Guidelines to derive an $$e^{3}value$$ business model from a BPMN process model: an experiment on real-world scenarios

Abstract

Process models, e.g., BPMN models, may represent how companies in an ecosystem interact with each other. However, the business model of the same ecosystem, e.g., expressed by an $$e^{3}value$$ e 3 v a l u e model, is often left implicit. This hinders the proper analysis of the ecosystem at the business level, and more specifically financial assessment, for which process models are less appropriate. Therefore, the question is if we can somehow derive $$e^{3}value$$ e 3 v a l u e models from BPMN models. This would not only allow for proper business model analysis but would also facilitate business model mining, similar to the success of process mining. However, although an $$e^{3}value$$ e 3 v a l u e model and BPMN model represent the same ecosystem, their perspectives differ significantly. Therefore an automated derivation of an $$e^{3}value$$ e 3 v a l u e model from a BPMN seems not to be feasible, but we can assist the $$e^{3}value$$ e 3 v a l u e model designer with practical guidelines. We explore and test our guidelines in two real-world settings, we then analyze and evaluate its application to better understand their limitations and how to improve them.