User Partnership in System Design and Data Administration

In a business application environment, the business processes are seldom static. This puts tremendous pressure on the information systems planning and development group (ISPD) to continually modify computer systems to adapt to changing needs of users. This often means that the computer system does not reflect the current business process because of the time lag required to make changes. At the same time, user expectations about the type and quality of changes may not accurately reflect what ISPD can deliver. This paper discusses a conceptual model that can be used to better understand the dynamics of introducing a new computer system into an organization, and some of the techniques used at AT&T/Springfield in the design, development, and deployment of information systems.