Metamodeling for Business Model Design
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Metamodeling for Business Model Design Facilitating development and communication of Business Model Canvas (BMC) models with an OMG standards-based metamodel. Hilmar Hauksson Department of Computer and Systems Sciences Degree project 30 HE credits Degree subject: Computer and Systems Sciences Degree project at the master level Autumn term 2013 Supervisor: Paul Johannesson Reviewer: Harko Verhagen This page intentionally left blank. Metamodeling for Business Model Design Facilitating development and communication of Business Model Canvas (BMC) models with an OMG standards-based metamodel. Hilmar Hauksson Abstract Interest for business models and business modeling has increased rapidly since the mid-1990‘s and there are numerous approaches used to create business models. The business model concept has many definitions which can lead to confusion and slower progress in the research and development of business models. A business model ontology (BMO) was created in 2004 where the business model concept was conceptualized based on an analysis of existing literature. A few years later the Business Model Canvas (BMC) was published; a popular business modeling approach providing a high-level, semi-formal approach to create and communicate business models. While this approach is easy to use, the informality and high-level approach can cause ambiguity and it has limited computer-aided support available. In order to propose a solution to address this problem and facilitate the development and communication of Business Model Canvas models, two artifacts are created, demonstrated and evaluated; a structured metamodel for the Business Model Canvas and its implementation in an OMG standards-based modeling tool to provide tool support for BMC modeling. This research is carried out following the design science approach where the artifacts are created to better understand and improve the identified problem. The problem and its background are explicated and the planned artifacts and requirements are outlined. The design and development of the artifacts are detailed and the resulting BMC metamodel is presented as a class diagram in Unified Modeling Language (UML) and implemented to provide tool support for BMC modeling. A demonstration with a business model and an evaluation is performed with expert interviews and informed arguments. The creation of a BMC metamodel exposed some ambiguity in the definition and use of the Business Model Canvas and the importance of graphical presentation and flexibility in the tools used. The evaluation of the resulting artifacts suggests that the artifacts do facilitate the development and communication of the Business Model Canvas models by improving the encapsulation and communication of information in a standardized way and thereby the goals of the research are met. Keywords Business Models, Business Model Canvas, BMC, Business Model Ontology, BMO, Metamodels, Meta models, Meta-models, UML, OMG, Model-driven Architecture, MDA, MetaModelAgent, MMA, Design Science, Modeling Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Background ....................................................................................................... 1 Problem ............................................................................................................ 2 Research goal .................................................................................................... 2 Target audience ................................................................................................. 2 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 2 Disposition......................................................................................................... 3 Extended background .............................................................................. 4 Models and Business Models ................................................................................ 4 Business Model Canvas (BMC) .............................................................................. 9 BMC tools .........................................................................................................12 Metamodels ......................................................................................................13 Model-Driven Architecture ..................................................................................15 UML and UML Profiles .........................................................................................16 Modeling environment and tools ..........................................................................17 Method .................................................................................................. 18 Field of Science .................................................................................................18 Design Science ...............................................................................................18 Design Science Canvas ....................................................................................19 Research approach ............................................................................................21 Design Science Method (DSM) ..........................................................................21 Ethical considerations ........................................................................................23 Research Strategies and Methods ........................................................................24 DSM activity 1: Explicate Problem ....................................................................24 DSM activity 2: Outline Artifact & Define Requirements .......................................25 DSM activity 3: Design & Develop Artifact .........................................................26 DSM activity 4: Demonstrate Artifact ................................................................27 DSM activity 5: Evaluate Artifact ......................................................................27 Communication ..............................................................................................29 Results & Analysis ................................................................................. 30 Problem identification & Motivation ......................................................................30 Define the objectives for a solution ......................................................................30 Design & Development .......................................................................................32 BMC Metamodel creation .................................................................................32 UML Profile creation for the BMC Metamodel ......................................................48 Implementing the BMC UML Profile in RSA .........................................................49 Implementing the BMC metamodel with MetaModelAgent in RSA ..........................52 Demonstration ..................................................................................................58 Evaluation ........................................................................................................75 Informed arguments .......................................................................................75 Expert evaluation ...........................................................................................78 Communication .................................................................................................83 Discussion ............................................................................................. 84 References ............................................................................................ 86 Appendix A – DS Canvas ........................................................................ 88 Appendix B – Interviews ....................................................................... 89 Appendix C – Interview transcripts. ...................................................... 91 Appendix D – BMC Metamodel class diagram......................................... 96 ii List of Figures Figure 1: Business Model Concept Hierarchies. (Osterwalder, et al., 2005) ......................................... 6 Figure 2: The Business Model Ontology (BMO). (Osterwalder, et al., 2004) ....................................... 8 Figure 3: The Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010) .............................................. 11 Figure 4: OMG's 4 basic meta-levels and structure ............................................................................... 14 Figure 5: The taxonomy of UML2 structure and behavior diagrams (OMG, 2011b) ........................... 16 Figure 6: Basic version of the Design Science Canvas for this thesis. ................................................. 20 Figure 7: Research approach with DSM process overview. ................................................................. 22 Figure 8 Basic concepts for relationships in the BMC class diagram. .................................................. 35 Figure 9: Initial draft of the BMC metamodel after step 1. .................................................................. 36 Figure 10: BMO input to the VALUE PROPOSITION element attributes in BMC. .......................... 38 Figure 11: The BMC metamodel draft after step 2. ............................................................................. 42