by Fred A. Cummins and Henk de Man
of Agile Enterprise Design (AED) and VDMbee
Introduction to the VDML based Capability Analysis concepts
Capability analysis in a Value Chain context
Capability analysis is an established approach to determining the needs for improvement in business operations.
It focuses on a functional breakdown of an enterprise’s capabilities. These capabilities are the means to do the work of the enterprise.
A capability analysis provides a framework for considering critical capabilities and their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) as a basis for improving operations as well as delivery of new products and services.
Business benefits of Capability Analysis
In the following discussion of business benefits, you may think of an activity network as the primary structure for a VDML value chain.
The activity network is similar to a PERT network diagram — the basis for typical project planning models.
The nodes in the network are activities. An arrow depicts the dependency of an activity at the head of the arrow and an activity at the tail of the arrow.
You may also think of the arrows as depicting the flow of work products from one activity to the next.
Of course, a VDML model — a model of a real business — would support this with additional details and related viewpoints.
The network provides a structure for capturing cost, quality, and timeliness metrics for each activity and gauging their impact on the product or service delivered.
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