End-User Development Techniques for Enterprise Resource Planning Software Systems

The intent of this position paper is to present the focus of interest of our end-user development (EUD) related research at SAP Research CEC Darmstadt, enabling other participants of the Dagstuhl seminar concerning end-user software engineering to prepare for fruitful and constructive discussions. As we are in an early phase of research, research topics will be presented rather than detailed results. We focus on investigating and applying EUD techniques suitable for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our current research addresses the sub-domains of workflow management and business intelligence. 1 Customization of ERP systems One dilemma of developing ERP software systems is to develop systems being on one hand generic enough to be used by a broad variety of companies and on the other hand offering solutions that match the concrete reality of a company as close as possible. As a consequence ERP systems are highly customizable, causing a long and costly implementation phase, involving external experts and consultants, which have to deal with the domain knowledge of users and adapt the software according to existing needs and processes. Since companies are not static and competitors, markets and customers are always on the move, influencing the strategies, products, services and processes of a company, a continuous need for adaptation exists which is not limited to the implementation phase of ERP software. End-users of ERP systems are domain experts but not necessarily IT professionals, limiting their ability to adapt the software by themselves to their own needs and forcing them to indirectly influence the adaptation processes by communicating their needs to IT professionals. Empowering the end-users to adapt the software by themselves is an important step in reducing customization costs and enabling high-quality tailoring of software and working environments to the needs of modern information and knowledge workers. EUD defined “as a set of methods, techniques, and tools that allow users of software systems, who are acting as non-professional software developers, at some point to create, modify or extend a software artifact” [1] may deliver significant ideas of how to improve the evolutionary process of adapting ERP systems to changing company and user needs.