A Pattern Language for Value Modeling in ArchiMate

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in modeling value in the context of Enterprise Architecture, which has been driven by a need to align the vision and strategic goals of an enterprise with its business architecture. Nevertheless, the current literature shows that the concept of value is conceptually complex and still causes a lot of confusion. For example, we can find in the literature the concept of value being taken as equivalent to notions as disparate as goals, events, objects and capabilities. As a result, there is still a lack of proper support for modeling all aspects of value as well as its relations to these aforementioned notions. To address this issue, we propose in this paper a pattern language for value modeling in ArchiMate, which is based on the Common Ontology of Value and Risk, a well-founded reference ontology developed following the principles of the Unified Foundation Ontology. This enables us to delineate a clear ontological foundation, which addresses the ambiguous use of the value concept. The design of the Value Pattern Language will be guided by the Design Science Research Methodology. More specifically, a first iteration of the build-and-evaluate loop is presented, which includes the development of the pattern language and its demonstration by means of a case study of a low-cost airline.