On Monday, April 3, 2017, Michael Beul has successfully passed his doctoral examination on the subject of "Real-time information retrieval for software-intensive systems" ("Echtzeit-Informationsbeschaffung in softwareintensiven Systemen"). His doctoral dissertation is about the development of a generic framework that specifies how to support users of software-intensive systems of an appropriate application domain in real-time and automatically with relevant information. The supply of information is based on the collective intelligence („the crowd”). Mr. Beul’s dissertation illustrates the possibility of achieving success in the design-oriented field of business informatics and especially of software engineering. Moreover, his dissertation is a commendable example for the attainment of highly relevant and scientifically founded results for practical work in university research for IT. It is a pleasure for the whole SOFTEC team to congratulate Mr. Beul on his doctorate and we wish him all the best and much success for his further career.