<s>
Shadow	B-Application
system	I-Application
is	O
a	O
term	O
used	O
in	O
information	O
services	O
for	O
any	O
application	O
relied	O
upon	O
for	O
business	O
processes	O
that	O
is	O
not	O
under	O
the	O
jurisdiction	O
of	O
a	O
centralized	O
information	O
systems	O
department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shadow	B-Application
systems	I-Application
(	O
a.k.a.	O
</s>
<s>
shadow	O
data	O
systems	O
,	O
data	O
shadow	B-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
shadow	O
information	B-General_Concept
technology	I-General_Concept
,	O
shadow	O
accounting	O
systems	O
or	O
in	O
short	O
:	O
Shadow	B-Application
IT	I-Application
)	O
consist	O
of	O
small	O
scale	O
databases	O
and/or	O
spreadsheets	O
developed	O
for	O
and	O
used	O
by	O
end	O
users	O
,	O
outside	O
the	O
direct	O
control	O
of	O
an	O
organization	O
's	O
IT	O
department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
second	O
case	O
,	O
the	O
systems	O
are	O
developed	O
by	O
experienced	O
software	B-Application
developers	I-Application
that	O
are	O
not	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
organization	O
's	O
information	O
systems	O
department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
systems	O
may	O
be	O
off-the-shelf	O
software	O
products	O
or	O
custom	O
solutions	O
developed	O
by	O
contract	O
programmers	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
on	O
the	O
expertise	O
of	O
the	O
developers	B-Application
,	O
these	O
solutions	O
may	O
exceed	O
the	O
reliability	O
of	O
those	O
created	O
by	O
the	O
organization	O
's	O
information	O
systems	O
department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
And	O
,	O
perhaps	O
more	O
importantly	O
,	O
management	O
should	O
evaluate	O
whether	O
it	O
is	O
possible	O
to	O
implement	O
adequate	O
controls	O
over	O
significant	O
spreadsheets	O
to	O
sufficiently	O
mitigate	O
this	O
risk	O
,	O
or	O
if	O
spreadsheets	O
related	O
to	O
significant	O
accounts	O
or	O
with	O
higher	O
complexity	O
should	O
be	O
migrated	O
to	O
an	O
application	O
system	O
with	O
a	O
more	O
formalized	O
information	B-General_Concept
technology	I-General_Concept
control	O
environment.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
type	O
of	O
data	O
analysis	O
that	O
most	O
frequently	O
necessitates	O
the	O
development	O
or	O
purchase	O
of	O
Shadow	B-Application
Systems	I-Application
usually	O
comes	O
from	O
the	O
needs	O
of	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
greatly	O
increased	O
power	O
of	O
personal	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
hardware	I-Architecture
and	O
software	O
analysis	O
tools	O
has	O
meant	O
that	O
individual	O
users	O
now	O
have	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
computing	O
power	O
they	O
need	O
right	O
in	O
front	O
of	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quite	O
properly	O
,	O
when	O
a	O
reporting	O
system	O
is	O
put	O
together	O
by	O
IT	B-General_Concept
professionals	I-General_Concept
,	O
they	O
need	O
to	O
consider	O
all	O
aspects	O
of	O
how	O
the	O
system	O
will	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shadow	B-Application
Systems	I-Application
typically	O
ignore	O
this	O
kind	O
of	O
rigor	O
,	O
making	O
them	O
much	O
faster	O
to	O
implement	O
,	O
but	O
less	O
reliable	O
and	O
more	O
difficult	O
to	O
maintain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Shadow	O
Data	O
Systems	O
are	O
created	O
by	O
end	O
users	O
whose	O
main	O
area	O
of	O
expertise	O
is	O
something	O
other	O
than	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
,	O
they	O
are	O
subject	O
to	O
the	O
following	O
problems	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Unless	O
they	O
are	O
developed	O
by	O
experienced	O
programmers	B-Application
,	O
it	O
may	O
be	O
difficult	O
to	O
scale	O
them	O
up	O
to	O
support	O
tens	O
or	O
hundreds	O
of	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shadow	B-Application
systems	I-Application
existing	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
computer	O
are	O
often	O
not	O
regularly	O
backed	O
up	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
may	O
be	O
many	O
different	O
shadow	B-Application
systems	I-Application
within	O
an	O
organization	O
reporting	O
against	O
the	O
same	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Where	O
two	O
shadow	B-Application
systems	I-Application
disagree	O
,	O
either	O
or	O
both	O
of	O
them	O
may	O
be	O
wrong	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Shadow	O
Data	O
Systems	O
are	O
created	O
by	O
an	O
experienced	O
programmer	B-Application
or	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineer	I-General_Concept
with	O
significant	O
input	O
from	O
departmental	O
management	O
,	O
the	O
resulting	O
solution	O
frequently	O
exceeds	O
the	O
capability	O
of	O
those	O
created	O
by	O
the	O
organizations	O
centralized	O
information	O
systems	O
department	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
experience	O
of	O
the	O
programmer	B-Application
/	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineer	I-General_Concept
easily	O
removes	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
previously	O
stated	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
