Universal framework for information activities

This paper defines a new fundamental, conceptual component of an information system. This component, together with the principles of systems-theoretical control structure and linguistic abstraction, is employed in constructing a universal hierarchical framework for the information activities in an organization. The framework lays the foundations for the analysis, modelling and evaluation of different kinds of informations systems, and their positions and relations of information activities in an organization. It thus offers a comprehensive model of information systems and a basis for research problem settings on all framework levels, e.g., on the information systems development (ISD) level and the ISD model construction level. The framework is shown to compete favorably with the earlier frameworks constructed by ANSI, ISO, Ives, et al., Nolan and Wetherbe, and Zahran.