The ARchitecture of integrated Information Systems (ARIS) is based on an integration concept derived from a holistic view of business processes. The first step in creating the architecture is to develop a business process model containing all basic features for describing business processes. The result is a highly complex model, which is broken down into individual views so that its complexity is reduced. Due to this breakdown, it is possible to describe the content of individual views by special methods suitable for a specific view without having to pay attention to the numerous view interrelationships. The relationships between the views are incorporated in a final step and combined to form an overall overview of process chains without any redundancies.

A second approach that also reduces complexity is a differentiation via descriptions. Following the lifecycle concept, the various description methods for information systems are classified based on their proximity to information technology. This ensures a consistent description, from business management problems through to technical implementation.

Thus, the ARIS concept is a framework for developing and optimizing integrated information systems and for describing their implementation. As the emphasis lies on the technical descriptive level, the ARIS concept serves as a model for creating, analyzing, and evaluating business management process chains. Scheer describes the Architecture of integrated Information Systems in more detail (see Scheer, Architecture of Integrated Information Systems, 1992, and Scheer, ARIS - Business Process Frameworks, 1998).