Citizen systems are applications built by power-users using standard desktop tools such as MS Access, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, SQL Server, Powershell or whatever other software is available to them on your network.
For many companies, from the smallest to the largest, it is these homegrown databases and applications, built with little or no formal IT training or support, that actually drive innovation and enable rapid adjustment to new opportunities.
But while it may be the norm for businesses of all types and sizes to have prolific ecosystems of citizen systems, it is also inevitable that they carry a higher risk. They often prove to be less than robust in the face of new challenges, and the following weaknesses are typical:
Undocumented Limitations
Citizen systems typically have undocumented limitations that can undermine their usefulness. Data and functional minimum requirements are also rare, particularly with regard to data inputs, and inaccuracies tend to compound over time.
Technical Debt
Citizen developers are usually self-trained, and their systems rarely cater for ongoing change or upgrade. Hastily built or auto generated code can be difficult and time-consuming to understand, and it is common to discard even effective citizen systems when they resist interpretation.
Incomplete Handover
When the original citizen developer moves on, there is little time given to training their successor in anything more than the most basic operation.
Increased Risk
Overall, the prevalence of citizen systems exposes the organisation to risk, and professional system rehabilitation becomes critical to ensuring that systems are stable and effective.