People - End-users and IT

Overview | Management (Top | Middle | Supervisory) | Workers | User types

Overview

• People who use the computers are classified as end-users (or just users)
• People are the reason we have computers in the first place - to make us more productive!!
• This page deals with the people who use the computer as a tool rather than are specialist Information technology pepole.

Top management

Includes;

• Chief executive, president, board of directors, partners

Purpose

• Concerned with the long range planning (also called strategic planning).
• They use information to help them plan for the future growth and direction of the organisation.
• Top managers supervise middle managers

IT needs

• Information that summarises in capsule form to reveal the overall condition of the business.
• Information from outside the organisation for forecasting, planning and long range events.

IT involvement

• Use eMail to contact staff
• Use a Personal information manager to coordinate diaries
• Use spreadsheets to analyse trends
• Interpret results from the MIS (management information system) using the EIS (Executive information system)

Middle management

Includes;

• Functional area managers
• Include; operations managers; engineers; accountants; lawyers, personnel and sales managers.

Purpose

• Deal with control and planning (called tactical planning).
• Implement the long-term goals of the organisation.
• Manage the a functional area of the company (eg. Accounting, Production, Personnel, Marketing, Research)

IT needs

• Have an information flow that is both horizontal and vertical and across functional lines within the organisation.
• They also need information from outside the organisation.
• This allows the manager to set goals and decide the product mix, determining schedules and monitoring performance.

IT involvement

• Use e-mail to contact staff
• Use a Personal information manager to coordinate diaries
• Use spreadsheets to analyse trends within the functional area
• Interpret results from the MIS (management information system) using the DSS (Decision support system) eg. Relationship between sales and advertising).

Supervisory Management

Includes

• Foremen, supervisors, and group, section or team leaders

Purpose

• Supervisors manage and monitor workers.
• Responsible for the operational matters.
• Monitor the day-to-day events and takes corrective action if necessary.
• To ensure the MIS system is functioning, and make basic operational decisions. Eg. Who clears the cheques for the point of sale operators.

IT needs

• Have an information flow that is primarily vertical, that is they communicate with their managers and their workers.

IT involvement

• Use eMail to contact staff
• Interpret results from the MIS (management information system).

Workers

Includes;

• Clerical workers such as typists, and secretaries, bookkeepers,
  manual workers who make the product
  sales workers
  support workers such as personal assistants, technicians, user support
  specialists such as musicians, graphics artists, programmers, systems designer/analyst, operators, network administrators.

Purpose

• The term worker is used to describe those whose jobs involve the
  creation, processing and distribution of product.

IT involvement (some of..)

• Use eMail to contact staff
• Word-processing for letters
• Extensive use of telephone/fax.
• Use point-of-sale equipment
• Provide transaction information to the MIS system
• Dependant on job eg.
  CAD for designer
  Graphics software for designer
  Musical software for musician, etc

User types

Power Users

• Assist IS Help desk with problems
• Streamline processes with macros, programming and other techniques
• Spend 20 hours a week trying to gain a 7 second performance gain !
• Hardware: expensive
• Productivity: high
• Wasted time: high
• Estimated population : 1%

Power Sponges

• Soak up IS resources disproportionate to their job requirements and productivity.
• Know enough about their PC's to think they can reconfigure devices, download and install the latest shareware and load up their system with performance enhancing utilities.
• Consequences are always the fault of IS
• Hardware: expensive
• Productivity: low
• Wasted time: high
• Estimated population : 10%

Users

• Primarily interested in doing their jobs.
• Use Wordprocessors, spreadsheets, e-mail, CAD and perhaps a couple of business applications.
• Show them how to change wallpaper and launch Solitaire and they'll be happy.
• Hardware: varies
• Productivity: moderate to high
• Wasted time: low to moderate
• Estimated population : 80%

Others

• Fall outside the realm of normal human behaviour!

(Petreley, N 1996, Nov 18)

[Rev 28/7/98] © 1996 V/2-Com (Verhaart), P O Box 8415, Havelock North, New Zealand.