Nadja Piedade De Antonio

Marcelo Fornazin
email: marcelo.fornazin@ensp.fiocruz.br

Renata Mendes De Araujo

Rodrigo Pereira

Santos

Enrolling Actors in a Social Information System: the incremental development of unique registry in Brazilian "Bolsa Família" Program

Keywords: Bolsa Família Program, Social Programs, Brazil, Critical-Interpretative Case Study, Actor-Network Theory, Enrolment

Although the Brazilian "Bolsa Família" Program (BFP) was largely discussed due to its economic and social outcomes, little is known about the Information Systems (IS) that support BFP. In the context of BFP, CadÚnico system emerged as the registry for citizens who seek to qualify for BFP income transfers, as well as it is an important source of information for other public policies. This paper presents a case study of BFP's evolution over decades through the CadÚnico development. We analyze how the CadÚnico system evolved in Brazil from a fragmented, offline databases in the early 2000 to a unified, online registry essential to BFP operation. Based on enrolment operations, the paper explains how CadÚnico first attracted other ministries from the Federal Government and later attracted municipalities to data registering. By analyzing BFP IS, we bring more evidences to the political and incremental nature of IS development in developing countries.

Introduction

The Brazilian "Bolsa Família" Program (BFP) is an income transfer program that regularly delivers money to nearly 14 million families in condition of poverty or extreme poverty in Brazil [START_REF] Brazil | Ministry of Citizenship[END_REF]. BFP began in 2003, after the Brazilian Federal Government decided to integrate existing fragmented income transfer programs; today, it is one of the largest income transfer programs in the world [START_REF] Shei | The impact of Brazil's Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program on children health care utilization and health outcomes[END_REF]. By means of BFP, the Government regularly transfers money to families, aiming to eradicate poverty and hunger and to reduce economic and social inequalities within the country. BFP management is decentralized, i.e., Federal Government, states and municipalities have attributions in its execution [START_REF] Brazil | Ministry of Citizenship[END_REF].

Despite BFP being a widely discussed social program and considering the importance of Information System (IS) to operate social and welfare programs [START_REF] Keuning | SESAME: An Integrated Economic and Social Accounting System[END_REF][START_REF] Fukami | Colorado Benefits Management System: Seven Years of Failure[END_REF][START_REF] Harrison | Applying an Enterprise Data Model in Government: Transitioning to a Data-Centric Information System for Child Welfare in the US[END_REF], with a few exceptions [START_REF] Oliveira | Sistemas de Informação em Políticas Sociais Descentralizadas: uma análise sobre a coordenação federativa e práticas de gestão[END_REF][START_REF] Feitosa | O Cidadão Codificado: A Digitalização da Cidadania em Bancos de Dados de Interesse Público[END_REF][START_REF] Jayo | Correspondentes bancários como canal de distribuição de serviços financeiros: taxonomia, histórico, limites e pontencialidades dos modelos de gestão de redes[END_REF][START_REF] Santos | O papel da tecnologia da informação e comunicação na inclusão financeira da população ribeirinha da Ilha de Marajó: o caso Agência Barco[END_REF], little is known about the role of IS in the implementation of BFP. One of the essential IS for running the BFP is the Federal Government's Unique Registry for Social Programs, called "Cadastro Único" (CadÚnico) in Portuguese. CadÚnico is an IS that registers data from citizens to enable them to receive BFP money transfers. It also allows the government administration to track healthcare and children education conditions, as well as to understand the socioeconomic reality of its members and the population in general.

Due to BFP's magnitude, managing its resources is a great technological challenge, especially in a developing country of continental dimensions and heterogeneities, such as in the case of Brazil. Enabling a program on this scale involves technological elements (eg: network connectivity, data processing and storage in a country with infrastructural deficiencies), social issues (eg: registering low-income people that sometimes are illiterate and often have difficulty to use technology), and political issues (eg: negotiation with city halls, provision of service at distant locations and training people for data registration at municipalities). In this context, this paper hence addresses the following research question: How did CadÚnico system evolve over time to support a social program (BFP) in a developing country such as Brazil, with its continental dimensions?

In order to present our argument, we conducted a longitudinal case study on CadÚnico's development. This paper therefore aims to explain how BFP evolved technologically and socially throughout the last 20 years. We operate the "enrolment" category to describe how actors were attracted to the BFP.

