What is the competitive advantage of interoperable information systems? Taking this research question as a guideline the paper discusses how to approach the challenge of assessing the benefits of integrated systems. The main focus is laid on the direct and indirect effects of standardization projects which aim at continuous and homogenous order processing data. The knowledge based approach starts on data level and takes care of the interdependencies between the subsequent levels of aggregation. The problem immanent complexity is caused by the variety of heterogeneous product and process describing attributes. The application of management cybernetics in order to handle this challenge constitutes the focal point of this paper.