Information Systems Development Methodologies Research Articles

Design of Audit Model in Web-based Information System

Web applications are widely used by the development of the Internet, but there are no separate audit model for a web-based information systems. Information business has a wide variety of characteristics. So, web-based information system audit model is needed. Therefore, a web-based information system audit model was proposed to enhance the effectiveness of audit and to increase the quality. Audit check lists were applied based on three sets of existing information audit check framework. An audit point of time was defined as analysis, design, and implementation. An audit domain was defined as contents, design, and process. Moreover, audit viewpoint and inspection standards were defined by setting standards of process, product, and performance. Moreover, this paper proposes differences between an existing model of information system development methodology and web-based information system. It also deduced audit checklists according to audit domains for web-based information system audit. The deduced audit checklists were verified for its suitability by conducting surveys, and the modified audit inspection model, in which the deduced audit checklists were applied, was proposed.

Information Systems Development Methodolgies in Developing Higher Education

Studies concerned with the status of Information Systems Development Methodologies usage in many developing countries including the factors that influence and motivate their use, current trends, difficulties, and barriers to adoption are lacking, especially within the higher education sector. This paper examines these identified gaps in a developing country, namely the United Arab Emirates. The initial findings reveal that there is limited knowledge and understanding of the concept of ISDM in federal higher education institutions in the UAE. This is reflected in the quality of the software products being developed and released. However, the analysed data also reveals a trend whereby federal higher education institutions in the UAE are gradually moving towards increased ISDM adoption and deployment.

CuQuP: A Hybrid Approach for Selecting Suitable Information Systems Development Methodology

CuQuP: A Hybrid Approach for Selecting Suitable Information Systems Development Methodology

Modeling Approach for Integration and Evolution of Information System Conceptualizations

Most information systems development methodologies are based on conceptual modeling of static and dynamic views, which are represented by totally different types of diagrams. Understanding of the interplay among interactive, behavioral and structural aspects of specifications is necessary for identification of semantic integrity problems between business process and business data. Typically, semantic inconsistencies and discontinuities between collections of conceptual representations are not easy to detect and to comprehend for information system designers due to static and dynamic aspects of models being visualized in isolation. The goal of this paper is to present a modeling approach for semantic integration and evolution of static and dynamic aspects of conceptual models. Visualization of interplay among structural, interactive and behavioral aspects of computation-neutral representations helps to understand crosscutting concerns and integrity problems of information system conceptualizations. The main advantage of the presented conceptual modeling approach is stability and flexibility of diagrams in dealing with the evolutionary changes of requirements. Therefore, the developed modeling foundation is targeted to both business managers and information system designers for the purpose of computation-neutral integration and evolution of information systems specifications.

Enterprise ontology based development of information systems

For the development of enterprise information systems, the utilisation of a suitable methodology is essential, providing necessary methods and techniques for modelling the business domain and for designing the supporting information systems. Several methodologies exist and are widely applied in practice nowadays, but most of them lack a theoretical foundation. In this paper, we demonstrate an information system development methodology based on the notions of enterprise ontology and business components, and explain it within the conceptual framework called the generic system development process. The methodology allows for reduction of complexity of domain models and for identification of stable business components.

A survey on integrated IS and competitive advantage

PurposeThis paper aims to provide robust evidence of the “IT organizational assimilation capacity” mediating role and to propose a complementary model.Design/methodology/approachBased on theoretical proposition that IT business value is generated by the deployment of IT and complementary organizational resources, a research model was developed and two hypotheses were proposed. These are tested with a survey from 466 top managers in Italian companies. The 466 questionnaires were analyzed in two steps. In the first step, a series construct validation using factor analysis was performed in order to validate the scales. In the second step, a series of analyses using linear regression was performed between the two independent variables and the dependent variable to validate the mediator function of the IT organizational assimilation capacity.FindingsData suggest that most firms have not merged information system (IS) integration with the right complementary organizational resources. The findings also support the notion that competitive advantage does not arise from replicable resources, but from complex, firm‐specific and intangible resources and capabilities. The findings help to explain why some firms struggle while others flourish with the same ITs, and why IT‐based advantages tend to dissipate so rapidly.Research limitations/implicationsThe research suggests that ITs do not merge themselves automatically with human and business resources. Evolving Leavitt's organization diamond and using the paper's data it can be shown that ISs, process, change, flexibility and training are interrelated and mutually adjusting, so when ISs are changed the other components often adjust to dump out the impact of the innovation.Practical implicationsThe proposed model can be used complementary to the requirements methods offered by the IS development methodologies, to mitigate their inherent defects in addressing social, organizational and other non‐technical issues, when developing a new IS.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a model to be used complementary to the requirements methods offered by the IS development methodologies

