Business to business | EPFL Graph Search

Les termes en , B to B, B2B, BtoB, commerce B to B (prononcés //), commerce entreprise à entreprise ou commerce interentreprise désignent l'ensemble des activités d'une entreprise visant une clientèle d'entreprises, ou l'ensemble d'architectures techniques et logicielles informatiques permettant de mettre en relation des entreprises. On l'appelle aussi parfois « marché professionnel », par opposition au « marché grand public ». Définition et caractéristiques Le marketing B to B représente l’ensemble des relations commerciales entre les entreprises et les professionnels (entreprises, administrations, artisans, professions libérales, associations…). On l’appelle aussi « commerce interentreprises ». Le marketing industriel (échange de biens industriels) et le marketing d’affaires (projet, solution, clés en main) sont des sous-ensembles du marketing B to B. Il est très difficile de connaître à ce jour l’importance des activités en B to B car une même entreprise peut vendre

Designing modeling notations readers understand

George Popescu

[Context] IT modelers create models to communicate their conceptualization of an organization and to facilitate the collaboration between business and IT people. The story they convey in their models is how the corporate IT systems fulfill the business peopleâs needs. The business people who must validate these models often have no IT background. Therefore, IT modelers need to create models that non-IT individuals understand. [Motivation and Problem] We explore the understanding of models created with IT notations by non-IT individuals. We enable IT modelers to create models such that non-IT readers can understand. We also enable IT notation designers to design notations that help modelers to create models that non-IT readers can understand. [Idea and Results] We perform an explorative qualitative case-study for two modeling notations, SEAM and i*, by using two cases: car-maintenance service and meeting scheduler, in order to investigate how readers interpret models. Readers evaluate our models and identify the elements that are difficult to comprehend. We create improved models by making these elements easier to comprehend, so that readers understand the modelerâs story. We reduce the misalignment between the modelerâs story and the readersâ perceptions of this story. We improve models without changing the identity of the underlying notation. [Contributions] Our contributions address modelers and designers of IT notations. For IT modelers, such as IT architects, service designers, and consultants, using IT notations (e.g., UML, BPMN, ArchiMate), this research provides the means necessary to create models so that readers, unfamiliar with the notation, understand. We recommend to modelers to model: (i) the relation with reality, by focusing on the readersâ conceptualizations, (ii) the rationale, by using the questions, options, criteria and their assessment, and (iii) the story, by using story-phases: context, conflict, climax and closure. In addition, we provide them with a modeling process for creating models. For designers of IT notations, this research provides the means necessary to design notations. We recommend to designers to design: (i) the relation with reality, by identifying implicit elements in the modeling notation by evaluating readersâ understanding of what elements represent, (ii) the rationale, by using visual cues to guide readersâ understanding of the problem, and (iii) the story, by creating models in which different stories are told to elicit readersâ understanding of what happens in the model. In addition, we provide them with a design process for designing notations.

EPFL2016

Using the Physics of Notations Theory to Evaluate the Visual Notation of SEAM

George Popescu, Alain Wegmann

Modeling languages are used to make models that are commonly used in communicating about real-life situations such as the modeling of business and IT requirements in organizations. A way to evaluate how effective the modeling languages are for communicating their intended messages is to use the set of nine principles defined in the Physics of Notations Theory (PoNT, Moody). PoNT helps designers evaluate the notation of modeling languages and provides guidelines for improving it. We apply this theory to evaluate the visual notation of a systemic method, the Systemic Enterprise Architecture Methodology (SEAM) that is designed to model business and IT requirements. In order to make the SEAM notation more cognitively effective, we identify some notation limitations and provide specific recommendations for improvement for each of the nine PoNT principles.

2014

Designing modeling notations readers understand

George Popescu

EPFL2016