DoDAF Architecting

CV-2 Capability Taxonomy

The CV-2 “Capability Taxonomy” presents a hierarchy of capabilities. These capabilities may be presented in context of a timeline – i.e., it can show the required capabilities for current and future capabilities. The CV-2 specifies all the capabilities that are referenced throughout one or more architectures. In addition, it can be used as a source document for the development of high-level use cases and user requirements.

Guide: DoDAF Architecture Framework Version 2.02 – Page 118

The intended usage of the CV-2 includes:

  • Identification of capability requirements.
  • Capability planning (capability taxonomy).
  • Codifying required capability elements.
  • Capability audit.
  • Capability gap analysis.
  • Source for the derivation of cohesive sets of user requirements.
  • Providing reference capabilities for architectures.

In CV-2, the Capabilities are only described in the abstract. A CV-2 is structured as a hierarchy of capabilities, with the most general at the root and most specific at the leaves. At the leaf-level, capabilities may have a measure specified, along with an environmental condition for the measure. When capabilities are referenced in operational or systems architectures, it may be that a particular facility, location, or organization or configuration meets more than one level of capability.

The CV-2 is used to capture and organize the capability functions – required for the vision set out in the CV-1 “Vision”.   In contrast to AV-2 Integrated Dictionary, a CV-2 is structured using only one type of specialization relationship between elements: sub-supertype. A sub-supertype relationship is a relationship between two classes with the second being a pure specialization of the first. In DoDAF V2.0, capabilities exist in space and over time, that is they are intended to provide a framework across the lifetime of the enterprise that is being modeled. This means that it is feasible to develop a capability taxonomy that can apply to all architecture phases.

In addition to the capability nomenclature, appropriate quantitative attributes and measures for that specific capability or function need to be included e.g., the required speed of processing, the rate of advance, the maximum detection range, etc. These attributes and measures will remain associated with the capability whenever it is used across the Architectural Description. The quantitative values expressed may be linked to specific phases (or be “As-Is” values and/or or “To-Be” targets).

The CV-2 has no mandated structure although the architectural data must be able to support the representation of a structured/hierarchal list. This structure may be delivered using textual, tabular or graphical methods. The associated attributes and measures for each capability can either be included on the main CV-2 or in tabular format as an appendix if the inclusion of the attributes and measures would over complicate the presentation of the populated view.

   DoDAF Viewpoint Matrix
AV 1 2                      
CV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7            
DIV 1 2 3                    
OV 1 2 3 4 5a 5b 6a 6b 6c        
PV 1 2 3                    
SvcV 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7 8 9 10a 10b 10c
StdV 1 2                      
SV 1 2 3 4 5a 5b 6 7 8 9 10a 10b 10c

AcqTips:  

  • The DoDAF descriptions in this website are very generic and are mostly taken from the DoDAF Architecture Framework website. Make sure you visit the actual website for the most update information and a more thorough explanation of each viewpoint.
  • DoDAF Version 1.0, although outdated, has some good examples on how to construct AV’s, OV’s, and SV’s.

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 6/26/2018

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