The Orthogramic Metamodel defines a comprehensive and extensible structure for representing the business architecture of any organisation. It is grounded in practical needs from government, enterprise, and regulated industries and is designed to support dynamic alignment between strategic objectives, operational structure, and measurable outcomes.
The metamodel includes domains such as Organisation, Stakeholder, Strategy, Capabilities, Products, Services, Information, Performance, Initiatives, Policy, and Value Streams. Each domain is defined with a consistent schema that supports relationships, attributes, elements, and sub-elements, allowing for integration, traceability, and governance.
In addition to these domains, the Orthogramic Metamodel includes:
Inter-unit domain relationships, which describe how organisational units interact with and depend on each other across capabilities, services, policies, and other domain elements, using clearly defined role types such as owning, providing, consuming, and dependent units.
The Strategic Response Model, a formalised structure for tracing external pressures and internal performance insights to responsive changes across strategies, capabilities, policies, and initiatives.
External organizations, which represent third-party entities such as partners, vendors, or regulators that interact with the organisation through shared services, capabilities, policies, or information flows, supporting ecosystem-level modelling and alignment.
A schema-first approach, with each domain defined in a publicly available JSON Schema format, allowing automation, validation, and integration into digital tools and platforms.
Collectively, these components form a living framework that enables real-time understanding and continuous improvement of strategic alignment, operational performance, and organisational design.
Open SourceThe Orthogramic metamodel is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) license, ensuring that it remains open, collaborative, and widely accessible. Why Open SourceSee a Comparing the Orthogramic Metamodel with BIZBOK for an overview of why we chose to follow an open approach. |
An organization represents the structured entity within which activities and value delivery occur to achieve strategic objectives. It encompasses the interconnected units, roles, and responsibilities that enable the flow of value to customers, stakeholders, or outcomes. By analysing the organization's structure and its alignment with stakeholder needs, inefficiencies can be identified, improvements prioritised, and processes optimised to meet strategic priorities.
Within an Organization, an organization unit represents a sub-division or entity within an organization that focuses on specific functions, processes, or objectives to contribute to overall organizational goals. These units often act as operational or strategic building blocks, enabling the organization to deliver value effectively. These can also include committees and Minsters.
See: Organization
Stakeholders represent the individuals, groups, or entities that influence or are influenced by the value delivered within an organization. They are central to defining outcomes, shaping priorities, and driving alignment with organizational objectives. By focusing on stakeholder needs and expectations, organizations can identify inefficiencies, optimise engagements, and ensure strategic goals are met.
See: Stakeholder
Strategies encompasses the overarching objectives, principles, and direction that guide an Organization's efforts to achieve its mission and vision. It defines the high-level priorities and choices that shape resource allocation, capability development, and operational focus. This domain connects an Organization's aspirations to actionable initiatives, ensuring alignment with value creation, stakeholder expectations, and competitive advantage.
Key elements of the strategy domain include strategic objectives, business goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and strategic drivers. It integrates with other domains by directing capabilities, value streams, and initiatives, ensuring coherence across the Organization.
By structuring strategic intent and translating it into measurable outcomes, the strategy domain serves as the foundation for a unified business architecture, enabling dynamic responses to market changes, regulatory shifts, and Organizational growth. Through consistent alignment with this domain, Organizations achieve a holistic view that supports informed decision-making and sustainable success.
See: Strategy
Capabilities represent the core functions and competencies that an Organization must develop, maintain, or enhance to deliver value and achieve its strategic objectives. It provides a structured view of what an Organization can do, independent of processes, systems, or people.
Capabilities are defined at various levels of granularity, from high-level business capabilities to more specific sub-capabilities. They act as the bridge between strategy and execution, enabling the alignment of Organizational resources, technology, and processes to achieve desired outcomes.
Key elements include capability maps, maturity assessments, and prioritisation frameworks, which guide investment decisions and resource allocation. The capabilities domain integrates with other business architecture domains, such as value streams, information, and initiatives, to ensure cohesive planning and execution.
By focusing on capabilities, Organizations can identify strengths, address gaps, and build resilience, positioning themselves to adapt to evolving market demands and sustain competitive advantage.
A Capability Function represents the overarching purpose and role of a capability within the organization. It defines what the capability enables the business to achieve and how it supports strategic objectives. By clarifying its function, organizations can ensure that capabilities are aligned with business goals and effectively contribute to value creation.
Capability Components are the key structural elements that make up a capability, including the people, processes, technology, and information that enable it to function. These components define how the capability operates, ensuring that it is effectively designed, implemented, and maintained to support business objectives.
A Capability Process outlines the essential workflows, activities, and tasks that drive the capability’s operation. It describes how the capability is executed within the organization, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and alignment with broader business processes. Understanding these processes helps organizations optimize performance and improve overall capability effectiveness.
