Distributed information systems design through software teams

The environment for which business information systems (IS) are designed has evolved from the centralized, localized, and internal environments of the past to today's distributed, global, and open-ended task domains. At the same time the increasingly global nature of business competition is creating a need for the rapid redesign of business processes and the IS that support them. These changes along with the advent of ubiquitous networked “computers” necessitate a new software design model if tomorrow's IS are to be effective. The purpose of this research is to provide a model that facilitates the creation of these new adaptable, distributed IS. To create the new IS design model this research utilizes theories from diverse disciplines. We reconceptualize distributed IS as flexible teams composed of software components. This conceptualization allows us to view the coordination of software teams as organizational science researchers view the coordination of human teams. Combining research from Contingency Theory, Coordination Theory, and Information Processing Theory with research in Structured Systems Analysis and Design, Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Component-Based Design, and Business Object Design we create a new distributed IS design model. This research then validates the Software Team design model in two steps. First, we introduce a taxonomy of distributed information systems based on IS task environment and use the results of a field research study to provide an example classification. Second, we provide a proof of concept IS developed utilizing the Software Team design model.