System dynamics professionals have sought ‘standard’ models for tackling business issues. Finding similar structures in different contexts encourages the idea that modelling efficiency would increase if it could start with part-built models. On the other hand, since each situation is unique, modelling should arguably start with an open mind and develop a structure specific to that situation to avoid the risk of imposing an inappropriate diagnosis and solution. Nevertheless, organisations of similar types consist of similar stocks of resources – e.g. retailers have stores, consumers and products, consulting firms have clients and professional staff. Moreover, those resources often go through recognised stages of development and relate to each other in standard ways. These common resources and structures provide a robust foundation for models, and enable discussion to move on quickly to investigating why resources are being won or lost, discovering feedback effects whose existence is supported by evidence, and solving the real challenges. This has the further advantage of leaving a model of how an organisation functions that can remain valid (with continuous development) into the future. This poster session will illustrate a number of such common business architectures and their use.