1. Designing a business model ontology
for service systems
Geert Poels
Ghent University, Belgium
pag. 1QUIS 2013 Karlstad, Sweden - 12/06/2013 Geert Poels

2. Summary: definition/origin of concepts
• business model (Business Informatics)
• business model ontology (Applied Ontology)
• business model ontology for service systems
(Service Science)
• designing a business model ontology for service
systems (Design Science)
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3. Design Science Research Methodology
1. Problem identification and motivation
2. Define the objectives for a solution
3. Design and development
4. Demonstration
5. Evaluation
6. Communication
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4. 1. Problem identification and motivation
• Model = abstraction + visualisation
• Modelling è understanding, analysis, design
• Service Science: few research on service system
modelling
• Business Informatics: much research on business
modelling, but not committed to Service-Dominant
Logic (SDL)
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5. 2. Define the objectives for a solution
• SDL is philosophical foundation of Service
Science è basis for common conceptualization of
service system abstraction
• Object of study of Service Science = value co-
creation phenomena
• Design criteria for service system ontology:
service-dominant + co-creation of value
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6. 3. Design and development
Theoretical basis = Resource-Event-Agent ontology
• Business model ontology based on a conceptual
model of economic exchange
• Only business model ontology that recognizes
economic reciprocity as an ontological axiom
(= duality relation between economic events)
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7. UML class diagram of core REA elements
• Service as endurant (object) instead of perdurant (process)
• Value (embedded in economic resources) is produced/provided
(economic event) and consumed/received (economic event)
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8. Design artefact = Resource-Service-System ontology
• SDL interpretation of the REA ontology
• From
conceptual model of economic exchange
to
conceptual model of service exchange
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9. UML class diagram of core RSS elements
• REA economic event = RSS service
• REA economic agent = RSS service system entity
• REA economic resource = RSS / SDL resource
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Service process view based on ISPAR model

11. 4. Demonstration
• On-going research
• Apply RSS (and alternatives) to model various
kinds of service systems
• Explore applications of the resulting models
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13. 5. Evaluation
• On-going research
• Evaluate whether solution objectives are achieved
- descriptive methods using scenarios and informed
arguments
- comparison with alternative ontologies and
representations for service systems
• Future research: experimental / observational
methods to evaluate quality, usability, usefulness
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ü As opposed to alternatives, RSS fully
conforms to SDL
1. Service as process, not as object
2. Exchange of service-for-service
3. Identifies all resources in a service
4. Distinguishes operant – operand
resources

15. 6. Communication
Preliminary results design RSS:
• Poels, G. (2010) ‘A Conceptual Model of Service Exchange in Service-Dominant
Logic’, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 53: 224-238.
• Poels, G. (2010) ‘The Resource-Service-System Model for Service Science’, Lecture
Notes in Computer Science, 6413: 117-126.
Related research computational ontology for Service Science:
• Lemey E, Poels G. (2011) ‘Towards a Service System Ontology for Service Science’,
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7084: 250-264.
• Lemey E, Poels G. (2012) ‘Towards a Process Model for Service Systems’, Lecture
Notes in Business Information Processing, 103: 1-15.
• Poels, G., Van Der Vurst, G., Lemey, E. (2013) ‘Towards an Ontology and Modeling
Approach for Service Science’, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing,
143: 285-291.
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