The Organization of End User Development in an Accounting Company - End User Computing Challenges and Technologies: Emerging Tools and Applications - page 108

(Kaasbøll & Øgrim, 1994). Supers users were
selected to take part in this activity based on
their skill in using the new system, knowledge of
the application domain, and their ability to teach
other employees to use the system effectively. In
the case we studied, the Company defined the role
of super users under a contract-based agreement
with a group of accountants distributed across
the organization.
EUD activities can be located along a con-
tinuum from regular use to professional develop-
ment. The spectrum includes:

sociocultural perspective

When the Company shifted from using several
accounting applications to one core application,
VB, it encountered the situation of a new system
impacting an existing work process. The super
user initiative that was launched as a result of
this process created a subsidiary function in the
organization that modified the conditions for
individual and collaborative communication and
problem solving. To understand the various roles
and relationships that were created as a result
of this intervention, we need a theoretical per-
spective and explanatory terms. A sociocultural
perspective allows us to talk about how human
development changes through interaction and col-
laboration with peers while mediated by artifacts
such as ICT (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky,
1978; Wertsch, 1998).
The sociocultural perspective can help us to
understand the relationship between individuals
and the artifacts they use and work with and the
organizational units they belong to. It implies that
artifacts, such as computer applications, mediate
interactions between people. The introduction of
new technology, such as an accounting application,
creates a discontinuity between how tasks used
to be carried and how they will be accomplished
in the future using the new technology. From a
sociocultural perspective, the concept of “artifact”
is used in a broad sense but with a strong focus
on its mediating function (Cole, 1996; Wertsch,
1998). Understanding artifact mediation gives
us some insight into how knowledge is accumu-
lated in the organization, for example, how it is
represented in computers and distributed among
individuals and processes that persist over time
through transformations and discontinuous de-
velopments. In our case, knowledge concerning
accounting was codified in the existing system in
the form of rules and procedures and specialized
client-specific business solutions. The new artifact
(VB) creates opportunities and constraints on
accomplishing required accounting tasks (often

• Regular users: Workers who are not inter-

ested in tailoring a system, but who want to
use the system's various productivity and
computational tools to accomplish their
required tasks.
Super users: Domain-trained workers who
are also skilled with computers, interested in
exploring tools for tailoring if there is time
set aside for this and who like to teach other
user how to use the system. Super users are
boundary spanners and translators between
regular users and local developers.
Local developers: Domain-trained workers
who have more computer skill than super
users. They know more about programming
and have more responsibility than super us-
ers and will often be asked to coordinate the
organization's EUD activities. They commu-
nicate directly with professional developers
regarding development tasks that cannot be
accomplished locally. In the company we
report on, one person was assigned the posi-
tion of “application coordinator.” We see this
person as a local developer in light of the EUD
activities he performs. We will refer to him
by the position he holds.
Professional developers: IT workers who
develop a new software application or a new
version of an existing application. Developers
work in software houses and are trained as
software engineers and/or programmers.

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