The paper is structured in six sections. After this introduction, Section 2 discusses the importance of IS for welfare programs. Section 3 defines Actor-Network Theory and enrolment category. Section 4 describes the research method, data gathering and analysis procedures based on an interpretative research. Section 5 presents the CadÚnico case study based on two movements of enrolment: first movement -enrolling the ministries, and second movement -enrolling the municipalities. Conclusion and directions for future research are presented in Section 6.

2

The Role of IS Social and Welfare Programs Social Programs are very important to promote social and economic development.

Income transfer programs in middle and low-income countries contribute to improvements in the population's health and education conditions [START_REF] Keuning | SESAME: An Integrated Economic and Social Accounting System[END_REF][START_REF] Silva | Caracterização e problematização dos Programas de Transferência de Renda Condicionada (PTRC_ na América Latina e Caribe[END_REF][START_REF]How Africa is creating welfare states[END_REF]. Fukami and McCubbrey [4] describes the 7-year deployment obstacles of the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS), an information system aiming at replacing six aging legacy systems supporting welfare programs in the State of Colorado, USA. The purpose of investing in CBMS was to centralize citizens' applications through data integration and web access. However, for 7 years and after different IT managers, CBMS was not able to be deployed in its full capacity, bringing great losses, including legal proceedings against the state. The scalability of CBMS was hampered by political issues, budget restrictions, lack of planning, unclear accountability and lack of trained people in serving citizens.

There is also a strong understanding of social programs data as the basis for effective statistical analysis and business intelligence IS for public policies decision making. These issues bring new design implications for the welfare programs as well as challenges to their operation.

In DC context, Conditional Income Transfer Programs (CITP) emerged and expanded in the 90's, being integrated to Social Protection Systems in most Latin American countries. CITPs have been called "Social Protection Networks", composed by a set of compensatory interventions focused on combating poverty and extreme poverty. These interventions are the main mechanism to address the so-called intergenerational poverty in the Latin American countries [START_REF] Silva | Caracterização e problematização dos Programas de Transferência de Renda Condicionada (PTRC_ na América Latina e Caribe[END_REF].

The importance of management IS to social and welfare programs, and the sociotechnical nature of their IS are reported in research literature. Oliveira et al. [START_REF] Oliveira | Sistemas de Informação em Políticas Sociais Descentralizadas: uma análise sobre a coordenação federativa e práticas de gestão[END_REF] carried out a study whose main objective was to analyze the effectiveness of IS as an element of federative coordination, also evaluating the management, control and transparency processes related to the use of three IS implemented since 2008 in Brazil: (i) the System Horus, in the area of Health; (ii) Sisjovem, the system responsible for the activities of the Projovem Adolescent Program, in the area of social assistance; and (ii) the interactive School Development Program (SDP), in the area of education. Analyzing their use in the public sector, IS have been considered a strategic tool to improve the efficiency of public services, generating greater savings for the government administration, greater level of transparency and more quality for meeting citizens' demands. Oliveira et al. [START_REF] Oliveira | Sistemas de Informação em Políticas Sociais Descentralizadas: uma análise sobre a coordenação federativa e práticas de gestão[END_REF] cited, as an inspiring case, CadÚnico as a BFP's IS integrated with other IS of social programs, such as Sisjovem. According to the authors, CadÚnico has tools that allow the generation of numerous social indicators used by the government administration and by researchers to analyze the impacts of the program and formulate new policies.

The BFP and CadÚnico

The BFP began on October 2003 and serves families living in poverty and extreme poverty. The program started transferring money to 5 million people and after 10 years, the number of beneficiaries almost tripled to around 14 million people, as shown in Fig. 1. The BFP Budget increased from the R$ 2.3 billion spent by the former program "Bolsa Escola" in 2002 to R$ 29 billion in 2014.

