Introduction

In the early days of computers, expertise was needed in order to use computers. As IT tools have become more powerful and user friendly, more and more people have been able to use computers and programs as tools when carrying out working tasks. Nowadays, it is even possible for people without special IT training to construct information systems (IS) that only IT specialists could have done some years ago.

In this chapter the conditions and effects of User Systems Development (USD) using a spreadsheet program (SP) are discussed. USD is performed by a user-developer (UD), a person who acts both as a user and a systems developer. A typical feature of a UD is he/she has a good knowledge of the business and the work related to the IS in question, which is called the user developed application (UDA).

In Figure 1, the difference between Traditional Systems Development (TSD) (1) and USD (2) is outlined in order to demonstrate the nature of USD in contrast to TSD since TSD is familiar to the IS community. To the IT-specialist, knowledge about IS development tools (e.g., methods, program languages) (1a) is in primary focus when developing Tradition Information Systems (TISs) (1c). This is the core of his/her professional knowledge. Knowledge about business (1b) is of course essential but not primary. To the UD knowledge about business (2a) is in primary focus and knowledge about IS development tools (2b) is just a means to accomplish business-oriented tasks, eventually by developing UDAs (2c). The IT-specialist has access to knowledge about IS development tools that is hard to access for non-professionals. Some business knowledge is hard to access to the IT-specialist, since this knowledge is not in the professional knowledge domain of the IT-specialist. The UD on the other hand is the expert on business knowledge. His professionalism depends on his knowledge about business. No one can replace him in this matter. In order to perform USD the UD needs some knowledge about IS development tools. It is not possible though to have access to as much knowledge about IS development tools as the IT-specialist has.

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Figure 1: The Relation Between Knowledge and Development

To both the IT-specialist and the UD, both kinds of knowledge are to some degree necessary. In order to make an information system, the most important kind of knowledge is in general knowledge about business, since the information system is about the business. The thick arrow in Figure 1 demonstrates this circumstance.

In order to develop information systems, knowledge about business has to be transferred from business specialists to IT-specialists. This transfer is problematic since people have different frames of references (Alter, 1996; Yourdon, 1989). The entire intention of the sender can therefore not be transferred to the IT-specialist. On the other hand, the IT-specialist cannot fulfill the requirements, since he cannot completely understand the business specialist. Complex systems development tasks still have to be performed through TSD, but as more powerful systems development tools are at hand, the possibilities to perform USD are enhanced from year to year. Spreadsheet programs have properties that give the UD access to IS development features without being an IT-specialist. Other ways to overcome this gap is to perform systems development with an inclusive approach, e.g., RAD (Tudhope, Beynon-Davies, Mackay & Slack, 2001). The systems discussed in this chapter are often small and local and, thereby often not suitable for traditional systems development projects.

With the discussion above in mind, the basic research questions in the chapter are the following:

  • What new possibilities can computer users develop in order to perform tasks, when they can develop ISs without help from IT specialists?

The question can be subdivided into the following questions:

  • How can UDs take not-easily-formulated knowledge into consideration when performing USD?

  • What kind of IS development tool knowledge does a UD need in order to perform tasks?

  • What other conditions affect the UD's possibilities to perform USD?

  • Which effects are the results of USD?



Computing Information Technology. The Human Side
Computing Information Technology: The Human Side
ISBN: 1931777527
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 186

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