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Abstract
Computations performed using end-user developed spreadsheets have resulted in serious errors and represent a major
control risk to organizations. Literature suggests that factors contributing to spreadsheet errors include developer inexperience,
poor design approaches, application types, problem complexity, time pressure, and presence or absence of review procedures.
We explore the impact of using a structured design approach for spreadsheet development. We used two ®eld experiments and
found that subjects using the design approach showed a signi®cant reduction in the number of `linking errors,' i.e., mistakes in
creating links between values that must connect one area of the spreadsheet to another or from one worksheet to another in a
common workbook. Our results provide evidence that design approaches that explicitly identify potential error factors may
improve end-user application reliability. We also observed that factors such as gender, application expertise, and workgroup
con®guration also in¯uenced spreadsheet error rates. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
0378-7206/00/$ ± see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 7 2 0 6 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 2 9 - 4
2 D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12
opment, end-user operation, and end-user control of keeping work areas small in order to make errors
information systems. We focus on the domain of end- easier to ®nd, limit the damaging effects of errors,
user development. To our knowledge, no work has and make spreadsheets easier to understand and main-
speci®cally identi®ed and then empirically validated tain [33]. Markus and Keil [24] note that structured
factors impacting outcomes in end-user developed design methodologies increase the accuracy and
applications, such as spreadsheets. Literature suggests reliability of information systems. Salchenberger
that potential factors include developer attributes, proposes the use of structured design methodologies
development approach, developer con®guration, pro- in end-user development and discusses their effective-
blem/process characteristics and application domain. ness in different situations. Cheney, Mann and Amor-
oso [7] also support the use of a structured design
2.1. Developer attributes methodology; they found that the more structured the
tasks of the end-user, the more likely the success of
Our work focuses on end-users who are both pro- the application. Ronen, Palley and Lucas describe a
ducers and consumers of information. Several studies structured spreadsheet design approach based on
have indicated that end-users are diverse, and that this modifying conventional data ¯ow diagram symbols
diversity leads to a need for differentiated education, to create spreadsheet ¯ow diagrams. Several practi-
training, support, software tools and risk assessment tioner-directed articles encourage the use of structured
[3,12,14,19,34]. design approaches and planning for spreadsheet devel-
Harrison and Rainer [17] assert that speci®c end- opment.
user attributes include age, gender, computer experi-
ence, computer con®dence, math anxiety, and cogni- 2.3. Developer configuration
tive style. Curtis et. al. ®eld studies on software
development [10] repeatedly con®rm the importance Panko and Halverson [29,31] and Nardi and Miller
for software developers to understand their application [26] note that the accuracy of end-user developed
domain. Adelson and Soloway [1] emphasize the applications might be increased by encouraging devel-
importance of expertise in software design. Frank, opers to work in teams. However, the former also
Shamir and Briggs [15] ®nd that PC user knowledge suggest that the increased communication and coor-
± i.e., application expertise ± positively impacted dination costs of working in groups may outweigh the
security-related behavior. Further, several researchers bene®ts of reduced error rates.
indicate that user training and relevant experience are
important factors e.g., [2,37]. 2.4. Problem/process characteristics
and Halverson appropriately summarize the state of Eureka error is identi®ed, everyone can quickly agree
spreadsheet research as follows: that it exists. However, non-Eureka errors are those
In the past, spreadsheeting has been the Rodney where the mistake cannot be easily demonstrated.
Dangerfield [e.g., a not well respected subject] Generally, researchers evaluate the usability of end-
of computer applications. Although everyone user developed applications with satisfaction survey
agrees that it is extremely important, few tools [14,22]. Salchenberger de®nes maintainability
researchers have studied it in any depth. Given as the ability to change or update the system as needs
its potential for harm as well as for good, this change, and auditability as the ability to determine the
situation needs to change. source of data values in the model. Few researchers
Psychologists Hendry and Green [20] assert that have evaluated end-user developed applications for
spreadsheets may simplify programming by suppres- either maintainability or auditability [32]. We also
sing the complexities associated with conceptually propose the inclusion of cost (usually measured in
simple operations like adding a list of numbers or terms of development time) as another important
handling input and output. As a result, users tend to outcome.
ignore their weaknesses, such as their potential for
making errors or their dif®culties in debugging or
reusing spreadsheets. 3. Structured spreadsheet design
Fig. 3. Example design model: master budget for small home fixture manufacturer.
