Ulrich Frank

Ulrich Frank (born 1958) is a German Business informatician and Professor of Business informatics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, known for his work on the state of the art in information systems research^[1] and the development of the Multi-Perspective Enterprise Modeling (MEMO) meta modelling framework.^[2]

After studying business administration at the University of Cologne, Frank in 1988 received his doctorate from the University of Mannheim with a dissertation, entitled "Expertensysteme – Neue Automatisierungspotentiale im Büro- und Verwaltungsbereich" (Expert systems - New Potentials for automation in office and administration area).^[3]

Frank wrote his habilitation in 1993 at the University of Marburg, and was appointed Professor of computer science at the University of Koblenz-Landau in 1994. In 2004 Frank moved to the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he was appointed Professor of computer science and business enterprise modeling.^[4]

The focus of Frank's work is on multi-perspective enterprise modeling. He has developed and researched the (meta-) method Multi-Perspective Enterprise Modeling (MEMO), which propagates a scientific approach of enterprise modeling and adds value in the discourse of integrative modeling, across the functional areas of business functions.

Frank published several books and articles.^[5] Books:

• Ulrich Frank. Expertensysteme: Neue Automatisierungspotentiale im Büro- und Verwaltungsbereich?, Gabler, 1988.
• Ulrich Frank and J. Kronen. Kommunikationsanalyseverfahren als Grundlage der Gestaltung von Informationssystemen: Konzeptioneller Bezugsrahmen, Anwendungspraxis und Perspektiven, Vieweg, 1991.
• Ulrich Frank. Multiperspektivische Unternehmensmodellierung: Theoretischer Hintergrund und Entwurf einer objektorientierten Entwicklungsumgebung, Oldenbourg Verlag, 1994.

Articles, a selection:

• Frank, Ulrich. "Multi-perspective enterprise modeling: foundational concepts, prospects and future research challenges." Software & Systems Modeling, July 2014, Volume 13, Issue 3, pp 941–962.
• Frank, Ulrich. "Conceptual modelling as the core of the information systems discipline-perspectives and epistemological challenges." AMCIS 1999 Proceedings (1999): 240.
• Frank, Ulrich. "Multi-perspective enterprise modeling (memo) conceptual framework and modeling languages." System Sciences, 2002. HICSS. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on. IEEE, 2002.
• Frank, Ulrich. "Evaluation of reference models." Reference modeling for business systems analysis (2007): 118-140.
• Frank, Ulrich. Towards a pluralistic conception of research methods in information systems research. No. 7. ICB-research report, 2006.
• Hubert Österle, Jörg Becker, Ulrich Frank, Thomas Hess, Dimitris Karagiannis, Helmut Krcmar, Peter Loos, Peter Mertens, Andreas Oberweis, and Elmar J. Sinz (2011). "Memorandum on design-oriented information systems research." European Journal of Information Systems, 20(1), 7-10.

• Ulrich Frank homepage at the University of Duisburg-Essen
• Multi-Perspective Enterprise Modelling Homepage at the University of Duisburg-Essen
• Ulrich Frank im Gespräch über Sprache, Abstraktion und konzeptuelle Modelle in: Perspektiven | Wirtschaftsinformatik-Podcast, Folge 2, 18.05.2016. (in German)