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This research article employs the Design Science Research methodology. The mission of a Design Science is to develop knowledge to be used in the design and realization of artifacts (Cole, Purao, Rossi, & Sein, 2005; Hevner, March, Park, & Ram 2004; Van Aken, 1999). To distinguish between Design Science and ’simple’ design, the artifact has to present an innovation of the existing scientific knowledge base by improving technical, social or informational resources (Hevner, 2007). An artifact is a product of technology research, e.g., a framework, a set of guidelines, a model, a language, or a method.
The following Table 1 shows the IT artifacts according to Hevner, March, Park, and Ram (2004) and Hevner (2007) used in the context of this research article.
Table 1. | IT Artifact | Description |
| Language | Vocabulary as well as the amount of rules
for the description of a domain |
| Method | Scheduled procedure for the fulfillment
of a defined task |
| Model | Representation of a section of a domain
on the basis of a language |
| Implementation | Realization of an IT Artifact
in its usage environment |