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BSS/OSS Academy

Taxonomy

RAG, agents and MCP are often listed side by side as if they were the same kind of thing. They are not. Six levels separate what AI does for the business from what is bought to run it, and every term belongs on one of them.

6E.G. Vector databaseProduct / platformWhat do you buy or run?5E.G. Vector storeComponentWhat are the parts?4E.G. MCPStandardHow do the parts talk?3E.G. RAGPatternHow are the parts arranged?2E.G. Contact-centre assistantSolutionWhat is delivered for a use case?1E.G. Answer from knowledgeCapabilityWhat can AI do?BUSINESSARCHITECTURE (LOGICAL)IMPLEMENTATION (PHYSICAL)

Capabilities sit at the top: the business view. Everything below is how they are delivered — a solution, then the logical architecture (patterns, standards, components), then the products that implement it. A capability stays the same when the product changes.

  1. Business
    delivered by
  2. designed with
  3. Architecture (logical)
    connected by
  4. built from
  5. implemented by
  6. Implementation (physical)
Level 1 · Business

Capability

What can AI do?

Examples
Generate, converse, answer from knowledge, extract, perceive, predict, recommend, act
The tariff assistant, at this level
Answer customer questions from company knowledge.
Terms at this level
What it solves

A shared vocabulary for the steering committee, architects and suppliers, so a proposal says what it delivers before how it is built.

What it does not solve

Choosing between options. The taxonomy says what kind of thing each one is, not which one fits a problem.

What it adds

Discipline in language. Supplier material will keep mixing the levels, and someone has to translate it.