The Biography and Evolution of Standard Software Packages
Is a three year project funded under the Economic & Social Research Council (2004-2007). The project is a comparative and sociological study of the development, use and evolution of standardised computer systems and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software packages. We are attempting to shift the debate within the social study of information systems, from one that is primarily focused on implementation studies, to one that follows software as it evolves, matures and crosses organisational boundaries. Through tracing and comparing the biography of a number of software systems we attempt to develop a new vocabulary for the dynamics that surround standardised software. Members of the project are conducting a number of ethnographic studies in supplier organisations, user settings, user forums, and applying theories from the Sociology of Technology, Technology Studies, Innovation Studies, and beyond.
Workshop: New Approaches to the Study of Organisational Software, 19th and 20th March, 2008, ISSTI, University of Edinburgh (draft programme).
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New Book: Software and Organisations: The Biography of the Enterprise-Wide System or How SAP Conquered the World (Routledge Series in Technology, Work and Organizations) The modern enterprise-wide information system has become a software package. A small number of software suppliers, of which the software giant SAP is the clear leader, have apparently succeeded in deploying their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions across many different organisations, sectors and countries around the globe. Large organisations now appear to be dominated by a new breed of standardised software package. These are not the locally specific, tailor-made systems experts had predicted would prevail but the most highly generic kind of information system. This illustrates a significant shift involving the reshaping of the corporate information system. How has this happened? How did SAP conquer the world with its ERP system? The received wisdom amongst social scientists within Science and Technology Studies and the Social Study of Information Systems is that such standardised solutions could only have limited applicability: there is no such thing as a one size fits all universal solution. Given the diversity of organisations and sectors, they insist that generic systems can only work to the extent that they are adapted by user organisations through messy localisation processes. They cannot explain the success of packaged solutions. This book seeks to overcome this gap in our understanding of the origins of this kind of software and its extension to all sectors. It analyses the sophisticated strategies developed by suppliers to develop generic solutions, focussing upon the ways in which they manage their relationships with their current and potential customer base. This is the first book that addresses the genesis and career of the modern day enterprise system in a comprehensive and robust manner. It does so through setting out a new approach for the study of packaged solutions the Biography of Artefacts Framework - and presents novel empirical studies based on in-depth ethnographic and longitudinal research conducted within supplier organisations, user fora and other relevant sites. Sample Chapters: Introduction and Biography of Artefacts Framework |
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The Biography of Artefacts Framework: In the book fwe have developed the concept of biographies as a means of tracking (and here we follow Hyysalo 2004) the development of a particular innovation and the organizations and people connected to it, and more generally the coupling of a technological field and a societal practice. We seek to provide tools for analysing the influence of the social setting at different levels of generality (from the immediate micro-context of involved actors, to the broader institutional macro-setting) as well as the multiple historical timescales (short, medium and long-term) at which analysis may be undertaken. We identify the social spaces in which innovation occurs, noting, as well as the specific arenas in which technologies are developed and implemented, the broader linkages across this heterogeneous community. We will highlight the emergence of new kinds of intermediaries, in particular of industry analysts who help shape expectations about the development of technological fields and constitute markets for constantly changing supplier offerings (some more detail on the Biography of Artefacts Framework can be found here).
Contact neil.pollock@ed.ac.uk for more information.