Toward a Unified Model of Information Systems Development Success

Information systems development (ISD) is a complex process involving interconnected resources, stake holders, and outcomes. Understanding factors contributing to ISD success has attracted keen interest from both researchers and practitioners, and many research studies have been published in this area. However, most studies focus on one or two factors affecting ISD success. A holistic view of factors impacting ISD success is missing. This paper synthesizes past research on the topic and proposes a unified model on ISD success through a systematic and comprehensive literature review. The unified model highlights that ISD is a complex and interactive process involving individual, team, and organization factors, as well as ISD methodology. These factors impact the ISD process as well as its success.

Editorial

We begin this issue with a paper by Thomas Chesney, Iain Coyne, Brian Logan and Neil Madden who explore a new issue to the ISJ, that of griefing in online communities. Griefing is defined as unacceptable, persistent behaviour which is typically targeted at inexperienced residents by those with more knowledge of the virtual world. Virtual worlds are increasingly being used for social and commercial interaction, in addition to their original use for game playing. This paper studies negative behaviour, or ‘griefing’, inside one virtual world (Linden Lab's Second Life) through a cross-disciplinary approach with a quantitative and qualitative methodology, but using a series of observations and focus groups with users in particular. Data were collected to identify griefing behaviours and their impact, examine why griefing happens and who the likely targets and perpetrators are, and suggest strategies for coping with it. Although intolerance, harassment, assault, disclosure, indecency and disturbing the peace are all against the rules of Second Life, they do occur in such communities. Further, it is not a trivial issue: cyberbullying has apparently led to suicides. The findings show that griefing behaviour is common. Community and individual coping strategies are identified by the authors and discussed. One potential strategy for coping with griefing is for the community of users to use the controls available to them (land controls for instance) to collectively deal with troublesome avatars. The paper of Hilary Berger and Paul Beynon-Davies reports on an empirical study of a rapid application development (RAD) project in a large UK public sector organisation. The research is based on 121 interviews providing the reader with a rare in-depth case study of the use of RAD in large and complex projects, RAD being more frequently evidenced in smaller development projects. The case demonstrates problems experienced with the application of iterative development principles, particularly surrounding the conduct of stakeholder involvement within joint design in such an organization, but over time these problems were overcome. The evidence from this case leads the authors to question the established wisdom in relation to the adoption of information systems development methodologies, in particular the interviews suggest that traditional linear development in this situation would not have worked. On the contrary, the case study suggests that the relationship between the methodology and the development environment is a dynamic one, subject to mutual influence and change. This is a particularly striking conclusion as the context is a large and somewhat bureaucratic organization. The paper of Yinglei Wang and Nicole Haggerty concerns the challenges associated with managing knowledge in distributed work contexts. Clearly knowledge management, including that in the virtual world, is an important research topic and yet the authors suggest that knowledge transfer in these contexts has been little researched. The authors argue that people need particular personality capabilities and skills for virtual work and that these, rather than technological or social factors, are a key contributor to effective knowledge transfer. The paper contributes some suggestions as to what these capabilities and skills might look like. In their conceptual research, drawing on self-efficacy theory, channel expansion theory, media naturalness theory and theories about social skill in virtual settings to present the mechanisms to develop virtual competence, the authors develop a theoretical model of individual virtual competence and describe its role in the communication process which underpins effective knowledge transfer in virtual settings. Additionally, they consider the antecedent role that prior experience in virtual activity plays in aiding workers to develop virtual competence which in turn engenders effective knowledge transfer.