D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12 5
Table 1
Means and standard deviations (Study #1)
n By configuration By treatment
61 17 44 31 30
Gender (1 Male, 2 Female) 1.44 0.50 1.50 0.51 1.43 0.50 1.42 0.50 1.47 0.51
Age group (1 20±25, 2 26±30, 3 31±40, 4 40±50) 1.38 0.78 1.56 0.98 1.30 0.67 1.19 0.54 1.57 0.94
Class level (1 Jr., 2 Sr., 3 Grad) 1.90 0.68 2.11 0.58 1.82 0.69 1.97 0.60 1.83 0.75
Pre-test SS Expertisea 2.49 1.07 2.61 1.20 2.43 1.02 2.68 1.05 2.30 1.09
Pre-test Excel expertisea 2.34 1.14 2.22 1.00 2.41 1.19 2.42 1.23 2.27 1.05
Pre-test DFD expertisea 2.16 0.99 1.89 0.83 2.30 1.02 2.26 1.00 2.07 0.98
Pre-test design confidenceb 3.93 0.73 3.72 0.89 4.02 0.63 3.84 0.78 4.03 0.67
Post-test SS expertisea 3.20 0.94 2.87 0.99 3.32 0.88 3.27 0.92 3.12 0.97
Post-test Excel expertisea 3.12 0.89 2.73 0.88 3.30 0.85 3.19 0.85 3.04 0.93
Post-test design confidenceb 2.55 0.90 2.93 1.03 2.38 0.79 2.31 0.84 2.80 0.91
Post-test coding confidenceb 2.48 0.89 2.40 0.91 2.50 0.88 2.48 0.96 2.48 0.82
Mean number of linking errors/workbookc 4.16 0.08 4.85 0.12 3.89 0.05 4.91 0.09 3.37 0.05
Error% 8.15% 0.08 9.51% 0.12 7.62% 0.05 9.63% 0.09 6.61% 0.05
Time (h) 8.83 4.12 8.05 2.89 9.12 4.51 9.98 6.66 8.33 2.37
a
1 Novice, 5 Expert.
b
1 Very unconfident, 5 Very confident.
c
Total possible links 51.
Table 2
Summary of multiple regressions results (Study #1) N 66
(singles versus pairs), treatment group (structured outcomes were excluded from further analysis. Table
versus ad hoc design), and pre-test spreadsheet exper- 3 shows that the variations in the dependent variables
tise all displayed signi®cant correlations with one or are explained, to some extent, by the independent
more of the dependent variables. variables in the reduced model. MANOVA analysis
Following Heise [18], the independent variables was used to detect potential interactions between the
that did not explain a signi®cant variation in the con®guration and treatment variables on error rate.
D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12 7
Table 3
Reduced model regression results (Study #1) N 66
This revealed a weak signi®cant difference (p 10) kened when the subjects were working in pairs. Two
between the control to the treatment group, as well potential explanations occurred to us: (1) subjects
as a weak signi®cant interaction (p 10) among the working in pairs gained other advantages that offset
con®gurations and the treatment. the impact of the design approach; or (2) another
external factor induced some subjects to elect to work
4.3. Summary and discussion in pairs and it allowed them to create spreadsheets
with fewer linking errors.
Overall, subjects using the structured design tech- Our results also indicated that subjects working in
nique exhibited signi®cantly lower error rates: of the pairs reported higher post-test spreadsheet expertise
51 possible links in the spreadsheet, the structured but lower design con®dence. The latter result seemed
design subjects had an average of 3.57 (7%) linking inconsistent with the prior literature. The signi®cantly
errors, while the ad hoc design subjects averaged 4.1 lower overall time investment for the structured design
(10%) linking errors. We believe this was because the subjects was unexpected but encouraging. (This result
design methodology forced the developers to identify does not consider the time spent initially learning the
the links between worksheets prior to implementation. design methodology, however). Finally, as expected,
This explicit identi®cation was then carried over into pre-test spreadsheet expertise was a signi®cant pre-
the implementation. Virtually all of the linking errors dictor of post-test spreadsheet expertise, reduced error
were from omitted links (where a value had been `hard rates, and reduced time investments. The results of this
coded' instead of linked) rather than incorrect linkage. study suggested that developer attributes, con®gura-
Possibly subjects were relying heavily on the check tions, and the development approaches are all poten-
®gures provided for the ®rst scenario instead of exam- tial factors impacting end-user development out-
ining the reasonableness of their answers for the comes. However, the unexpected results for time
subsequent cases. and post-test con®dence as well as the unexpected
Improvement in linking errors was mitigated by con®guration variable induced us to perform a second
subject con®guration: subjects working alone within study with revised procedures and measures.
