The Organization of End User Development in an Accounting Company - End User Computing Challenges and Technologies: Emerging Tools and Applications - page 103

introduCtion

ticular on the intereaction of the design and use
activity systems. Furthermore, the support needs
of the users (accountants) varied depending on
the clients with whom they interact (from small
and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to large
enterprises).
Previously the problem of introducing new
technology into an organization has been ad-
dressed by bringing users and professional devel-
opers closer together (Grudin, 1991), for example,
conducting user testing in developer laboratories;
developing in-house software systems using par-
ticipatory design techniques (Namioka & Schuler,
1993); and instituting companywide teaching
programs. The case we analyzed had a different
goal, namely to bridge the gap between developers
and users by creating new user-developer roles.
Furthermore, these roles were acknowledged and
supported by management in the organization and
they persisted after the technology had been put
into use and the researchers had left the site.
We present a case study of “super users” who
we define as “ regular employees with in-depth
knowledge of one or more of the organization's
computer applications without being program-
mers .” Super users have both domain expertise and
computer know-how, and they are trained to teach
other users. They are not trained as programmers;
instead they interact with regular users and with
local developers in their daily work. We analyzed
how an organization successfully initiates a
program to train super users in conjunction with
introducing a new software application, Visma
Business (VB). Based on empirical material, we
discuss our experiences and summarize our find-
ings. Our research was formulated to address the
following questions:

The concept of coworker competence has become
a matter of interest in many companies in Scandi-
navia as well as elsewhere in the world. Work has
become significantly more complex as workers
confront the integration of traditional work with
computer use. Employees in the modern work-
place need to master new tools while continuing
to employ older skills. In addition, the available
task-relevant information has mushroomed. In
knowledge intensive domains, such as accounting,
this involves immediate access to large amounts
of information (e.g., all the rules for income tax
returns for various enterprises).
The development of coworker competence
must keep pace with the introduction of new
technology (Edwards, 1997; Ellström, Gustavs-
son, & Larsson, 1996). It raises the importance
of how organizations employ information and
communication technology (ICT) to adapt the
workplace to the learning needs of diverse em-
ployees, or increase the flexibility of technical
support (for example, using in-house expertise
vs. buying software for adaptation; IT consultants
vs. outsourcing). For the company in our study,
we focused our observations and interviews on
the technical and organizational infrastructures
(Guribye, 2005) surrounding a new business ap-
plication. This perspective enabled us to analyze
activities associated with end user development
(EUD) and learning at work, two important aspects
in the adoption and use of generic (multipurpose)
applications. We have chosen a framework for
analysis based on activity theory (Engeström,
1987; Kaptelinin, 1996; Kuutti, 1996; Nardi, 1996).
This framework provides analytic categories that
allowed us to focus both on the integration of
design and use and the integration of work and
learning. We find that these four related activities
need to be addressed when introducing complex
application systems into an organization with a
large and diverse user group. We focus in par-

• How do super users engage in EUD activi-

ties in order to achieve an efficient use of a
complex computer application?
How are EUD activities organized (roles,
division of labor, etc.)?

•