Implementing and sustaining infrastructures: a question of when not what

This paper considers the implementation of IT infrastructures from the perspective of their ongoing performance. Based on a case study of the implementation of Lotus Notes in a manufacturing company in the UK, it depicts this performance as the interaction between issues and concerns emerging from use the of Lotus Notes and the hosting organization. Drawing on Star and Ruhleder (1996) three levels of analysis are identified: resources, contextual effects, and long-standing disputes or controversies, and the interactions between them are explored. The paper concludes with an account of infrastructures and their implementation that emphasises the need for dynamic models that place emphasis on dealing with issues that emerge during an extended implementation process and as an infrastructure becomes progressively embedded into the organizational context.