When consulting, I was often involved in helping organizations prioritize strategic initiatives. Part of this work was helping organizations figure out how to prioritize – there was debate about whether to prioritize based on stakeholders, functional teams, or processes. I argued (and I mean that literally for those of you who know me) that a better way to prioritize was based on business capabilities.

What is a business capability?

The Business Architecture Guild defines a business capability as:

 “a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome”

The image below visually represents how an organization’s strategy, organizational structure, systems, and processes relate to a business capability.

Why did I believe a business capability lens was the appropriate way to view the organization? Simple, a capability is more evergreen and less likely to shift and change than a process or org structure.

Business Capabilities and Clinical Trials

Now that we are aligned around what a business capability is, what does this have to do with clinical trials? We all know that clinical trials are extremely complex and have many moving parts. Viewing trials in the context of a capability map can serve as a common language for us as we attempt to improve how clinical trials are conducted and what tools are used to support them.

Looking Ahead

Over the next few months, I will dive into each capability and look at the processes that comprise the capability, typical eClinical systems that support the capability, and the stakeholders involved in each capability. As I mentioned before, trials are complex and evolving, so I will have to augment my experience with some new research, so hopefully we all learn something new over the course of 2023.