See: Capabilities
Products are distinct, tangible or intangible offerings created, developed, or delivered by an organization to address specific customer or stakeholder needs. Unlike services, which are activities or processes performed to deliver value, products are self-contained items or solutions that provide value independently or as part of a broader portfolio. Products are typically characterised by defined features, lifecycle stages, and measurable performance, whereas services are ongoing engagements or processes. To differentiate a product from a service: Product: Refers to a tangible or intangible deliverable that serves as a standalone solution to meet specific needs. Products are defined by their features, lifecycle stages, and ability to deliver measurable outcomes independently of ongoing interaction. Examples include software applications, physical goods, or digital tools. Service: Represents an activity or process performed to create or enhance value, often involving direct interaction and collaboration with customers or stakeholders. Services are dynamic, relying on real-time execution or customisation to address specific requirements. Examples include consulting, technical support, or training sessions. This distinction emphasises that products provide self-contained value, while services are centred around interactions and processes that generate or support value.
See: Products
Services represent the distinct offerings or activities that contribute to delivering value to a customer, stakeholder, or organizational outcome. They illustrate how value is generated and flows through an organization, connecting strategic objectives to tangible deliverables. By focusing on outcomes and stakeholder needs, services enable organizations to identify inefficiencies, optimise service delivery, and ensure alignment with strategic priorities. Keywords to look for include: Services, Offerings, Process, Flow, Customer Journey, and Outcome. To differentiate a service from a product: Service: Represents ongoing activities or processes performed to deliver value. Services are characterised by interaction and experiences, often requiring real-time execution and collaboration with customers or stakeholders. Examples include consulting, maintenance, or training. Product: Denotes distinct, tangible or intangible offerings designed as self-contained solutions. Products are characterised by defined features, lifecycle stages, and measurable performance. Examples include software, devices, or pre-packaged solutions. This distinction clarifies that while products are standalone deliverables, services focus on the processes and experiences leading to value generation.
See: Services
Information represents the critical data and insights that enable and support the flow of value within a value stream. It encompasses the structures, relationships, and contexts that connect strategic objectives to actionable outcomes. By focusing on the management and utilisation of information aligned with stakeholder and organizational needs, organizations can identify gaps, enhance data quality, and ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
See: Information
Performance represents the measurable outcomes and effectiveness of activities within a value stream that contribute to delivering value to a customer, stakeholder, or organizational outcome. It evaluates how efficiently value is generated and flows through an organization, connecting strategic objectives to tangible deliverables. By focusing on performance metrics and stakeholder expectations, organizations can identify inefficiencies, improve operational effectiveness, and ensure alignment with strategic priorities. Within Performance are Performance KPIs.
Performance KPIs represent the quantifiable metrics used to measure the outcomes and effectiveness of activities within a value stream. They highlight how value is delivered and tracked across an organization, connecting strategic objectives to tangible results. By focusing on these KPIs and their alignment with stakeholder and organizational goals, organizations can identify inefficiencies, monitor progress, and optimise processes to ensure strategic priorities are met.
See: Performance
Initiatives represent the focused efforts or projects undertaken to deliver value to a customer, stakeholder or organizational outcome. They illustrate how value is created and delivered within specific areas of an organization, connecting strategic objectives to tangible outcomes. By focusing on results and stakeholder needs, initiatives enable organizations to identify inefficiencies, prioritise efforts, and ensure alignment with strategic priorities. Within Initiatives is a hierarchy of Initiatives > Programs > Projects.
Programs are sub-elements of initiatives and consist of interrelated projects or activities that collectively contribute to achieving a set of strategic objectives. They focus on coordination, governance, and the allocation of resources across multiple projects to ensure alignment with overarching organizational goals.
Projects are the smallest functional units within a program, focusing on specific deliverables, outcomes, or objectives. They are characterised by a defined scope, timeline, and allocation of resources. Projects ensure the execution of strategic goals by turning broader program objectives into actionable tasks.
See: Initiatives
Policies are formal statements or principles established by an organization to guide decision-making and operational behaviour. They serve as the foundation for governance and compliance, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and regulatory requirements. Unlike processes, which detail how activities are performed, policies establish the rules and frameworks under which those processes operate. A strategy describes 'what we want to achieve and how we plan to achieve it' while a policy describes 'what rules must be followed during strategy execution'. Strategies drive change and future outcomes while policies ensure consistent governance and compliance.
See: Policy
Value Streams transform inputs into valuable outcomes for stakeholders. A Value Stream represents an end-to-end series of activities that creates value, whether for external customers (like patients and communities) or internal stakeholders.
Value Stream Stages are the sequential steps or phases within a value stream, each contributing to the transformation of inputs into valuable outcomes for customers, stakeholders, or the Organization. They represent distinct, interdependent activities that collectively deliver value as part of the overarching value stream. Each stage is characterised by specific inputs, outputs, processes, and performance indicators that define its contribution to the value stream's objectives. While Value Streams encapsulate the end-to-end flow of activities required to deliver a complete product, service, or outcome, Value Stream Stages focus on the granular components or steps within that flow.
See: Value stream