According to the Ministry of Citizenship (2020) [START_REF] Brazil | Ministry of Citizenship[END_REF], BFP has three main axes: i) Income supplement -every month, families served by the Program receive a cash benefit, which is transferred directly by the Federal Government guaranteeing the most immediate poverty alleviation; ii) Access to rights -families must fulfill certain commitments (conditions), which aim to reinforce access to education, health, and social assistance offering conditions for future generations to break the cycle of poverty. The conditions do not have a punitive logic; they exist to guarantee that basic social rights reach the population in situation of poverty or extreme poverty. iii) Integration with other social actions -BFP has the capability to integrate several social policies, for example healthcare and education, in order to help people overcome the families' situation of vulnerability and poverty. The functioning of BFP raises some complexities: Brazil is a continental country organized as a federative republic where Federal Government, 27 state governments and 5571 municipalities are autonomous political entities and public policies are negotiated between the three levels of government administration. For example, Federal Government does not have the workforce and resources in every municipality to register individuals in the BFP. Due to this, the Federal Government negotiates with municipal governments through the mayors' association to register individuals using municipal resources. The intersectoral nature of BFP adds more complexity, once program's decisions are based on information gathered from different sectors of government administration, such as, education and public health. The Brazilian social policies are decentralized, that is, schools and primary care are usually managed by municipalities by means of their educational and health departments, respectively. Therefore, these departments share information on social services to fulfill the BFP registry. In addition, Brazil is a heterogeneous country where some people live urban metropoles, peripheries, rural areas, semi-arid regions and rainforest. Thereby, different strategies are necessary to reach individuals throughout the country.

Considering the aforementioned complexity, BFP management is shared among the Federal Government and municipalities. At the federal level, the social program is managed by Ministry of Social Development (MSD), and Caixa Econômica Federal (CAIXA), a Brazilian's public bank, maintains the information technology resources and transfers the money its beneficiaries. Municipalities are responsible for registering families -those seeking to be included in the program go to a service center in their city to provide their information for registration in CadÚnicothe BFP management information system. All the information is digitally registered in the CadÚnico and centralized in a database at the MSD for eligibility analysis.

CadÚnico started on 2001 and supported the increase in Bolsa Família beneficiaries. Today, besides the nearly 14 million beneficiaries, there are other 14 million people registered in CadÚnico, totaling around 28 million registrations, according the MSD's System for Evaluation and Information Management [14]. This number comprises beneficiaries, and people that registered but did not fulfil the requirements, people that are waiting to receive the benefit, and former beneficiaries that do not need the aid from BFP anymore. CadÚnico is also an instrument of transparency and accountability for BFP. Individual data is available on the Transparency Portal [15] of Federal Government, and through the MSD´s System of Evaluation and Information Management [15].

Considering the BFP context, some studies analyzed the access to the program. Feitosa [START_REF] Feitosa | O Cidadão Codificado: A Digitalização da Cidadania em Bancos de Dados de Interesse Público[END_REF] carried out a study about how citizens are codified in BFP and CadÚnico. Jayo [START_REF] Jayo | Correspondentes bancários como canal de distribuição de serviços financeiros: taxonomia, histórico, limites e pontencialidades dos modelos de gestão de redes[END_REF] analyzed the banking correspondents which provide banking services on behalf of CAIXA to several distant locations in Brazil, and Santos [START_REF] Santos | O papel da tecnologia da informação e comunicação na inclusão financeira da população ribeirinha da Ilha de Marajó: o caso Agência Barco[END_REF] described the impacts on financial inclusion indicators of a bank agency installed in a boat on Marajo Island, in the Amazon region. These research studies offer distinct contributions in order to understand the access to BFP in many heterogeneous places of Brazil. This paper proposes a different approach focused on how the BFP IS evolved from the perspective of the Brazilian government administration. In order to analyze CadÚnico's development, we take inspiration in the Actor-Network Theory [START_REF] Callon | Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fisherman of St Brieuc Bay[END_REF][START_REF] Callon | On interests and their transformation: enrolment and counterenrolment[END_REF][START_REF] Mitev | Postmodernism and Criticality in Information Systems Research: What Critical Management Studies can Contribute[END_REF][START_REF] Doolin | To reveal is to critique: Actor-network theory and critical information systems research[END_REF] and chose to describe it based on the idea of enrolment [START_REF] Callon | On interests and their transformation: enrolment and counterenrolment[END_REF] of actors, as we explain next.

