• Posted Feb. 18, 2020

Study: A Ten-Step Decision Path to Determine When to Use Blockchain Technologies

Problem:

Many modern information systems are large and complex. Analyzing or designing them means that IS professionals need to consider multiple perspectives. IS professionals use conceptual models – semi-formal graphical visualizations of real-world domains – to help build their understanding. The number and variety of different models can be large. We do not know how IS professionals can effectively and efficiently choose between different models, use them to develop an understanding of an IS domain, or how useful different combinations of conceptual models are for their work. We do not know whether analysis or design practices building on multiple conceptual models is effective or how it can be better supported through better model design.

How it was studied:

We propose new hypotheses about:

- How IS professionals select between different conceptual models for systems analysis and design,

- How they read multiple models to develop a complete and clear understanding of a real-world IS domain, and

- How useful different combinations of conceptual models are to IS professionals.

We suggest that IS professionals will prefer combinations of conceptual models that maximize the coverage of real-world domain elements, while at the same time, minimizing overlap of distinct information elements between different models.

Take away:

IS professionals should be mindful of whether they require a simplified versus a more complete representation of the real world to complete their tasks effectively. When conceptual models are developed to aid IS professionals, tradeoffs between completeness and clarity should be taken into account already to make the models fit for use.