Changing Spaces For Social Learning In The Implementation Biography Of An ERP System: A Longitudinal Case Study

Abstract

This paper describes the dynamics of IT related expertises as social learning distributed in space. The case of an Italian local government organization using an ERP software designed for the public sector has been analyzed. Data on distinctive locational patterns of organizational resources concerning post-implementation enhancements of the system were gathered through interviews and observations of the system in use. Four different locational patterns of IT related expertise have been identified in the case across different time periods: the ‘implementation team’ period (1998-2001), the ‘era of personalization’ (2002-2005), the move from the in-house software enhancement to external consultancy (2005-2008) and the more recent appointment of a different consortium of multiple consultants to implement additional software modules