Hubert Österle

Memorandum on design-oriented information systems research

Information Systems Research (“Wirtschaftsinformatik”) basically follows two research approaches: the behavioristic approach and the design-oriented approach. In this memorandum, 10 authors propose principles of design-oriented information systems research. Moreover, the memorandum is supported by 111 full professors from the German-speaking scientific community, who with their signature advocate the principles specified therein.

Business Engineering: Auf dem Weg zum Unternehmen des Informationszeitalters

Das Buch behandelt die Transformation von Unternehmen des Industriezeitalters in erfolgreiche Organisationen des Informationszeitalters. Es geht auf die fachliche wie auf die politische und kulturelle Dimension dieses Wandels ein. Im ersten Teil wird der St. Galler Ansatz des Business Engineering vorgestellt. Im zweiten Teil werden verschiedene Forschungsansatze des Business Engineering zusammengefasst, die Geschaftsmodelle des Informationszeitalters analysieren, Indikatoren und Treiber des Wandels identifizieren sowie Methoden und Instrumente fur Veranderungsprozesse entwickeln. Der dritte Teil umfasst ausgewahlte Berichte aus der Praxis, in denen die Konzepte des Business Engineering auf konkrete Fragestellungen in Grossunternehmen angewendet werden.

One Size Does Not Fit All---A Contingency Approach to Data Governance

Enterprizes need Data Quality Management (DQM) to respond to strategic and operational challenges demanding high-quality corporate data. Hitherto, companies have mostly assigned accountabilities for DQM to Information Technology (IT) departments. They have thereby neglected the organizational issues critical to successful DQM. With data governance, however, companies may implement corporate-wide accountabilities for DQM that encompass professionals from business and IT departments. This research aims at starting a scientific discussion on data governance by transferring concepts from IT governance and organizational theory to the previously largely ignored field of data governance. The article presents the first results of a community action research project on data governance comprising six international companies from various industries. It outlines a data governance model that consists of three components (data quality roles, decision areas, and responsibilities), which together form a responsibility assignment matrix. The data governance model documents data quality roles and their type of interaction with DQM activities. In addition, the article describes a data governance contingency model and demonstrates the influence of performance strategy, diversification breadth, organization structure, competitive strategy, degree of process harmonization, degree of market regulation, and decision-making style on data governance. Based on these findings, companies can structure their specific data governance model.

Enterprise in the Information Age

Business is undergoing a transformation from the industrial to the information age. Information technology (IT) opens up possibilities for new business solutions; it offers exceptional opportunities for fast innovators and harbors fundamental risks for laggards.

Knowledge Enabled Customer Relationship Management

The redesign of business processes and the implementation of standard software for enterprise resource planning (ERP) in recent years has led to significant improvements in both process performance and service quality (cf. Chap. 2.3.1). Now that the classic reengineering trend is slowing down, companies have come to realize that efficiency in itself is no longer sufficient if they are to compete for customers in the 21st century. In many markets we are currently witnessing a major move away from market and product centricity towards a complete realignment of business processes in order to integrate with customer processes, which creates additional customer values and finally leads to lasting customer relations. The efforts directed at building and maintaining long-term relationships with customers are usually summarized as ‘customer relationship management (CRM)’. CRM represents one of the networking strategies in Business Networking (cf. Chap. 4.3.3) and is driven by both business and technology:

Business Engineering Model

Business Engineering bedeutet systematische Entwicklung neuer Geschaftslosungen. Business Engineering zerlegt die Transformation von Unternehmen in beherrschbare Schritte, gibt Anleitung zur Bearbeitung dieser Schritte und verbindet diese in Vorgehensmodellen fur Projekte. Der Aufsatz erklart die Arbeitsweise des Business Engineering anhand eines durchgangigen Beispiels und beschreibt die Grundprinzipien dieser neuen Disziplin.

Geschäftsmodell des Informationszeitalters

Die Transaktionsverarbeitung hat in den letzten dreisig Jahren die innerbetrieblichen Routineprozesse verandert. Vernetzung, Wissen und intelligente Gerate sind die nachsten Treiber der Transformation von der Industrie- zur Informationsgesellschaft. Die Grundregeln der Wirtschaft bleiben auch im Informationszeitalter bestehen, die neuen Moglichkeiten verandern aber die Gewichte: Das Wissen uber die Produktion wird wichtiger als die physischen Produktionsanlagen, Dienstleistungen werden bedeutender als die Produkte, kooperative Prozesse mit Lieferanten und Kunden ersetzen Fertigungstiefe und -breite und globale Synergien werden wichtiger als regionale Autonomie.

Consortium Research A Method for Researcher-Practitioner Collaboration in Design-Oriented IS Research

Design-oriented research in the Information Systems (IS) domain aims at delivering results which are both of scientific rigor and of relevance for practitioners. Today, however, academic researchers are facing the challenge of gaining access to and capturing knowledge from the practitioner community. Against this background, the paper proposes a method for Consortium Research, which is supposed to facilitate multilateral collaboration of researchers and practitioners during the research process. The method’s design is based on a self-evaluating design process which was carried out over a period of 20 years. The paper’s contribution is twofold. First, it addresses the science of design, since it proposes guidance to researchers for practitioner collaboration during the process of artifact design. Second, the method is an artifact itself, hence, the result of a design-oriented research process.

Computer-aided Methodology Engineering

Abstract The paper introduces an approach to a structured and disciplined specification of methods in the area of information systems development (ISD), especially in software engineering and project management. In particular, we focus on the underlying model to specify such ISD knowledge. This proposed methodology representation model and the corresponding MEET-tool are intended to build a so-called computer-aided methodology engineering tool in order to support methods specification and further development. The paper is based on the research work that compares different ISD methods in the ‘Information Management 2000’ research program at the Institute for Information Management at the University of St Gallen. Several information systems development methods used in practice have been completely analysed by the participating industrial partners.

Mit Customer Relationship Management zum Prozessportal

Radikale Zentrierung auf Kundenprozesse wird im Informationszeitalter wettbe-werbsentscheidend. Unternehmen positionieren sich als Leistungsintegratoren, die uber ein Prozessportal komplette Kundenprozesse unterstutzen. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) schafft die Voraussetzungen fur die profitable Realisierung von Prozessportalen. CRM sorgt fur intensivere Kundenbindung und prazisere Kundenselektion, aber auch fur effizientere CRM-Prozesse in Marketing, Verkauf und Service. Es nutzt dazu die technologischen Potenziale vom multimedialen Vertriebskanal bis zur CRM-Standardsoftware.