Creating a Top-Down and Bottom-Up Grounded Capability Model

by Daniel Lambert

Business capabilities are the core of enterprise architecture because they express what the business must do to create value, independent of org charts or systems. A grounded capability model makes these abilities visible, stable, and actionable. The best models are built from both directions: top-down strategy defines the frame, and bottom-up operational reality validates and deepens it. Here’s how to combine both views, engage stakeholders, use the right content, and accelerate work with EA AI agents.

Capabilities – the Heart of your Business and Enterprise Architecture

Business capabilities are what your enterprise does or wants to do to create value, independent of how it is currently organized or which systems it uses. A grounded capability model is a complete and stable set of these capabilities, structured in levels from level 1 to sometimes level 4 so senior leaders, middle managers, architects, and digital transformation managers can see the business as an integrated whole. The “grounded” part matters: it means the model reflects strategy and business design, not the quirks of today’s org chart or application portfolio. When you anchor architecture in capabilities, you shift conversations from “which system?” to “which business ability must improve or change?” That makes transformation investment decisions clearer, more defensible, and easier to track over time.

Business Architecture Info emphasizes that a grounded capability model is best built by combining top-down strategic direction with bottom-up operational reality. The top-down view ensures the model is aligned to the business plan and strategic goals, while the bottom-up view ensures it is validated against real value streams, objectives, and subject-matter expertise. Done well, capabilities become the connective tissue between strategy, operating model design, portfolio management, and agile delivery. They are the stable reference you can rely on while everything else changes, as shown in Figure 1 below and as explained in this article entitled “How to Build a Grounded Capability Model”. While providing our EA consulting services, we use our industry-based capability reference frameworks, as shown here: banking and financial services, construction, education, energy and utilities, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, real estate, retail, telecom, and transportation and logistics.

Figure 1 - Business Capability Alignments.png

What Is a Top-Down and Bottom-Up Capability Model

A top-down and bottom-up grounded capability model is built from two directions at once, then fused into a single coherent map. Top-down work starts with the enterprise vision and strategic intent, shaping what capabilities must exist to win. Bottom-up work starts with how the enterprise delivers value today or in the future, surfacing the enabling capabilities that make value streams real.

In practice, you’re producing one “Capability Model” that sits between these two forces. The model is not a compromise; it’s a synthesis. You use a strategy to define the capability frame, and operations to verify, refine, and deepen it. The result is a model that leaders trust, and teams can execute against as shown in Figure 2 above.

What is Required for a Top-Down Capability Model

Top-down capability modeling needs the right stakeholders and the right strategic inputs. On the stakeholder side, senior leaders are essential because they set direction, priorities, and the definition of “what good looks like.” The EA team, enterprise architects, and business architects translate that direction into a structured capability view.

On the content side, top-down modeling draws from:

Business plan
Strategic goals
Priorities
IT portfolio management insights
A level 1 capability map as the starting shell

These inputs let you define the broad capability domains and level 1 capability set that express the enterprise’s strategic posture. Without these, top-down capability maps drift into generic industry lists instead of a sharp articulation of your business.

What is Required for a Bottom-Up Capability Model

Bottom-up capability modeling grounds the model in delivery and operational truth. It relies heavily on middle managers, subject matter experts, and business experts. In other words, people who know how value is produced, where friction exists, and what “enablement” really takes. The EA team remains a key facilitator and modeler, but validation and discovery come from the business.

Bottom-up modeling uses content such as:

Strategic objectives that are stated at operational levels
Value streams that are explicitly linked to their enabling capabilities
Level 2, level 3, and level 4 capability maps to add detail and accuracy

This direction ensures the capability model is not just aspirational but executable. It reveals dependencies, missing capabilities, and capability overlaps that top-down thinking alone can’t see.

Iterative Interactions with Stakeholders

A grounded capability model isn’t built in a single workshop. It emerges through iterative interactions between top-down leaders and bottom-up experts, with the EA team orchestrating the loop.

Typical iterations look like this:

Leaders define strategic scope and major capability domains (level 1).
The EA team drafts the initial map and hypotheses for levels 2, 3, and sometimes 4.
Middle managers and subject matter experts validate against value streams and real work.
Gaps, redundancies, and misalignments are identified.
Leaders review trade-offs and confirm direction.
The model is refined and expanded as needed.

This cadence builds shared ownership. Leaders see their strategy reflected concretely, while delivery experts see their reality respected when both groups can point to the same model, governance, and execution speed up dramatically.

Necessary Content

The strength of the model depends on the completeness of its inputs. A top-down and bottom-up approach deliberately pools three kinds of content:

Top-Down strategic content

Business plan and strategic goals set the “why.”
Enterprise priorities define focus areas.
IT portfolio management shows where money and effort already flow.
Level 1 capability map provides the initial shape.

EA team content

Existing capability or architecture content reduces rework.
Reference models prevent reinvention and provide industry coverage.
EA AI agents (more on this below) accelerate analysis and drafting.

Bottom-Up operational content

Strategic objectives at execution levels tie capabilities to outcomes.
Value streams with enabling capabilities tie capabilities to delivery.
Level 2, 3, and sometimes 4 maps supply the precision needed for roadmaps and solution alignment.

Most, if not all, of this content should be used if you want a model that is both strategically sharp and operationally real.

Customized EA AI Agents Becoming Crucial in Capability Modeling

Capability modeling is knowledge-intensive. You’re dealing with large capability inventories, nuanced definitions, value-stream linkages, stakeholders, and usually an aggressive timeline. This is exactly where customized EA AI agents are becoming a practical necessity.

Business Architecture Info’s EA AI agents are designed to automate and accelerate the core modeling tasks—turning hours into minutes while improving consistency. They can generate high-quality, industry-aligned artifacts from minimal input, including capability lists, value streams, enabling capabilities, stakeholder mappings, and process associations. The outputs are structured and downloadable (e.g., Excel), making them easy to import into your EA tool and iterate on with stakeholders. This doesn’t replace architectural judgment; it removes mechanical work so architects can focus on sense-making, facilitation, and decision support.

In a top-down/bottom-up model, AI agents also help bridge the two views. For example, once leaders identify an important level 1 capability, an AI agent can rapidly propose level 2 candidates and related value streams, giving SMEs something concrete to validate instead of starting from a blank page. That shortens iteration cycles, increases stakeholder engagement, and raises the odds that your final model is both grounded and adopted at a reasonably fast timeframe.

Bottom line: if you want capability modeling to be fast, rigorous, and repeatable at enterprise scale, you should be treating customized EA AI agents as a core part of the methodology, not an optional add-on.

A top-down and bottom-up grounded capability model gives you a shared, durable view of what the enterprise must be able to do. Strategy-driven level 1 framing from senior leaders prevents generic maps, while operational validation through value streams and level 2, 3, and sometimes 4 detail ensures executability. Iterative cycles led by the EA team build ownership and refine accuracy. Using complete strategic, architectural, and operational content keeps the model real. Customized EA AI agents now make this work faster, more consistent, and scalable across transformations.