Designing the Information Systems Artefact: Typology, Architecture, Abstraction, Collaborative Evolution and Design Patterns

This book provides essential methodological guidance on IS artifacts to address key challenges in Design Science Research (DSR). As a foundation for understanding and categorizing DSR artifacts, it proposes a more differentiated, empirically justified DSR artifact typology. Additionally, it presents an artifact type-agnostic architecture model for DSR project knowledge, offering concrete recommendations for researchers and practitioners alike. As most DSR artifacts exist on a wide range of abstraction levels, an artifact type-agnostic perspective of abstraction is presented and a set of fundamental generalization and contextualization operations is proposed. The concept of managed evolution and insights from tension theory are used to propose a collaboration model, fostering effective interaction between researchers and practitioners in DSR. Finally, by associating empirically validated classes of functional requirements with solution classes, candidates for general constructional patterns are developed. All chapters share a contemporary understanding of DSR artifacts as complex combinations of IT, organizational, and use elements - ranging from algorithms to informal interventions in organizations. These artifacts are based on both descriptive knowledge and empirical justifications (or ideally both) and are exemplified by contextualized instantiations that solve situated problems in organizations or administrations.

This book provides a unified and practical approach to advancing DSR, offering insights for both advanced academic researchers and industry practitioners whose work involves IS artifacts.

Robert Winter is a full professor of Business & Information Systems Engineering and the director of HSG’s Institute for Information Systems and Digital Business at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland. He is also founding director of HSG’s Executive MBA program in Business Engineering. Having been vice editor-in-chief of the Business & Information Systems Engineering journal and senior editor of the European Journal of Information Systems, he currently serves on the editorial board of MIS Quarterly Executive. His research interests include design science research methodology and all aspects of enterprise-level IS research, such as enterprise architecture management, design and governance of digital platforms, corporate data management, and design and governance of enterprise transformation