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Leveraging Capability Maps for Salesforce Architecture & Analysis

Updated over a week ago

Why use Capability Maps?

Business capability maps provide a single, structured view of what the organization does, independent of how it does it. Without them, Salesforce programs often suffer from:

  • Misalignment between business priorities and Salesforce initiatives.

  • Fragmented solutions, where different teams optimize processes in silos without seeing dependencies.

  • Poor communication between executives, architects, and business analysts due to the lack of a shared business view.

By using capability maps in Elements, you create a bridge between business strategy and Salesforce solution design. This ensures every system change is justified by business need, and every process improvement can be traced back to a capability.

When to use Capability Maps?

Capability maps should be used when:

  • Framing Salesforce programs: before starting major transformation initiatives (Sales, Service, Experience Cloud).

  • Prioritizing backlog: to link Epics and requirements to business value, not just technical complexity.

  • Designing architecture: to identify which capabilities require automation, integrations, or new apps.

  • Communicating with stakeholders: providing executives with a non-technical, outcome-focused view.

Avoid using capability maps when:

  • Documenting how processes are executed (use Business Process diagrams instead).

  • Mapping systems or metadata dependencies (use System Architecture or Metadata Dictionary).

Prerequisites

Perform: Build and Use a Capability Map

Step 1: Create a new Capability Map

  • From the diagram canvas, select Capability Map as your diagram type.

  • Use the full card shape for high-level business capabilities (e.g., Lead Management, Customer Support).

  • Use the simplified card for sub-capabilities or when visual clarity is more important than detail.

Learn more about capability map drawing canvas here.

Step 2: Structure your capabilities hierarchically

  • At the top level, define business capabilities aligned with strategic objectives.

  • Break them down into sub-capabilities for clarity (e.g., Customer Support → Case Management → Escalation Handling).

  • Keep the hierarchy stable over time—capabilities rarely change, unlike processes or systems.

Step 3: Drill down into supporting diagrams

Each capability can drill down into more detailed analysis diagrams:

  • Business Process – show how the capability is executed.

  • System Architecture – illustrate supporting Salesforce clouds, apps, and integrations.

  • Customer Journey – align customer experience outcomes with capabilities.

  • Data Model – identify which Salesforce objects/fields support the capability.

This multi-level drilldown ensures a single source of truth connecting business intent to Salesforce implementation.

Step 4: Link capabilities to Salesforce metadata & requirements

Step 5: Use capability maps in governance & communication

  • Share maps in steering committee meetings to frame discussions around business outcomes, not technical details.

  • Use them in backlog prioritization workshops to ensure Epics are ranked by business impact.

  • Keep them living diagrams—update when new Salesforce initiatives arise, not as a one-off artifact.

Outcome: With capability maps, Salesforce architects and business analysts create a shared strategic view of business needs, directly linked to system architecture, processes, and metadata. This ensures executive alignment, smarter prioritization, and traceable delivery.

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