Design Science Research is a powerful paradigm enabling researchers to make important contributions to society and industry. Simply stated, the goal of DSR is to generate knowledge on how to find innovative solutions to important problems in the form of models, methods, constructs and instantiations. Over the past 20 years, the design science research (DSR) paradigm has developed into an established paradigm in Information Systems Research and it is of strong uptake in many other disciplines, including Management Science and Computer Science. This book provides a collection of twelve DSR cases, presented by experienced researchers in the field. It offers readers access to real-world DSR studies, together with the authors' reflections on their research processes. These cases will support researchers who want to engage in DSR, and represent a valuable addition to existing introductions to DSR methods and processes. Readers will learn from the hands-on experiences of respected experts who have conducted extensive DSR in a range of application contexts.

Design Science Research is a powerful paradigm enabling researchers to make important contributions to society and industry. Simply stated, the goal of DSR is to generate knowledge on how to find innovative solutions to important problems in the form of models, methods, constructs and instantiations. Over the past 20 years, the design science research (DSR) paradigm has developed into an established paradigm in Information Systems Research and it is of strong uptake in many other disciplines, including Management Science and Computer Science. This book provides a collection of twelve DSR cases, presented by experienced researchers in the field. It offers readers access to real-world DSR studies, together with the authors' reflections on their research processes. These cases will support researchers who want to engage in DSR, and represent a valuable addition to existing introductions to DSR methods and processes. Readers will learn from the hands-on experiences of respected experts who have conducted extensive DSR in a range of application contexts.

It is 5 years since the publication of the seminal paper on "Design Science in Information Systems Research" by Hevner, March, Park, and Ram in MIS Quarterly and the initiation of the Information Technology and Systems department of the Communications of AIS. These events in 2004 are markers in the move of design science to the forefront of information systems research. A suf cient interval has elapsed since then to allow assessment of from where the eld has come and where it should go. Design science research and behavioral science research started as dual tracks when IS was a young eld. By the 1990s, the in ux of behavioral scientists started to dominate the number of design scientists and the eld moved in that direction. By the early 2000s, design people were having dif culty publishing in mainline IS journals and in being tenured in many universities. Yes, an annual Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (WITS) was established in 1991 in conju- tion with the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and grew each year. But that was the extent of design science recognition. Fortunately, a revival is underway. By 2009, when this foreword was written, the fourth DESRIST c- ference has been held and plans are afoot for the 2010 meeting. Design scientists regained respect and recognition in many venues where they previously had little.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology, DESRIST 2017, held in May/June 2017 in Karlsruhe, Germany. The 25 full and 11 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 66 full and 19 short papers. The contributions are organized in topical sections named: DSR in business process management; DSR in human computer interaction; DSR in data science and business analytics; DSR in service science; methodological contributions; domain-specific DSR applications; emerging themes and new ideas; and products and prototypes.

It is 5 years since the publication of the seminal paper on "Design Science in Information Systems Research" by Hevner, March, Park, and Ram in MIS Quarterly and the initiation of the Information Technology and Systems department of the Communications of AIS. These events in 2004 are markers in the move of design science to the forefront of information systems research. A suf cient interval has elapsed since then to allow assessment of from where the eld has come and where it should go. Design science research and behavioral science research started as dual tracks when IS was a young eld. By the 1990s, the in ux of behavioral scientists started to dominate the number of design scientists and the eld moved in that direction. By the early 2000s, design people were having dif culty publishing in mainline IS journals and in being tenured in many universities. Yes, an annual Workshop on Information Technology and Systems (WITS) was established in 1991 in conju- tion with the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and grew each year. But that was the extent of design science recognition. Fortunately, a revival is underway. By 2009, when this foreword was written, the fourth DESRIST c- ference has been held and plans are afoot for the 2010 meeting. Design scientists regained respect and recognition in many venues where they previously had little.

Researchers travel on paths of knowledge throughout life and the outcomes of rigorous scientific investigation result in contributions of new knowledge to the world. The Information Systems (IS) discipline is particularly suited for contributing to digital innovations and the corresponding knowledge growth. IS research develops not only knowledge in the form of understanding and designing digital technologies but also the implementation and use of actual socio-technical systems. In this review, the authors integrate the current thinking in the design science research (DSR) literature around the conceptual and methodological foundations of these high-level topics into a conceptual knowledge path framework. The authors position DSR at the intersection of science and technology where the interplay of descriptive and prescriptive knowledge is most active. They delineate the various forms of prescriptive design knowledge and examine the knowledge paths that utilize and produce the varied forms of knowledge in a DSR project. They define, analyze, and expand the ideas of knowledge gaps and journeys and argue that more attention to design postulates in DSR along the outlined knowledge paths can contribute to an increase in actionable and sustainable digital innovations within the IS discipline. By doing so, the authors aim to guide and inspire design-oriented IS researchers to actively and deliberately consider and incorporate a greater variety of existing knowledge into their designs, reflect even more thoroughly and systematically on their knowledge usage and contributions, and explicate and document these reflections in their publications.