Actor-Network Theory

The Actor-Network Theory (ANT) approach has inspired research in IS field since 1990. However, from 2000 onwards, its use was intensified, as several IS tracks, including ICT4D, started to report research inspired by this approach, such as: digital inclusion [START_REF] Teles | Assessment of digital inclusion via the actor-network theory: The case of the Brazilian municipality of Piraí[END_REF][START_REF] Andrade | The Affordances of Actor-Network Theory[END_REF]; e-government [START_REF] Heeks | Understanding e-Government project trajectories from an actornetwork perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Cavalheiro | Examining the Implementation of a European Patent Management System in Brazil from an Actor-Network Theory Perspective[END_REF]; health IS [START_REF] Braa | Networks of Action Sustainable Health Information Systems Across Developing Countries[END_REF][START_REF] Sahay | Scaling of HIS in a global context: Same, same, but different[END_REF] and geographic IS [START_REF] Rajao | The site of IT actor-network and practice theory as approaches for studying IT in organisations[END_REF]. ANT-inspired studies often observe a longitudinal approach [START_REF] Teles | Assessment of digital inclusion via the actor-network theory: The case of the Brazilian municipality of Piraí[END_REF][START_REF] Andrade | The Affordances of Actor-Network Theory[END_REF][START_REF] Heeks | Understanding e-Government project trajectories from an actornetwork perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Cavalheiro | Examining the Implementation of a European Patent Management System in Brazil from an Actor-Network Theory Perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Braa | Networks of Action Sustainable Health Information Systems Across Developing Countries[END_REF][START_REF] Sahay | Scaling of HIS in a global context: Same, same, but different[END_REF][START_REF] Rajao | The site of IT actor-network and practice theory as approaches for studying IT in organisations[END_REF], the aim of such research being to study the movement, formation of groups and translations, rather than collecting information about a specific moment. Most of the ANT research addresses controversies of technical artifact construction referring to complex environments with multiple actors having opposing preferences, whereby the political dimension of an IS implementation is present. Some works analyzed how actor networks are mobilized to develop sustainable IS in developing countries [START_REF] Heeks | Understanding e-Government project trajectories from an actornetwork perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Braa | Networks of Action Sustainable Health Information Systems Across Developing Countries[END_REF]. It can also be seen that these papers depict complex settings, as well as the role of technical artifacts and other factors in network stabilization.

The movement to attract other actors are described as moments of translation [START_REF] Callon | Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fisherman of St Brieuc Bay[END_REF], namely: problematization, interessement, enrolment, and mobilization. Moments of translation [START_REF] Callon | Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fisherman of St Brieuc Bay[END_REF] have been widely used in IS research [START_REF] Teles | Assessment of digital inclusion via the actor-network theory: The case of the Brazilian municipality of Piraí[END_REF][START_REF] Andrade | The Affordances of Actor-Network Theory[END_REF][START_REF] Heeks | Understanding e-Government project trajectories from an actornetwork perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Cavalheiro | Examining the Implementation of a European Patent Management System in Brazil from an Actor-Network Theory Perspective[END_REF]. In these processes, systems are understood to be similar to an Obligatory Passage Point, where the other actors tend to converge during the course of the translation. It is important to stress that consensus building in ANT is not a simple endeavor that can be taken for granted as several negotiations, also referred to as translations, are needed to succeed in the deployment of an IS.

Here, we focus in the enrolment of actors. Callon [START_REF] Callon | Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fisherman of St Brieuc Bay[END_REF] define enrolment as the "the device by which a set of interrelated roles is defined and attributed to actors who accept them". The enrolment is therefore depicted as "the group of multilateral negotiations, trials of strength and tricks that accompany the interessements and enable them to succeed". According to Callon and Law [START_REF] Callon | On interests and their transformation: enrolment and counterenrolment[END_REF]: "The theory of enrolment is concerned with the ways in which provisional order is proposed and sometimes achieved". CadÚnico system's unique registration had to make numerous translations to be able to leave several fragmented bases and offline databases in the early 2000 and built a unified and online registry essential to BFP's operation. In the case of BFP, we will show how MSD and CadÚnico enrolled ministries and municipalities to construct the BFP.

We therefore aim to extend Feitosa's [START_REF] Feitosa | O Cidadão Codificado: A Digitalização da Cidadania em Bancos de Dados de Interesse Público[END_REF] argument by adding some evidence to the incremental and evolving nature of CadÚnico. We analyzed ten years of CadÚnico development and observed how the political configuration on BFP registry infrastructure changed over time.

