An assessment of information systems taxonomies: time to be re-evaluate?

Dramatic advances in technology, evolving organizational structures and increasing user influence are impacting the types of information systems (IS) being developed. These are not recognized adequately by existing taxonomies which tend to be incomplete, unclear, simplistic, unwieldy, inflexible or some combination of these. Fourteen models from the literature are described and discussed in light of today's myriad systems. A user-oriented two-dimensional taxonomy utilizing user type (institution or individual) and type of system support provided to the user (data, communication, information, or decision) is developed.