Abstract:
The goal of this research is to develop an integrative modelling technique that is easy enough to be used by most
business users with little training, but robust and structured enough to be used in subsequent Information Systems
Development (ISD) modelling. This technique attempts to bridge the current gap between modelling on a business
level and modelling on a technical level. The overall research methodology is design science research, embedding
a grounded approach, to develop an integrative modelling technique. The resultant artefact is applied to a case
study to test its applicability and suitability, and the results are evaluated. The results show that the proposed
integrative modelling technique that is based on a better understanding of the fundamental entities in business
and ISD modelling and their properties, attributes and relationships, can be used as a method to model business
situations easily and expressively. By overcoming the divide between business and ISD modelling, the technique
also advances informal, mostly textual, business modelling. The paper makes a methodological contribution by
establishing a new technique that integrates business analysis with ISD, as well as demonstrating how a single
case study could serve as an exemplar of a theory.
