Part 3: Article: 2005 (PhD thesis, TU Delft) McDonald: Architecting the Enterprise - adding the network perspective in 3 models

Question 1

What is the value network?

Answer 1

The value network consists of an enterprise, its customers, intermediaries and suppliers. It enables executives to make sense of complex relationships.

• defines the full scope of capabilities that support the value proposition to the customer
• Allows the enterprise to access the set of capabilities that extends beyond the boundaries of the enterprise and the traditional value chain
• Sources capabilities and defines the interfaces with firms in the network

Question 2

What are the three Enterprise Architecture Models (McDonald)?

Answer 2

1. Value network diagram
2. Capabilities diagram
3. Capability blueprint

Question 3

Explain the value network diagram.

Answer 3

Actors and capabilities involved. It captures the scope of enterprise. It’s the highest level model in the architecture. There’s one value network for each market en customer strategy, which helps to manage complexity and link architecture to specific value streams.

Note that the enterprise may participate in one or more Value Networks (with roles that may vary per network)

Question 4

What are the roles an enterprise may have in the value network?

Answer 4

An enterprise may have different roles in the value network: central node, suppliers, intermediaries or complementors.

Question 5

Explain the Capabilities diagram

Answer 5

This diagram represents (only) the enterprise subset of the value network. Illustrates the interaction involved in supporting CDW’s small and medium enterprise value network. It represents Zachman’s ‘owner view’. It introduces additional information concerning:
• Capability definitions
• Information flows between capabilities
• Interaction between internal capabilities, value network actors and customers

Question 6

Explain the Capability Blueprint

Answer 6

Defining the elements and relationships within the capability.