Marcus A. Rothenberger

A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research

The paper motivates, presents, demonstrates in use, and evaluates a methodology for conducting design science (DS) research in information systems (IS). DS is of importance in a discipline oriented to the creation of successful artifacts. Several researchers have pioneered DS research in IS, yet over the past 15 years, little DS research has been done within the discipline. The lack of a methodology to serve as a commonly accepted framework for DS research and of a template for its presentation may have contributed to its slow adoption. The design science research methodology (DSRM) presented here incorporates principles, practices, and procedures required to carry out such research and meets three objectives: it is consistent with prior literature, it provides a nominal process model for doing DS research, and it provides a mental model for presenting and evaluating DS research in IS. The DS process includes six steps: problem identification and motivation, definition of the objectives for a solution, design and development, demonstration, evaluation, and communication. We demonstrate and evaluate the methodology by presenting four case studies in terms of the DSRM, including cases that present the design of a database to support health assessment methods, a software reuse measure, an Internet video telephony application, and an IS planning method. The designed methodology effectively satisfies the three objectives and has the potential to help aid the acceptance of DS research in the IS discipline.

Software reuse strategies and component markets

Black-box reuse with component markets could be the silver bullet solution that makes software reuse a reality, and advances software development to a robust industrial process---but only if market makers address the growing pains plaguing this immature industry.

Strategies for software reuse: a principal component analysis of reuse practices

This research investigates the premise that the likelihood of success of software reuse efforts may vary with the reuse strategy employed and, hence, potential reuse adopters must be able to understand reuse strategy alternatives and their implications. We use survey data collected from 71 software development groups to empirically develop a set of six dimensions that describe the practices employed in reuse programs. The study investigates the patterns in which these practices co-occur in the real world, demonstrating that the dimensions cluster into five distinct reuse strategies, each with a different potential for reuse success. The findings provide a means to classify reuse settings and assess their potential for success.

An Investigation of Customization in ERP System Implementations

This research investigates why certain enterprise resource planning (ERP) system adopters have pursued high levels of software customization during implementation despite the generally accepted best-practice heuristic of limiting customization. Qualitative data from ERP adoption projects and consultants working with ERP implementations have been collected. This study empirically identifies customization drivers and explains their relationship to customization. The results suggest that high customization may occur because of: unnecessary redevelopment of functionality that is available in the ERP system standard, resistance to change based on cultural issues and low project acceptance, insufficient weight given to the implementation teams recommendations, and the implementation teams lack of opposition to customization requests. The results of this study also explain how these problems occur and why they lead to overcustomization.

Assessing the cost-effectiveness of software reuse: a model for planned reuse

Information systems development is typically acknowledged as an expensive and lengthy process, often producing code that is of uneven quality and difficult to maintain. Software reuse has been advocated as a means of revolutionizing this process. The claimed benefits from software reuse are reduction in development cost and time, improvement in software quality, increase in programmer productivity, and improvement in maintainability. Software reuse entails undeniable costs of creating, populating, and maintaining a library of reusable components. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that some organizations benefit from reuse. However, many software developers practicing reuse claim these benefits without formal demonstration thereof. There is little research to suggest when the benefits are expected and to what extent they will be realized. For example, does a larger library of reusable components lead to increased savings? What is the impact of component size on the effectiveness of reuse? This research seeks to address some of these questions. It represents the first step in a series wherein the effects of software reuse on overall development effort and costs are modelled with a view to understanding when it is most effective.

A software reuse measure: monitoring an enterprise-level model driven development process

The purpose of the research discussed here is to establish a metric for the measurement of reuse in a generic enterprise-level model context and to use this approach to create a specific metric for a company. The paper demonstrates how a software development firm can monitor the reuse success in the development process using the measure. Traditionally, the reuse rate is defined as the percentage of the development effort retrieved as code segments from a software repository. The metric proposed here extends this definition to include reuse of generic enterprise-level model components. An example is given of the successful assessment of a reuse percentage for a software developers actual project.

Total quality in software development: An empirical study of quality drivers and benefits in Indian software projects

Building upon the software quality and productivity literature, we proposed a construct of development quality as the key determinant of software development productivity and product quality. We validated the model by analyzing software project data collected from a benchmarking consortium in India. Our empirical results showed that an increase in development quality was positively associated with increases in both, development productivity and product quality, while we controlled for the impact of other productivity and quality factors. Our work highlighted the importance of concentrating on quality efforts during the development process, which is consistent with the use of Total Quality principles in manufacturing.

Project-Level Reuse Factors: Drivers for Variation within Software Development Environments*

Systematic reuse can dramatically improve software development productivity and quality even though a software reuse methodology may require substantial investments. Some projects may fail to achieve the targeted amounts of reuse within organizations that are overall successful in employing reuse. To explain such variation, this research explores the effects of project-level factors in the success of software reuse. A model that relates project factors to project reuse success is developed using an information-rich case study approach. The results are based on the insights obtained in a nominal group technique session, triangulated with structured interviews and comparative case studies. Success factors identified by the study relate to client influence, project culture, project attributes, and developer reuse experience. An organization that can successfully identify the factors affecting potential software reuse will be able to better target investments for the improvement of its reuse methodology and thus positively affect its software development productivity and quality.

Advancing the Impact of Design Science: Moving from Theory to Practice

Although sustainability is a key concern in today’s world, more efforts towards achieving sustainability are needed. User inclusion in the information system design process could enhance the outcome of a system’s action towards sustainability. It is, however, important to understand the design procedure of a system to achieve such goals. A framework denominating as the inclusive innovation framework presented in this paper incorporated analyses from open innovation, universal design, and sustainability to motivate the initiation of internal and external driving factors towards sustainability goals. The derived framework could promote the information system’s enabled sustainable goals by combining the use of universal design principles and the concept of open innovation. A requirement engineering model was also proposed that was interoperable within the three subjects of interest discussed in the paper and was necessary for understanding the application of an inclusive innovation framework. Two use cases were then presented as an illustration for arguing the validation of the proposed inclusive innovation framework. The findings from the use cases indicated that the use of universal design principles along with an open innovation concept could increase information systems’ enabled sustainability goals. This could be done by enhancing a system’s successfulness along with the increased user satisfaction.

The impact of project team attributes on ERP system implementations: A positivist field investigation

Purpose – The adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is a major challenge to organizations. Many implementation teams struggle to ensure the success of such projects. The information systems literature indicates that the team attributes of breadth of experience, empowerment, and cohesion are necessary conditions for project success. This paper aims to investigate how the nature of implementation teams may affect adoption success.Design/methodology/approach – The research employs a positivist, qualitative field study approach to investigate the role of the implementation team attributes in ERP system adoption. Project success is assessed on three determinants, i.e. support of organizational activities, stakeholder satisfaction, and system acceptance.Findings – The findings provide new insights as to the extent to which prior assumptions from the information systems literature apply in the ERP system implementation context. The results indicate that team empowerment and cohesion are not nece...