Conceptual Schema-Centric Development: A Grand Challenge for Information Systems Research

The goal of automating information systems building was stated in the sixties. Forty years later it is clear that the goal has not been achieved in a satisfactory degree. One of the problems has been the lack of standards in languages and platforms. In this respect, the recent efforts on standardization provide an opportunity to revive the automation goal. This is the main purpose of this paper. We have named the goal “conceptual schema-centric development” (CSCD) in order to emphasize that the conceptual schema should be the center of the development of information systems. We show that to develop an information system it is necessary to define its conceptual schema and that, therefore, the CSCD approach does not place an extra burden on developers. In CSCD, conceptual schemas would be explicit, executable in the production environment and the basis for the system evolution. To achieve the CSCD goal it is necessary to solve many research problems. We identify and comment on a few problems that should be included in a research agenda for CSCD. Finally, we show that the CSCD goal can be qualified as a grand challenge for the information systems research community.