Business architecture is a comprehensive approach to understanding and designing an organization’s structure, processes, and capabilities. It encompasses several key domains as defined by the Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (BIZBOK Guide®), which form the foundation of business architecture and are interconnected components that provide different perspectives on an organization’s operations and structure. The four core domains are Value Streams, Capabilities, Organization, and Information. The business architecture techniques of mapping are closely related to these four core domains, providing visual representations and analyses of each domain as well as their interrelationships.
Value mapping is a useful technique in business architecture. It provides insight into the value produced by the various activities of the organization, how this contributes to its overall value proposition, and how this value is exchanged with other parties in a value network. In this blog, we look at how you can describe value chains, value streams, and value networks.
ALSO READ: Why adding a value stream to Archimate is key
The classical example of this is the Value Chain defined by Porter, which divides the activities of an enterprise in value-creating and supporting, and subdivides the former in the typical stages of a production process, with inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. More recent approaches such as e3value, the Value Delivery Metamodel (VDML) and the BIZBOK take a more general stance and also look at value exchange in the broader ecosystem. The table below provides a general mapping aimed at supporting most of these approaches.
| VALUE MAP | ARCHIMATE |
| Value Proposition | Product + Value |
| Value Item | Value |
| Value Stream | Business Process (highest-level) |
| Value Stage, Activity | Business Process or Function |
| Value Exchange | Flow + associated Value |
| Actor, Organization Unit | Business Actor |
| Role | Business Role |
| Collaboration | Business Collaboration |
| Capability | Capability |
The mapping shown in this table mainly uses ArchiMate’s business layer concepts to express value maps. Remember that ArchiMate uses the same concept for all levels of granularity, i.e., a business process can express an entire value stream, a value stage in that stream, or activities within such a stage, down to the smallest individual task. Furthermore, this mapping uses value elements associated with products and with flow relationships to model the value propositions and exchange of value along the value chain, stream or network. This maps well onto typical Porter Value Chain models. Alternatively, for a somewhat more abstract view, we may map a value stage to a (named) grouping of capabilities in ArchiMate, and relate these groupings via flow relationships with associated value elements.
A partial Value Network containing several Actors, Value Exchanges and Value Items can be seen in the next figure (Figure 1).
The following figure (Figure 2) elaborates the Claims Handling business function from the previous figure, and shows a Value Stream and Value Exchanges between its different stages.
Using ArchiMate helps you express and analyze your organization’s business model and how it produces stakeholder value. It also lets you focus on the important value-producing activities in strategic planning and change. In several previous blogs, we have outlined how you can use ArchiMate in the context of Business Architecture and Strategy Development, such as Capability-Based Planning, and combining it with other standards, such as Business Motivation Model, the Business Model Canvas and the Balanced Scorecard.
Managing Consultant & Chief Technology Evangelist at Bizzdesign
Marc contributes to Bizzdesign’s vision, market development, consulting, and coaching on digital business design and enterprise architecture. He also spreads the word on the Open Group’s ArchiMate® standard for enterprise architecture modeling, of which he has been managing the development. His expertise and interests range from enterprise and IT architecture to business process management.