Exploring the Nature of Information Systems Development Methodology: A Synthesized View Based on a Literature Review

New Information Systems Development Methodologies (ISDMs) are suggested in the belief that their deployment would be beneficial to consultants in their work. A large number of ISDMs already exist but their value has been questioned and at the same time new methodologies continue to be introduced in an attempt to support and improve the practice of information systems development work. What is not always clear from current studies is that ISDM is a multi-perspective and cross-discipline phenomenon. Although a large amount of knowledge of ISDM is available, different disciplinary interests have resulted in fragmented assessments of it. This paper intends to identify theoretical perspectives applied in the conceptualization of ISDM. A review of the literature on ISDM was conducted and four different theoretical perspectives were identified: 1) system, 2) structure, 3) innovation, and 4) knowledge. While each perspective provides various overarching depictions of ISDM, the synthesized view of ISDM provided in this study reveals the complexities and ambiguities of a multifaceted phenomenon such as ISDM. Suggestions for an alternative conceptualization of ISDM are provided in an attempt to facilitate the investigation of ISDM.

A Framework for Selection of Information Systems Development Methodologies

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A framework for promoting learning in IS design and implementation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to set out an argument for a way to design, implement and manage IS with an emphasis on first, the learning that can be created through undertaking the approach, and second, the learning that may be created through using the IS that was implemented. The paper proposes joining two areas of research namely, technology management with soft systems methodology (SSM). The framework was developed through undertaking a customer concern management project within a manufacturing organisation.Design/methodology/approachReviewing the literature on information systems management, the learning organisation, and systems theory a proposed synergy is found. The outcome of this synergy allows a number of methodologies to be identified that are argued as suitable for IS design. From these information system development (ISD) methodologies, SSM is expanded to incorporate the principles of the learning organisation and systems theory. The expanded SSM framework is applied in practice through a process of participatory action research.FindingsThe outcome of the practical work argues for a complete framework that joins the areas of research (SSM and technology management) and emphasises other thinking from the areas of systems theory and the “learning organisation”.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper concludes with a discussion on the advantages of joining soft systems with technology management but also the limitations created. Such limitations have been identified as moving from the soft, tacit issues of the design phases to the harder more structured aspects of technology implementation and management. A change in philosophy may restrict other issues from being explored. This issue needs to be focussed on in future research.Practical implicationsA framework has been developed that draws on the work of soft systems methodology (SSM) and a technology management process framework (TMPF) used in the area of technology management. By expanding the SSM model and joining it with the TMPF an attempt to give individuals and teams a practical tool to help design, implement, and manage IS with an emphasis on learning the framework promotes.Originality/valueThe framework provides advantages for academics, consultants and other practitioners and gives a central focus on what issues need to be accomplished more explicitly in order to undertake an ISD project.

An empirical evaluation of a methodology‐tailoring information system development model

AbstractOver the years a multitude of methodologies of information systems development have emerged. While many of these methodologies have shown promise, prior research has shown that system development is a highly circumstantial process, and that no one methodology will be optimal for every context of every project. Research has also shown that system development practitioners have been using an ad hoc approach to modify formal methodologies in order to create a better fit for their circumstances.This article presents a more formal approach: a new model informed by the principles of general systems theory, which can be used to adapt existing information system development methodologies through the identification of general isomorphic properties.The results are reported from an experiment that was conducted to measure the model in terms of developer satisfaction with the finished product, the development process, and the problem solving process. Also, the results of an evaluation by expert judges on finished products created using the model are shown. These results show that there is promise in the new model and that more research needs to be conducted. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Development of E-Government Services For Cultural Heritage

This article is aimed at defining a framework for the design of e-government services on cultural heritage. Starting from an analysis of three cases on digitization of different types of cultural objects, we highlight the problems existing in the creation of e-services on cultural heritage. These cases show the existence of four key issues in the development of this kind of information systems: digitization, requirement engineering, standardization, and interoperability. The proposed framework addresses these issues, focusing on the user requirements on one side, and the cultural object representation—which is the key to interoperability—on the other. In the cultural domain, the EU Lisbon strategy pushes for the compatibility of shared content across multiple, locally generated contents. Dynamic content exchange requires the use of a prescriptive framework for the development of cultural heritage Web sites. This article provides such a framework, using observation from concrete applications, knowledge of information systems development methodologies, and the IDEF0 modelling method.

