Configuring Information Systems and Work Practices for Each Other: What Competences Are Needed Locally?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Configuring Information Systems and Work Practices for Each Other: What Competences Are Needed Locally?

AU - Hertzum, Morten

AU - Simonsen, Jesper

PY - 2019/2

Y1 - 2019/2

N2 - Previously technical design was the realm of software engineers; now it is increasingly completed by users who configure systems after go-live. To exploit the possibilities afforded by systems the users also adapt their practices in response to their systems. The process of configuring systems and practices for each other is rich in local particulars, protracted in time, and demanding in competences. In this study we catalog the competences needed locally to accomplish change by configuring systems and practices for each other. The empirical context for the study is a project about reducing hospital patients’ fasting time before surgical operations. We identify and describe 21 competences that must be present locally. They form seven types: managing projects, understanding practice, understanding technology, preparing change, making change, assessing change, and personal traits. The project participants display the competence types with varying frequencies, thereby for example indicating that understanding practice is a larger issue than understanding technology. Preparing and making change are, probably, the two competence types that are most thinly spread locally. The catalog of the competences needed locally to configure systems and practices for each other after go-live can inform decisions about project staffing, competence building, and – more generally – curriculum development.

AB - Previously technical design was the realm of software engineers; now it is increasingly completed by users who configure systems after go-live. To exploit the possibilities afforded by systems the users also adapt their practices in response to their systems. The process of configuring systems and practices for each other is rich in local particulars, protracted in time, and demanding in competences. In this study we catalog the competences needed locally to accomplish change by configuring systems and practices for each other. The empirical context for the study is a project about reducing hospital patients’ fasting time before surgical operations. We identify and describe 21 competences that must be present locally. They form seven types: managing projects, understanding practice, understanding technology, preparing change, making change, assessing change, and personal traits. The project participants display the competence types with varying frequencies, thereby for example indicating that understanding practice is a larger issue than understanding technology. Preparing and making change are, probably, the two competence types that are most thinly spread locally. The catalog of the competences needed locally to configure systems and practices for each other after go-live can inform decisions about project staffing, competence building, and – more generally – curriculum development.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - competences

KW - sociotechnical change

KW - systems implementation

KW - Design in use

KW - configurability

KW - user-driven design

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.10.006

DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.10.006

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1071-5819

VL - 122

SP - 242

EP - 255

JO - International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

JF - International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

ER -