Traceability from the Business Value Model to the Enterprise Architecture:A Case Study

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a significant part of business value propositions. Netflix and Spotify would not have been possible without internet technology. Therefore, it is not sufficient to consider the ICT of a business as a cost center only. Rather it drives profit, and hence should be considered in concert with the business value model of a company. In previous research we have defined guidelines to transform a business value model into an enterprise architecture. In this paper, we validate the set of guidelines in a real-world case study, in which we created the business value model of a ecosystem and used our guidelines to redesign its enterprise architecture (EA). We quantified the business value model with revenues and expenses for the company. We validated the resulting models and their traceability with management and the enterprise architect of the company. The result is a further improvement and simplification of our guidelines. In this paper we present the case study, the models and the resulting guidelines. We end the paper with a discussion of further research needed to bring these research results to practice.</p

Quantitative Alignment of Enterprise Architectures with the Business Model

For many companies, information and communication technology (ICT) is an essential part of the value proposition. Netflix and Spotify would not have been possible without internet technology. Business model up-scaling often requires a different ICT architecture, because an up-scaled business model imposes different performance requirements. This new architecture needs investments and has different operational expenses than the old architecture and requires recalculation of the business model. Investment decisions, in turn are guided by performance requirements. There are currently no methods to align a quantified business value model of a company with performance requirements on the enterprise architecture. In this paper, we show how to derive performance requirements on an enterprise architecture (EA) specified in ArchiMate from a quantification of a business model specified in e3value. Second, we show how we can aggregate investments and expenses from an ArchiMate model and insert these into an e3value model.</p

Exploring Governance in a Decentralized Energy Trading Eco-System

Increasingly, large tech firms dominate eco-systems. From a societal perspective this is not always beneficial since these companies behave as value extractors; they charge an unreasonable high fee for their services and they can do so because they are monopolists. A possible solution to this substantial power concentration can be decentralized ecosystems, e.g., enabled by blockchain technology, in which decision power is distributed fairly. However, this comes also with the requirement that such eco-systems need a decentralized governance model. This paper explores if such a governance model can be represented by conceptual models, in particular, e3value. We answer this question by designing a decentralized eco-system in the field of electricity supply, which enables peer to peer energy trading, and checking if important governance decisions, motivated by a systematic literature review, can be represented

Early identification of potential distributed ledger technology business cases using e3value models

Many Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) projects end prematurely without reaping benefits. Previous research has indicated a lack of sustainable business cases for many Blockchain projects. A successful project has a disruptive impact on the business ecosystem. The paper investigates how e3value modeling can contribute to identifying the potential success of DLT implementation. Using insights from a first DLT case-study, an abstract e3value model fragment is defined that indicates potential success. As a test, the e3value model fragment is subsequently applied to a second case-study that is currently being implemented as a DLT-based platform. The paper concludes by reflecting on how an e3value model can provide evidence of meeting the requirements for building a sustainable DLT business case

A business ecosystem architecture modeling framework

The concept of enterprise architecture (EA) introduced in the 1980s refers to business-IT alignment in a single organization. The concept has proven its utility in the practice of IT management, but EA frameworks cannot deal with network organizations that are enabled by IT. EA frameworks assume a hierarchically coordinated organization, where final responsibility for strategy rests with management. The characteristic feature of network organizations is that there is no central coordinator with final responsibility. Yet, today's network organizations are facilitated by IT and they too must be aligned with their IT infrastructure. To align networked organizations, we must take the value viewpoint, which is absent in EA. This paper presents an approach to business-IT alignment for networked organizations based on the concept of networked value models. In addition, since there is no hierarchical management in a network, we view business-IT alignment in a network as a coordination game, and we include results from coordination theory and game theory in our approach. We illustrate our approach with an example from the electricity business and apply it to the Bitcoin network

A Business Ecosystem Architecture Modeling Framework

The concept of enterprise architecture (EA) introduced in the 1980s refers to business-IT alignment in a single organization. The concept has proven its utility in the practice of IT management, but EA frameworks cannot deal with network organizations that are enabled by IT. EA frameworks assume a hierarchically coordinated organization, where final responsibility for strategy rests with management. The characteristic feature of network organizations is that there is no central coordinator with final responsibility. Yet, today's network organizations are facilitated by IT and they too must be aligned with their IT infrastructure. To align networked organizations, we must take the value viewpoint, which is absent in EA. This paper presents an approach to business-IT alignment for networked organizations based on the concept of networked value models. In addition, since there is no hierarchical management in a network, we view business-IT alignment in a network as a coordination game, and we include results from coordination theory and game theory in our approach. We illustrate our approach with an example from the electricity business and apply it to the Bitcoin network