Abstract

The research question that underpins this paper is ‘What are the novel features of IS design practice

‘in the wild’? In order to help answer this question, a theoretical perspective that focuses on

practitioners’ ‘situated practical theory’ in the ‘co-production’ of IS designs is adopted. The context

for this study is that firms operating in the IT sector face particular challenges in navigating the

complex web of global regulatory requirements. Accordingly, practitioners indicate the need for IT

artefacts to informate and help automate compliance processes in organizations. This paper reports

on the design of an innovative IT artefact called Compliance-to-Product (C2P), which is argued to be

in the vanguard of a new breed of IS called Compliance Knowledge Management Systems (CKMS).

The paper describes how this IT artefact was designed by a small-to-medium sized software

enterprise, whose design architecture originated in the ‘situated practical theory’ of the company’s

founder. However, the findings illustrate that the detailed design was ‘co-produced’ by a network of

social actors from collaborating organizations and that this emerged over time. The paper’s

concluding observation is that the findings pose a question for design science and the claims for its

ability to shape design practice.

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