A business function describes internal behaviour performed by a business role that is required to produce a set of products and services. It is performed by a single role within an organisation.

Business processes describe a flow of activities. Business functions group activities according to their required skills, knowledge, and resources. A business process forms a string of business functions.

A business function may be triggered by, or trigger, any other business behaviour element (business event, business process, business function, or business interaction).

A business function may access business objects. A business function may realize one or more business services and may use (internal) business services or application services. A business role or an application component may be assigned to a business function.

The name of a business function should preferably be a verb ending with "-ing"; e.g., "claims processing".

Category: Business Layer and Behaviour aspect

Examples: Financial Handling, Claims Processing, Asset Management, Maintaining Customer Relations.

Typical Relationships:

  • Flow - business function, business role
  • Triggering - business event, business function
  • Access - business object
  • Realisation - business service
  • Assignment - business Role, application component

Source: Archi - The Free ArchiMate Modelling Tool - Hint for the model element.