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Most computer users are familiar with the idea of the online tutorial and online help functions, as these apply to database, spreadsheet and wordprocessing programs. Such programs vary in complexity, and full training of some depth is usually required, which may come from formal courses, manuals or online tutors. Two trends, however, have emerged which require that a simpler approach to computer training is adopted: namely the increasing use of end‐user information retrieval systems, and the spread of networks which make these systems available in a decentralised environment. End‐users in a networked system may now have to rely less on centralised formal training and more on help provided by the systems themselves, which places a burden on system designers to provide such help functions. However, system designers are not always the best people to provide proper help functions as they do not necessarily understand the users' perceptions of the systems. The people better suited for this are the information specialists and librarians who deal with the end‐user on a daily basis. A good example of a networked end‐user system is the OPAC, the online catalogue, which may have thousands of users with different levels of computer experience, all of whom have to be taught to make use of the computer system in the simplest way possible. The challenge here is to understand how the OPAC end‐user perceives the bibliographic record, and how to inculcate an understanding of the new ways of accessing records that the computer provides. In designing an online help system, the expertise of professional teachers may also have to be sought in order to ensure proper communication between the information specialist and the end‐user. In this paper, the experience gained in installing the OPAC at the University of Cape Town Libraries is used to illustrate these points.

Despite its potential, warehouse managers still struggle to successfully assimilate autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in their operations. This paper means to identify the moderating factors of AMR assimilation for production warehouses that influence the digital transformation of their intralogistics via AMRs.

Drawing on innovation of assimilation theory (IAT), this study followed an explorative approach using the principles of the case study method in business research. The cases comprised of four AMR end users and six AMR service providers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.

Four clusters of moderators that affect each stage of AMR assimilation were identified. These clusters include organizational attributes of end users (i.e. production warehouses), service attributes of service providers, technology attributes of AMRs and relational attributes between the AMR service providers and the AMR end users.

The authors extend the IAT framework by identifying various moderating factors between different stages of the AMR assimilation process. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to introduce the perspective of AMR end users in conjunction with AMR service providers to the “Industry 4.0” technology assimilation literature. The study propositions regarding these factors guide future intralogistics and AMR research.

Some of you will remember a search system called Leadermart which was developed at Lehigh University in the early 1970s under the direction of Don Hillman. Don viewed Leadermart as one of the few early systems designed for end users rather than information specialists. He attributed its lack of acceptance by information specialists to the marriage of librarians to Boolean searching and their unwillingness to try anything new. Leadermart, however, was not particularly popular with end users either. In my opinion Leadermart's lack of acceptance was primarily due to the quality of results it produced. Also this is important in evaluating current ‘expert systems’ approaches to searching. With Leadermart, if you didn't get good results you had no way of knowing how to change your request to improve the results. Some people pursuing the end user today feel simpler interfaces of the Leadermart type are the single answer to capturing this vast market. In what follows I hope to show that the problem is substantially more complex than suggested by this simple solution.

Discusses the changing relationships between information professionals – vendors, database producers, searchers – and end‐users, during the last three decades. Most of the time, the industry was quite vague as to who exactly the end‐users were, and consequently several different definitions were used to describe the target audience of online information systems. The needs and capabilities of the end‐user were measured conveniently through the reactions of libraries’ and information centres’ personnel who were not always the most suitable sources. The concept of the “end‐user” is examined from the beginning of the online industry in the 1970s through the menu driven systems of the 1980s and the role of the compact disk in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Business analytics (BA) has been a breakthrough technological development in recent years. Although scholars have suggested several solutions in using these technologies to facilitate decision-making, there are as of yet limited studies on how analysts, in practice, improve decision makers' understanding of business environments. This study uses sensemaking theory and proposes a model of how data analysts generate analytical outcomes to improve decision makers' understanding of the business environment.

This study employs an interpretive field study with thematic analysis. The authors conducted 32 interviews with data analysts and consultants in Australia and New Zealand. The authors then applied thematic analysis to the collected data.

The thematic analysis discovered four main sensegiving activities, including data integration, trustworthiness analysis, appropriateness analysis and alternative selection. The proposed model demonstrates how these activities support the properties of sensemaking and result in improved decision-making.

This study provides strong empirical evidence for the theory development and practice of sensemaking. It brings together two distinct fields – sensemaking and business analytics – and demonstrates how the approaches advocated by these two fields could improve analytics applications. The findings also propose theoretical implications for information system development (ISD).

This study demonstrates how data analysts could use analytical tools and social mechanisms to improve decision makers' understanding of the business environment.

This study is the first known empirical study to conceptualize the theory of sensemaking in the context of BA and propose a model for analytical sensegiving in organizations.

This study aims to investigate projects as social exchange networks, focussing on identifying knowledge brokers within the project network where they are key holders and disseminators of end-user needs. The purpose is to augment current theory through a practice lens so that building end-user requirements can be better incorporated in evolving project ecosystems.

