Comma: a commitment-based business modeling methodology and its empirical evaluation

We introduce Comma, a methodology for developing cross-organizational business models. Comma gives prime position to patterns of business relationships understood in terms of commitments. In this manner, it contrasts with traditional operational approaches such as RosettaNet that are commonly used in industry. We report the results of a developer study comparing Comma with a methodology recommended by the RosettaNet Consortium. Ours is one of the only evaluations of an agent-oriented methodology that (1) involves developers other than the proposing researchers and (2) compares against a traditional nonagent approach. We found that Comma yields improved model quality, a greater focus in relative effort on the more important aspects of modeling, and a general reduction in total time despite yielding more comprehensive models. Certain anomalies in effort expended point toward the need for improved tooling.