Abstract

End-user development of spreadsheet applications or models is both a problem and opportunity for small organisations. In an educational programme aimed at small-business owners, we have observed the problems end-user developers in small organisations are facing. They lack essential basic computer skills, yet when they have been taught these they will soon find that their ideas for further development outstrip their actual skills. The problems are similar to those that other end-user developers face with one additional factor: in small organisations access to the traditional sources of support are limited or even nonexistent. In an explorative study we try to pinpoint what, if anything, the participants feel about on-line support and if they use it to solve problems. It seems that in this case while Internet is recognized as a source of information for work related problems this does not extend to computer related problems.

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