Ways to Creating Better Value Models

Value models has several inherent benefits, compared to for example process models, when it comes to the description of high level exchanges of resources in a network of business actors. Compared to other approaches, value models enable the modeller to give an overview of a complex business domain, focusing only on those aspects that are essential for sustaining viable business relationships. However, the benefits with value models depend upon whether they are applied in a structured way or not. That is, simply using a value modelling technique does not ensure that the potential benefits can be achieved. In this paper, we outline guidelines that aid the creation of value models using the e3 value methodology, which is one of the most used value modelling techniques. These guidelines support the practitioners using the technique in several ways. Firstly, the guidelines can aid to grasp when to use different e3 value modelconcepts, for example by clearly state when to use the Actor concept and when to use the Market Segment concept. Secondly, the guidelines help the practitioner to create an e3 model on the correct abstraction level. For example, specifying which types of resources in the real world that shall be represented as a Value object concept, and which shall not. The guidelines are based on experiences from several case studies.