Canonical Business Context Model
The Canonical Business Context Model (BCM) is the built-in schema the Asset Registry uses to describe a customer's business and the software that runs it. It organises Element Types into three layers — Business, Technical, and Impact — plus a dedicated People & Budget extension that provides the ownership and accountability axes used by AI Dev Cost and similar modules.
All BCM element types live in the same built-in Domain ("Business Context") and Module ("Canonical Business Context"), and are pre-seeded with the element types, type units, and edge types described here.
Business Layer
Describes what is being sold and to whom.
| Element Type | Description |
|---|---|
| ProductGrouping | Strategic portfolio or business segment for executive reporting and P&L alignment. |
| ProductLine | Family of related products sharing a common platform, technology, or market positioning. |
| Product | An individual sellable offering (good, software, service, or subscription) that generates revenue. |
| CustomerSegment | Grouping of customers with shared characteristics for strategic planning and aggregate analysis. |
| Customer | External party (company, organisation, or cohort) that purchases products or services. |
Hierarchy edges: Product → ProductLine → ProductGrouping, Customer → CustomerSegment.
Business edges: Customer → Product (purchases), Application → Product (realizes), ApplicationDeployment → Customer (serves).
Technical Layer
Describes how the software is implemented and deployed.
| Element Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Application | Business function unit (conceptual application). |
| ApplicationPackage | Deployable software artefact (COTS, SaaS, custom, open source, or platform). |
| ApplicationDeployment | Runtime instance of an ApplicationPackage, tied to an environment and version. |
| ApplicationComponent | Functional sub-unit of a deployment (API, plugin, module, integration endpoint). |
| ExposureZone | Network exposure classification for security and trust boundaries. |
Realisation edge: ApplicationPackage → Application (implements).
See Application Package, Application Deployment, and Application Component for per-type details.
Impact Layer
Describes how much it matters to the business if an application is compromised or unavailable. Seven impact dimensions attach to Application / ApplicationPackage via IMPACT_ASSESSMENT or CONTAINS edges.
| Dimension | Captures |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Data classification, PII handling, encryption, third-party access, compliance standards. See CIA Ratings. |
| Integrity | RPO, customisation, integration complexity, validation, audit logging, reconciliation. |
| Availability | RTO, SLA uptime, HA posture, DR plan, monitoring. |
| Legal & Regulatory | License-to-operate risk, penalties, disclosure obligations, audit/compliance usage. |
| Public Reputation | Media coverage risk, stakeholder perception, community licence to operate. |
| Financial Reporting | SOX likelihood, reconciliation/journal usage, ERP integration, audit relevance. |
| Cash Impact | Direct and indirect cash-flow consequences, transaction volume exposure. |
See Business Impact for the non-CIA dimensions.
People & Budget Layer
Describes who is building the software and what they are allowed to spend. Introduced to support AI Dev Cost.
| Element Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Organization | Top-level tenant. Roots the people hierarchy. |
| Team | Group of engineers accountable for Products. Primary unit for AI Dev Cost budgets and adoption metrics. |
| Engineer | Individual developer; leaf of the hierarchy and unit of attribution for LLM usage, seats, and per-developer budgets. |
| Budget | Spending envelope over a period (monthly / quarterly / annual), attached via typed edges to an Engineer, Team, Product, or Organization. |
See People and Budget for properties, edges, and rollup patterns.
How the layers connect
ApplicationrealizesProduct— links the Technical Layer to the Business Layer.Applicationhas impact edges to each dimension in the Impact Layer.TeamownsProduct, and engineers belong to Team → Organization — links the People & Budget Layer to the Business Layer.Budgetattaches to any node in the people hierarchy or to aProduct, so AI Dev Cost rollups can be expressed at any granularity.
Together these layers let a query answer, for a single Application or Product: what it is for (Business Layer), how it is built (Technical Layer), how much it matters (Impact Layer), and who is building it and at what cost (People & Budget Layer).