Exploring the business architecture

---
title: Exploring the business architecture
description: The Business Architecture section within the Portfolio page of the Enterprise Architecture Workspace helps you in the structuring of your business functions and strategies.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-architecture.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Exploring Portfolio list view, Exploring Enterprise Architecture Workspace, Enterprise Architecture Workspace, Enterprise Architecture]
---

# Exploring the business architecture

The Business Architecture section within the Portfolio page of the Enterprise Architecture Workspace helps you in the structuring of your business functions and strategies.

-   **[Exploring business units](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-units.md)**  
Business units are part of your organization that are responsible for certain operations and have their own objectives.
-   **[Exploring departments](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-departments.md)**  
Departments are specialized functional areas within an organization, having their own specified roles and objectives. Departments are subsets of business units.
-   **[Exploring goals](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-goals.md)**  
Goals are important for aligning and optimizing investments in business applications and for driving strategic outcomes.
-   **[Exploring value streams](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-value-streams.md)**  
In Enterprise Architecture, a value stream represents an end-to-end sequence of activities that delivers value in your enterprise architecture landscape. A value stream is made up of individual value stream stages, each of which represents a discrete step in that sequence.
-   **[Exploring value stream stages](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-value-stream-stage.md)**  
Value stream stages are a specific section within the overall value stream, encompassing a specific set of activities.
-   **[Exploring business capabilities](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-capabilities.md)**  
A business capability is the ability of an organization to do its business activities successfully and fulfill its business goals.
-   **[Exploring business processes](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-processes.md)**  
Business processes model how your organization performs work to achieve a business outcome. Use business processes in Enterprise Architecture Workspace to build a process hierarchy and to associate processes with supporting business applications.
-   **[Exploring business process activities](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-process-activities.md)**  
Business process activities represent discrete units of work within workflows. Knowing how they differ from business processes helps you model organizational tasks accurately.
-   **[Exploring demands](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-demands.md)**  
You can use a demand as a step to identify cost-saving opportunities on applications or capabilities and to meet the target.
-   **[Exploring business actors](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-actors.md)**  
A business actor represents the entity that performs work in your organization, such as a business unit, role, or department.
-   **[Exploring business roles](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-business-roles.md)**  
A business role defines the responsibilities, rights, and duties that a business actor holds when performing specific business behavior.
-   **[Exploring drivers](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-drivers.md)**  
A driver is an external or internal condition that motivates your organization to define goals and implement changes in Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
-   **[Exploring stakeholders](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-stakeholders.md)**  
Stakeholders are individuals or teams with an interest in your enterprise architecture outcomes. Use stakeholders to identify who influences and is affected by your architectural decisions.

**Parent Topic:**[Exploring Portfolio list view](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/portfolio-list-view.md)

**Related topics**  


[Using business architecture](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/application-portfolio-management/eaw-using-business-architecture.md)