The reference architectures are divided into two primary groups—infrastructure capabilities and program operational capabilities. The infrastructure capabilities are related to the hosting and operational environment or how quickly and efficiently a program can be deployed. The operational capabilities are primarily concerned with the amount of flexibility exhibited by the loyalty operating software and how quickly and efficiently program operational parameters and rules can be changed.

The set of infrastructure capabilities are as follows:

• Analytical integration — Describes and categorizes the ability to integrate analytical insights within the loyalty system.
• Application data storage — Describes and categorizes the storage infrastructure used by the loyalty system.
• Batch processing — Describes and categorizes the batch processing environment including the ability to status and/or restart processing.
• Computational environment — Describes and categorizes the computation environment used by the loyalty system.
• Data access methods — Describes and categorizes the method of data access used by the loyalty system.
• Database/rules deployment — Describes and categorizes the method used to deploy databases and business rules.
• Development process — Describes and categorizes the overall development process.
• Financial transaction processing — Describes and categorizes the financial transaction processing infrastructure.
• Partner interfaces — Describes and categorizes the ability to the loyalty system to interface with fulfillment partners.
• POS environment — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the point of sale environment.
• Reporting — Describes and categorizes the reporting infrastructure.
• Schema content management — Describes and categorizes the ability to modify the schema (database structure).

The set of program operational capabilities are as follows:

• Administrative application — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the application (if any) used to administer a marketing system.
• Application Security — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the access controls within the loyalty system.
• Award support — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the award management and redemption functions.
• Correspondence — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the infrastructure to issue correspondence to the member.
• Communications (overall) — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the overall correspondence and communications capability.
• Communications (e-mail) — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the ability to issue e-mail communications.
• Event management — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the ability to execute program rules based on arbitrary data/status changes.
• Fee management — Describes and categorizes the ability to charge and management fees for various activities.
• Liability accounting — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the ability to track program and program partner liability.
• Relationship management — Describes and categorizes the ability to configure and management relationships between individuals, organizations, accounts, and other entities.
• Rules management — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the overall rules management infrastructure.
• Statementing — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the ability to create account statements.
• Web site deployment — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the overall web site deployment activity.
• Web site content targeting — Describes and categorizes the maturity of the content targeting capabilities.