Integral design of E-Commerce systems: Aligning the business with software architecture through scenarios (original) (raw)

e-Business cases assessment: from business value to system feasibility

International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology, 2003

Innovative e-commerce initiatives present a new way of doing business. Since short time to market is a major requirement in e-commerce, and typically multiple parties (enterprises) are involved, multiple stakeholders have to be convinced quickly that the new way of doing business is technically feasible and economically profitable for them. Consequently, a lightweight approach is required for defining, deriving and analysing multi-enterprise relationships, business cases and requirements. The e 3-value framework is a multi-viewpoint requirements engineering method that offers such an approach. It is based on analysing e-commerce initiatives through three stakeholder-based viewpoints. To ensure that these viewpoints keep correlated, to facilitate traceability of requirement decisions, and to support trade-off analysis between requirements we present Feature-Solution (FS) graphs as an extension to the e 3-value framework. An FS-graph captures architectural knowledge in the form of desired features and solutions that realize these features. By combining the two methods, we ensure viewpoint integration, which makes it possible to conduct a systematic exploration of design alternatives in an e-commerce initiative. A business value driven information systems architecture for implementing an e-commerce system is generated as a by-product of our method.

Designing and evaluating e-Business models

IEEE Intelligent Systems,, 2001

B usiness models are usually represented by a mixture of informal textual, verbal, and ad-hoc graphical representations. However, these representations typically limit a clear understanding of the e-business issues that confront the stakeholders, and often perpetuate the existing gap between business executives and the IT developers who must create the e-business information systems. This article presents a conceptual modeling approach to e-business-called e 3 -value-that is designed to help define how economic value is created and exchanged within a network of actors.

On the interaction between business models and software architecture in electronic commerce

Addendum to the proceedings of the 7th …, 1999

To design a business model for electronic commerce it is necessary to develop an architecture of the software system that will support this model. Such an architecture shows at an early stage to what extent the business model can be supported and implemented by a software system. If constraints of the business model cannot be supported by a software system, the model itself can be changed. We investigate this interaction between business model and architecture by carrying out a case study in the area of electronic commerce: the design and analysis of a software architecture for a directory service.

The e-commerce value matrix and use case model: A goal-driven methodology for eliciting B2C application requirements

Information & Management, 2008

We developed a goal-driven methodology for eliciting and modeling the requirements of a business-toconsumer application. It has two phases: e-commerce strategy formulation and eliciting system requirements. In the first phase, an EC value matrix is used to develop a strategy and value-adding services for a business and then necessary customized requirements are identified. In the second phase, a goal-driven approach is used to specify the system requirements based on the strategy. This methodology enables business managers and system developers to develop high-level strategies that improve value activities and obtain competitive advantage, and thereby determine the specifications of the core eservices. To illustrate the methodology, we use a B2C application of an online bookstore. Finally, implications and conclusions are discussed. ß

Developing Business Models for eBusiness

2001

The paper introduces first insights into a methodology for developing eBusiness business models, which was elaborated at evolaris and is currently validated in various business cases. This methodology relies upon a definition of the term business model, which is first examined and upon which prerequisites for such a methodology are presented. A business model is based on a mental representation of certain aspects of the real world that are relevant for the business. Supporting this change of the mental model is therefore a major prerequisite for a methodology for developing business models. This paper demonstrates that it addition, a business model discussion should be theory based, able to handle complex systems, provide a way for risk free experiments and be practically applicable. In order to fulfill the above critieria, the evolaris methodology is grounded on system theory and combines aspects of system dynamics and action research.

EXPLORING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR E-BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

Architectural design is a vital phase in the development of e-business applications. A suitable compromise must be determined taking into account business requirements, quality criteria and existing constraints (e.g. presence of legacy systems). This paper adopts the view that for a particular problem context, it is possible to consider the architectural design activity as consisting of a series of choices made regarding a number of architectural design strategies. To make this feasible, we are focusing on problems within a restricted context. The problem context described in the paper is very common for a category of e-business applications that are inspired from the e-finance domain. We identify a number of design strategies for such a problem context and show the resulting architectures. We also present a design process modeled as a decision tree and show how quality models can be used to select the most appropriate architecture. The recommendations made by the models are checked against real data from existing projects.

The MTO-Framework for Implementation of E-Business Models

Venture capitalists typically require that you can explain the business model in the time it takes the lift to get to the tenth floor. Implementation typically takes years. There is a disproportionate large amount of focus on what constitutes an innovative new business model compared to implementation since most e-business failures are attributed to failures in implementation. Obviously, there is a significant lack of knowledge of factors leading to successful implementation among those responsible for practical implementation of e-business models. E-business models or IT-systems for inter-organizational purposes cannot be implemented exclusively following the traditional guidelines in the IS/IT literature. Development methods are very different from earlier, there are many more stakeholders, and the environment is much more dynamic. The paper suggests a framework highlighting important implementation factors derived from four different disciplines; venture capitalist experiences, business process reengineering, diffusion theory and system development. The contribution of the paper is a classification of implementation factors in a framework that identifies the technological, the organizational, and the market related factors relevant for implementation of e-business models.