The Event Construct in Active Information Systems

The Event Construct in Active Information Systems Salvatore T. March Vanderbilt University Gove N. Allen Tulane University Abstract Organizations and the information systems that support them are artificial and intentionally designed artifacts. Policies and procedures created by an organization define how specific events affect the states of things about which the organization is concerned. Active information systems are designed to participate in the operation and management of organizational processes. They calculate and ascribe state to material and artificial things according to rules designed by the organization and activated when identified events occur. The ontological definition of an event as a state-transition proscribes the representation of events as entities. The resultant conceptualization of an information system as a state-tracking mechanism obscures the critical role that events play in active information systems. Effective analysis and design of such systems requires a more substantive ontological definition of an event as an entity having both identity and properties. Included in an event's properties are the rules that govern state transitions caused by the event. The resultant conceptualization of an information system is an event-processing mechanism, actively interpreting and re-interpreting events with respect to extant and posed rules. This ontological definition treats things and events uniformly as entities enabling them to have appropriate representations at the conceptual level. It provides a context in which learning can be represented through the definition, identification, and classification of critical events and the evaluation and evolution of rules governing their effects. Additional research is needed to develop and evaluate conceptual modeling grammars and methods that implement this event conceptualization within an information system development methodology. March 22, 2006

Special Theme of Research in Information Systems Analysis and Design-IV Evaluation Criteria for Information Systems Development Methodologies

The evaluation of information systems development methodologies is becoming increasingly important. Some researchers propose their own criteria for conceptual evaluations. But such criteria are often constrained by the limitation of the researcher’s view toward and experience with development methodologies. Furthermore, existing evaluation criteria are either not practical for direct measurement or not tested for validity and reliability. The lack of a generally acceptable, practically valid, and reliable set of criteria for evaluation hinders the development of knowledge in this area. Our study is a step toward developing a systematic process to evaluate information systems development methodologies. We captured the opinions of a group of twenty-eight researchers and practitioners who are experienced in information systems development methodologies. Through a systematic content analysis, the authors classified these criteria into three categories: (1) methodology design, (2) methodology use, and (3) methodology deliverables. The three categories of criteria are not totally separate in that they represent the means and goals of information systems development methodologies. Appropriate criteria should be applied depending on the stages when evaluation is performed.

The knowledge management efficacy of matching information systems development methodologies with application characteristics—an experimental study

An experimental study was conducted to determine whether appropriately matching methodology type to the characteristics of the business application being developed resulted in more effective knowledge-work processes among team members. Specifically, the experiment compared the use of hypermedia systems development methodologies to that of conventional software engineering methodologies in enabling knowledge work processes during the development of hypermedia-intensive business applications. Results obtained indicate that there is value in effectively matching methodologies to application domain. Based on this finding, there is justification in employing strong-typed methodologies for systems design projects particularly in the cases where the application domain is quite specialized. Our results also suggest that Information Technology (IT) studies that assess methodology influences on the resultant Information System (IS) artifact need to include knowledge and/or cognitive elements and their related theories. Since systems development is knowledge intensive, inclusion of cognitive and knowledge aspects provide a more complete model of how methodologies influence the various aspects of the IS artifact.

The Utilization of Information Systems Development Methodologies in Practice

The objective of our research is to study people and their actions within an organizational context, namely whether and how system developers use Information Systems Development methodologies in practice. This article adds to the ongoing discussion about the practical use of ISD methodologies. Many prescriptive and normative textbooks as well as anecdotes exist, but there is little empirical documentation about the actual use of development methods. To contribute to the scientific documentation of methodology utilization, we provide here an empirically based study of the practical use of development methods in three projects within a large Danish software development company. Founded on a Grounded Theory analysis we identified five main categories of themes, which are related and have an effect on the use of ISD methodologies. These include 1) the extent to which a specific methodology is universally applicable, 2) the need for confidence of and between the parties involved, 3) the degree of the developer’s experience, 4) the developer’s wish for co-determination in the development process, and 5) the nature of the introduction process for a method. Our results confirm existing research in the field and offer new insights, especially with regard to the interplay and relationship of the different, identified themes.

Information Systems Development Methodologies: Evidence and Experience from the NHS

This paper reports an early stage in research into the use of IS methodologies in the NHS. The application context emerges as one which is highly culturally driven, but in which inappropriate instrumental methodologies, examples of which are given, have been used to develop information systems. The way forward is seen to lie in a view of the problem context based in social theory and some preliminary ideas in relation to this are proposed.

Information Systems Development Methodologies and all that Jazz

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

Software Process and Product Improvement: A Historical Perspective

In this paper, a historical overview of significant attempts to get over the software crisis is presented. In particular, we trace the development of lifecycle models and information systems development methodologies during the last four decades. Finally, we explore the role of measurements and outline current and future works leading to process and product improvement.