According to the TOGAF Series Guide to Business Capabilities (Version 2), a business capability is defined as "a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome" 4. A business capability delineates what a business does without an explanation of how, why, or where the capability is used4. A business capability can be expressed as a verb phrase that indicates what function or service the capability provides4. For example, some possible business capabilities are "Manage Customer Relationships", "Deliver Products", or "Perform Financial Analysis".

The chart depicted is a Gantt chart, which typically represents the schedule for project activities. In the context of TOGAF's ADM, it is used to illustrate the sequence and interdependencies of tasks across different phases of architecture development. The ADM is an iterative cycle that includes various phases, from the preliminary phase, through architecture vision, business, information systems, and technology architectures, to opportunities and solutions, migration planning, implementation governance, and architecture change management. Each phase must be conducted in a sequence to ensure that the outputs of one phase feed into the next, thereby producing a coherent and structured architecture.

In the context of value stream stages, a gating stage is the element that describes the specific state change which triggers the next stage of the value stream to begin. It acts as a checkpoint that ensures that certain criteria are met before the process can proceed to the next phase.

The development of Business Architecture Descriptions is always iterative because it involves constant refinement and validation of the architecture models and views based on stakeholder feedback and changing requirements. Therefore, any Architecture Description that was created in Phase A may need to be updated in Phase B as new information or insights emerge. Phase B does not require that all Architecture Descriptions be updated, only those that are relevant and necessary for the Business Architecture. Phase B is an ADM Architecture Development phase, but that does not explain why Architecture Descriptions need to be updated. A new value stream may or may not require updating existing Architecture Descriptions depending on its scope and impact.
In TOGAF's ADM, the development of architecture is an iterative process. During Phase A, initial business capability maps and value streams are created to establish the Architecture Vision. However, as stakeholders provide more detailed inputs and requirements are refined, it is necessary to update the Architecture Descriptions. This is an iterative process that continues into Phase B, Business Architecture, where these descriptions are further developed and refined.

The table describes the steps involved in Phase B (Business Architecture), Phase C (Information Systems Architectures), and Phase D (Technology Architecture) of the TOGAF ADM5. These phases are responsible for developing the target architectures for each domain and identifying the gaps between the baseline and target architectures. The table shows the outputs and outcomes of each phase, as well as the essential knowledge required for each phase.