(then, someday / somehow, grade 1 fades out and BSs evolves to..)

- "Business Service Maturity Model" grade 2 (not-related to Crawl/Walk/Run/Fly anymore) - Business Services set up towards a Business action-driven view (Treasury Management, Accounts Receivable, Contract Review, Occupational Safety etc.).

From grade 2 and onwards, I am understanding that Maturity may grow to a level of Business Services (cmdb_ci_service) details that they get more and more in line with the Business Capabilities modelling. At same pace, Business Capabilities remains at a macro level and Business Services fills in as their natural detailed break-down, respecting all conceptual segregation boundaries and taxonomy uses.

Do this (not as rule, but as a suggested possibility) feels palatable?

Cordial

[erikbartholdy]

also you could get inspired by the definitions in ITIL 4 

I havent got the time right now to write about this, but I might get back later 

but anyway, this is covered  lot in ITIL 4 

br Erik 

[Anna Riccio]

What reference framework is best placed to do service mapping in the csdm/Cmbd end to end across the whole of the model ie blue, green, orange ? Can we use a combination of an APQC and TBM to cover business services through to technical services?