An interpretive, an inductive case study is used to map knowledge brokers during a complex construction and co-location project. During the wider study, a variety of methods including archival data, interviews and questionnaires along with social network analysis (SNA) were used. The mixed methodology used has been pivotal in the triangulation of data from various sources. However, the output of SNA presented in this paper relies mostly on interviews and questionnaires administered to the project’s core network. Network relationships were mapped with knowledge of user requirements, being the key determinant of the binary relationships between actors.

The research found certain roles to be central knowledge brokers of knowledge related to end-user processes, including real estate and strategic planning, building operations and management, human and environmental factors, planning and project management and facility and service delivery. The knowledge of the above roles, albeit in a contextually situated case study, augments current understanding of which roles to tap on during project execution for better representation of end-user needs.

The research site is representative of a complex network of construction project stakeholders, including several categories of end-users and their representatives. The study demonstrates the use of the project-as-practice approach, whereby project theory is seen to emerge directly from practice. This has impact on practice as emergent theory about knowledge transfer and knowledge brokerage is essentially practice-led and hence more useful and relate-able to practitioners.

Research presented here is novel in terms of its approach towards understanding end-user needs such as need for privacy, control, attachment and interaction during construction projects. This is done through the identification of relevant knowledge brokers. The study uses SNA as an analytical tool to map knowledge transfers through the project’s network. End-user requirements are usually captured in the front-end of projects as specifications and deliverables, as new challenges emerge during execution, changes are required to the project’s direction and outcomes. It is therefore imperative that end-user needs are re-identified through knowledge brokers holding key knowledge. This allows project managers to prepare appropriate responses to changing project ecosystems.

The study was set to determine the environmental objectives of building end‐user organizations in an office environment and to anticipate the environmental management demands this could set on facility management.

This qualitative study uses four independent data sets and triangulation approach by combining data archives with time series analysis method, semi‐structured interviews, case study and a survey.

The results of the paper state the gap between the environmental objectives and practical management of environmental issues. Same environmental management themes, namely energy efficiency, waste management and reduction of climate change emissions, seem to be important for end‐users of buildings. A new trend, in which the end‐users require facility organizations to provide environmental management services, was observed as well. End‐user companies wish to receive comprehensive reporting and recommendations on improving a company's or facilities' environmental performance.

Since the study included only globally and/or environmentally active end‐users, the results of the survey are most representative for large European or North American companies which are progressive in environmental management. Future research is suggested to focus on information management, collaboration and communication between facility and end‐user companies.

At the practical level, the potential of FM has not yet been well utilized due to the lack of communication and understanding by both parties. Facility management companies can make use of the findings, e.g. when developing more comprehensive services or evaluating their own operations.

The results anticipate present and upcoming trend of end‐users' setting environmental requirement for FM organizations.

Literature related to end‐user searching of online databases is cited and annotated. Questions such as the role of the librarian/intermediary, the cost effectiveness of end‐user searching, and the training of end‐user searchers are addressed by the cited literature. Articles and conference papers from 1981–1984 are covered.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether differences also exist between managers and end‐users regarding critical success factors (CSFs) of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems implementation in China as well as among the counterparts in US and Chinese companies.

A pharmaceutical company in China that implemented an ERP system recently, similar to the one identified in Amoako‐Gyampah's study, is identified for this paper. A field survey accompanied by interview was used to collect data on seven CSFs that have been identified in the literature on technology acceptance and diffusion and that are consistent with Amoako‐Gyampah's study for comparison purposes.

The results of this paper confirm the results of Amoako‐Gyampah's study, which demonstrates that significant differences of seven CSFs of the implementation of ERP systems do exist in the perception of managers and end‐users. It further shows that both managers and end‐users of Chinese companies rate all seven factors lower than do their US counterparts. The understanding of these differences reveals the current stage of the progress of ERP implementation in China, namely that ERP implementation is not perceived as positively by Chinese managers and end‐users as it is by their counterparts in the USA

For researchers, this paper provides a foundation for further investigation of the reasons for such differences among different groups and individuals as well as different cultures.

Understanding the differences that exist in the perceptions of different groups within an organization and the nature of these differences can help implementers develop appropriate change management mechanisms – such as training, communication, and others – to improve the chances of successful ERP implementation.

This paper confirms the previous CSFs research findings in a Chinese pharmaceutical company setting that there are significant differences of CSFs in ERP implementation between managers and end‐users. It further compares the differences of these CSFs with their US counterparts.

The implications of disintermediation for librarians and information specialists (intermediaries) can be experienced as either a threat of a challenge, depending on how the issue is viewed. The different ways in which information specialists can react to disintermediation are discussed. Although most of these are viable, none addresses all implications of disintermediation. A holistic approach to disintermediation is therefore proposed, in which the situation of the intermediary is viewed within the wider society. The following aspects should be analysed with regard to their effect on disintermediation: changes in the society at large, the availability of information sources, the process of information searching, the specific organisations in which intermediaries operate, and the availability of information services. The specific end‐users and the information specialists involved should also be analysed. With this approach it will be found that the effects of disintermediation will vary according to the particular situations. To prepare information specialists for the effects of disintermediation, their training should also be adapted accordingly.