the ad hoc design group averaged 7.44 linking errors
per spreadsheet (14%), while subjects working alone 4.4. Study #2
in the design group and both sets of paired subjects all
averaged approximately 3.8 linking errors per spread- To con®rm the results of Study #1 and remove the
sheet (7%). possible confound involved in allowing subjects to
For subjects working alone, the MANOVA analysis work in self-selected pairs, a second study was per-
results imply that the use of the design methodology formed. The problem used was slightly more complex
had a signi®cant impact. Unfortunately, the advantage than the one in Study #1, with 10 different worksheets
of using the structured design methodology was wea- and a total of 66 linked cells. All subjects were
8 D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12
required to work individually so as to increase sample the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with
size and allow a more isolated investigation of the statements regarding: (1) whether the DFD design
impacts of the design methodology and developer methodology helped them develop a better spread-
attributes. Error types were expanded to include con- sheet; (2) if using the methodology made the devel-
ceptual and oversight errors as well as linking errors. opment effort take longer; and (3) whether they would
A blank template (from [21]) with only a single check use the methodology the next time they developed a
®gure was given. Explicit post-test measures were complex spreadsheet.
introduced to assess design con®dence, coding con-
®dence, and con®dence that the spreadsheet was error- 4.5. Analysis and results
free. Additionally, a measure was included to explore
the impact of potential domain expertise: subjects who Table 4 shows overall means and standard devia-
were accounting majors had additional experience and tions for all measures. No signi®cant differences in
coursework in preparing ®nancial reports and other pre-test questionnaire information were noted
master budgeting topics than the non-accounting between treatment and control groups, thus reducing
majors. Subjects in the treatment group were also the selection internal validity concern. Correlation
asked to rate their post-treatment DFD development analysis indicated a high degree of correlation
con®dence, and to rate their satisfaction with the between pre-test Excel expertise and overall spread-
development approach. Speci®cally, they were asked sheet expertise. Since the Excel expertise measure had
Table 4
Means and standard deviations (Study #2)
Post SS Post. Post. Post. Post # Missing # Conc. # Oversignt # Total Total
expertise excel des. coding error links errors errors errors Time
expertise conf. conf. free conf.
Gender (1 M, 2 F) ÿ0.33a ÿ0.21 ÿ0.30 ÿ0.17 ÿ0.53a 1.04 0.14 0.42a 1.32 ÿ0.87
Age group 0.21 0.21 0.42 0.32 0.04 0.01 0.36 ÿ0.07 0.15 0.82
Class level (1 Jr., 2 Sr., 3 Grad.) ÿ0.13 ÿ0.07 ÿ0.34 ÿ0.31 ÿ0.49a 1.60 ÿ0.18 0.24 1.89 ÿ2.60
Domain experience (1 -Other, 2 Acctg.) 0.57a 0.38 1.02b 0.24 0.68 2.72 0.17 0.08 2.52 ÿ3.66
Treatment group (1 Control, 2 Treat) ÿ0.12 ÿ0.19 0.29 0.58a ÿ0.15 ÿ5.75b 0.06 0.00 ÿ5.63b 1.03
Pre. Excel expertise 0.30b 0.29b 0.30a 0.43b 0.06 ÿ3.18 ÿ0.07b ÿ0.15 ÿ3.22a ÿ1.11
Pre. DFD expertise 0.14 0.16 0.27a 0.16 0.04 ÿ0.34 0.47 0.02 ÿ0.23 ÿ0.64
Pre. design confidence 0.08 0.06 0.00 ÿ0.09 ÿ0.02 1.35 0.07 0.03 1.41 ÿ0.28
R2 0.32c 0.27b 0.31c 0.22a 0.20a 0.17a 0.21a 0.11 0.17a 0.09
a
p 0.05.
b
p 0.1.
c
p 0.001.
