Fitting Standard Software Packages to Non-Standard Organisations: The 'Biography' of an Enterprise-Wide System
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Date
01/09/2003Author
Pollock, N.
Williams, R.
Proctor, R. (external)
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Abstract
This paper investigates the development and implementation of a generic off-the-shelf computer
package and the competing pressures for standardisation and differentiation as this package is
made to fit new organisational settings. The particular focus is on an Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) system and its application within universities. In order for the ERP system to fit
this setting a new module called ‘Campus’ is being developed. We followed the module as the
current ‘generic user’ embodied in the software was translated to a more ‘specific user’ (a
number of universities piloting the module) and back once again to a generic form of university
user (the potential ‘global university marketplace’). We develop the notion that these systems
have a ‘biography’, which helps us to analyse the evolution of software along its life cycle and
provides insights into the different dynamics at play as Campus is translated for use in a number
of institutions and countries. The study draws on over three years of ethnographic research
conducted in a British University and a major ERP Supplier.