Systems Development Methods for the Next Century

This book is a result of the ISD'97, Sixth International Conference on Information Systems Development-Methods and Tools, Theory and Practice held August 11-14, 1997 in Boise, Idaho, USA. The purpose of this Conference was to address the issues facing academia and industry when specifying, developing, managing and improving software systems. The selection of papers was carried out by the International Program Committee. All papers were reviewed in advance by at least three people. Papers were judged according to their originality, relevance and presentation quality. All papers were judged purely on their own merits, independently of other submissions. This year's Information Systems Development Conference-ISD'97 is the first ISD conference being held in the US. ISD was brought into existence almost ten years ago. It continues the fine tradition of the first Polish-Scandinavian Seminar on Current Trends in Information Systems Development Methodologies, held in Gdansk-Poland in 1988. ISD'98 will be held in Bled, Slovenia. ISD'97 consists not only of the technical program represented in these proceedings, but also tutorials on improved software testing and end-user information systems and workshop on sharing knowledge within international high technology industries that are intended for both, the research and business communities. We would like to thank the authors of papers accepted for ISD'97 who all made gal­ lant efforts to provide me with electronic copies of their manuscripts conforming to com­ mon guidelines. We thank them for thoughtfully responding to reviewers comments and carefully preparing their final contributions.