9
10 D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12
Table 6
Regression analysis results for treatment attitudinal measures (Study #2) N 58
DFD conf. DFD helpedd DFD took longerd Will use againd
the highest correlation with the dependent variables, it the females reviewed their spreadsheets more and
was included in the regression analysis, and the pre- caught their oversight errors.
test spreadsheet expertise measure was omitted. Table Subjects in higher class levels (i.e., seniors and
5 shows the initial regression analysis for all variables. graduate students) also displayed less con®dence that
Signi®cant results were attained for gender, pre-test their spreadsheets were error free. There were no
Excel expertise, DFD expertise, and design con®- notable correlations between class level and any of
dence. A reduced model analysis performed by omit- the other independent variables; in fact, subjects in the
ting the non-signi®cant independent variables yielded higher levels seemed, in general, to have less pre-test
essentially the same results. Table 6 shows the regres- application expertise. We attributed this result to the
sion analysis results for the design methodology atti- inexperience and overcon®dence of youth.
tudinal measures obtained from the treatment group Domain experience was a positive predictor of post-
subjects. test spreadsheet expertise (p 0.05) and post-test
design con®dence (p 0.01). Neither of these ®nd-
4.6. Summary and discussion ings were particularly surprising. Domain experience
was somewhat correlated to pre-test spreadsheet
Apparently our independent variables accounted for expertise (r 0.19) as well, so apparently the accounting
signi®cant differences in all of the dependent mea- majors had more prior expertise with spreadsheets than
sures except number of conceptual errors and overall the non-accounting majors. The problem was fairly
time spent on design and coding. An interesting complex, with ten different worksheets and a total of
gender difference surfaced: females reported signi®- 66 links, so it is reasonable to expect that domain
cantly (p 0.05) less perceived post-test spreadsheet experience would contribute to design con®dence.
expertise and con®dence that their spreadsheets were Using the structured design methodology, the num-
error-free. This concurs with Harrison and Rainer's ber of link errors reduced signi®cantly (p 0.01), but
®nding that males tend to have more experience with had no impact on the number of oversight or con-
computers and higher con®dence levels. Interestingly, ceptual errors. Interestingly, link errors were by far the
the females also had signi®cantly (p 0.05) fewer most common. Each spreadsheet (for the combined
oversight errors. We postulated that this may have control and treatment groups) had an average of 9.07
been a result of their lower con®dence levels: perhaps total errors; of these, 84% were linking errors. It is
D. Janvrin, J. Morrison / Information & Management 37 (2000) 1±12 11
important to note that using the design methodology Our theoretical framework identi®es several out-
had no signi®cant impact on total time spent on the comes associated with the use of end-user developed
project (aside from the time taken to learn the meth- spreadsheets. This research concentrates on outcome
odology). reliability. The positive impact of development
Pre-test Excel expertise was the most signi®cant approach cannot be generalized to usability, maintain-
predictor, positively impacting post-test spreadsheet ability, and/or audibility outcomes without more
expertise (p .01), post-test Excel expertise (p < research. Finally, the structured design approach used
0.01), post-test design con®dence (p 0.05), and explicitly identi®ed links during the design stage.
post-test coding con®dence (p 0.01). Subjects with Other methodologies that explicitly specify potential
higher pre-test Excel expertise also made fewer con- error factors prior to implementation may also
ceptual errors (p 0.01) and fewer overall errors improve end-user application reliability.
(p < 0.01). These ®ndings concur with the results of As end-user development increases in organiza-
many studies emphasizing the importance of applica- tions, the identi®cation of strategies to minimize risks
tion experience and resulting expertise e.g., [1,27]. and improve outcomes is becoming increasingly
The attitudinal responses indicate that females were important. This research has made a contribution both
signi®cantly less con®dent of their post-test DFD by identifying end-user development risk factors and
development ability. Pre-test design con®dence was outcomes, and by developing and empirically evalu-
positively correlated to the belief that creating the ating the impacts of a structured design approach for
DFD was helpful and would be used in the future. spreadsheet development.
Subjects with a higher degree of pre-test spreadsheet
expertise did not think that developing the DFD
caused the development effort to take longer. Overall, References
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