In CSDM version 5, enterprise-wide capability tracking is firmly positioned within the Design and Planning domain. This domain is specifically intended to support Enterprise Architecture, Portfolio Management, and Strategic Planning use cases, making it the correct choice for an Enterprise Architect working across the organization.
The Design and Planning (Design) domain focuses on answering “what the business needs and how it should be designed” before services are built or delivered. It includes core concepts such as Business Capabilities, Value Streams, Information Objects, Business Applications, and Architectural relationships. Business capabilities represent what an organization does to achieve its objectives, independent of organizational structure, technology, or implementation. This abstraction is essential for enterprise architects, especially in highly regulated industries like financial services, where strategic alignment and impact analysis are critical.
The other domains do not fit this requirement:
Foundation provides shared reference data (companies, locations, users) but does not model enterprise capabilities.
Build and Integration focuses on application development, CI/CD pipelines, and integration layers.
Service Consumption is concerned with customers, offerings, and how services are consumed.
Service Delivery models the operational and technical delivery of services, including infrastructure and runtime environments.
From a Data Foundations and CSDM governance perspective, tracking enterprise capabilities in the Design and Planning domain ensures:
Clear separation between strategy, design, and operations
Alignment with ITIL 4 strategy and planning practices
Strong support for impact analysis, rationalization, and transformation initiatives
Therefore, Design and Planning (D) is the correct and fully aligned CSDM 5 domain for tracking enterprise capabilities.
