Towards a Modelling Tool for Designing Control Mechanisms for Network Organisations

In network organisations and electronic commerce control mechanisms to guarantee inter-organisational contract compliance are important tools to enhance trust in a fair business transaction. We propose the e-value/control design methodology for designing controls for network organisations. The e-value/control design methodology is an extension of the e-value design methodology for business models, which is focussed on modelling economic value exchanges between the organizations of a network, rather than operational processes between them. We argue that a methodology for designing control mechanisms should include three steps: (1) the design of an inter-organisational value exchange model of a network, (2) the analysis of inter-organisational control problems within the network, i.e. the analysis of possible violations of contractual obligations related to the value model, and (3) the design of control mechanisms to detect or prevent such control problems. We illustrate the usability of the e-value/control design methodology in a case from the electricity industry.