Research Method

This research was designed as a longitudinal case study based on the criticalinterpretative approach [START_REF] Pozzebon | Conducting and Evaluating Critical Interpretive Research: Examining Criteria as a Key Component in Building a Research Tradition[END_REF][START_REF] Mitev | Postmodernism and Criticality in Information Systems Research: What Critical Management Studies can Contribute[END_REF]. The ANT approach was chosen to analyze the case's trajectory, involving heterogenous actors. While ANT does not attempt to be a critical approach, "tracing the network and the actions of its constituents, combined with a refusal to make a priori distinctions or grant status, enables a critical light to be shone on the assumed, the mundane and the status quo" [START_REF] Doolin | To reveal is to critique: Actor-network theory and critical information systems research[END_REF].

In this case study, we gathered and analyzed data related to BFP from 2001 to 2012. Data was gathered through a period of eighteen months based on semi-structured interviews (conducted in two rounds) and public documents related to BFP. The first round of interviews were conducted from March to December 2018 and approached six technicians and managers at CAIXA, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The second round covered nine interviews at the MSD in Brasília, on December 2018. Interviews lasted 1h30min on average and most of them were recorded with interviewees' consent. The interviewees' were CadÚnico managers and BFP businesswomen, as well as IS coordinators and developers. Generally, interviewees have more than 10 years of work experience in BFP or CadÚnico. In addition to the interviews, we had access to reports and data published on Internet, and material provided by the interviewees.

This paper considers the research quality criteria proposed by Klein and Myers [START_REF] Klein | A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems[END_REF]. Interviews transcripts and notes were successively read so that the story became clear to the researchers. After carrying out this process successively, a coherent narrative was achieved to write a plausible manuscript. Multiple interpretations were considered, since different people in distinct positions at CAIXA and MSD were interviewed. Concerning contextualization, we presented the historical and social background of BFP, based on interviews, documents from public agencies and newspaper articles.

To address the abstraction and dialogical reasoning criteria, we conducted a dialogue with the research field, associating the findings in the field through interviews. We also asked some participants to read and confirm the reports after the interviews. The case presented here does not aim to be directly generalized to other contexts, but by means of transferability we hope the findings presented in this paper might help other researchers and managers to think about their theoretical and practical questions.

5

The Case of CadÚnico

During the decade after the promulgation of the current Brazilian Federal Constitution, a social-liberal government proposed opening the Brazilian market while focusing on social services. During the second term of the former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1998-2002), the Federal Government conducted pilot projects of conditional income transfers. "Bolsa Escola" program transferred money to families with children attending school and was managed by Ministry of Education. "Bolsa Alimentação" was an instrument for the Union's financial participation in supplementing family income to improve access to food and was managed the Ministry of Health. The program especially targeted pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children up to six years of age. "Auxílio Gás" was managed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and consisted of an aid for the purchase of gas cylinders. The aid addressed nutrition issues indirectly simply because poor people were unable to regularly purchase gas cylinders for food preparation. The three social programs together assisted 5.5 million families and were managed by different ministries while CAIXA technologically supported all the programs. In 2001, the Federal Government published a law establishing the Unique Registry for Social Programs, called in Portuguese as "Cadastro Único" (CadÚnico). As its name suggests, CadÚnico was designed with the aim of unifying several IS that previously registered social benefits. Similarly to Fukami and McCubbrey´s study [START_REF] Fukami | Colorado Benefits Management System: Seven Years of Failure[END_REF] of CBMS, BFP also faced difficulties in the development and implementation of its various supporting IS, such as: different interests, different databases and decentralized management. These issues are reported in following paragraphs.

First movementenrolling other ministries

We observed that, before BFP, each social program was managed by a different ministry, that is, the programs were fragmented among the government administration sectors. This fragmentation in different ministries hindered dialogue between internal government actors to manage benefits in the same direction, as they would have to negotiate, and each ministry had its own priorities. Additionally, each social benefit had its separate registration and a beneficiary could have several registrations for different benefits. An excerpt from the interview follows: "Registration was precarious. There was no CadÚnico. The register was decentralized. We had an IS that attached all the benefits within it". (Respondent 2 -8 years in BFP)

The various existing programs in the previous years used different numbers to identify and select the target audience, which in turn made it difficult to coordinate actions, fragmented the service and reduced its efficiency. As the name Unique Registry suggests, designing CadÚnico intended to unify several IS that previously registered social benefits in a fragmented way. In order to unify the fragmented registries, the system was split into two, the CadÚnico and the novel Information System for Benefits Payment (SIBES), which is not object of this paper. The former would hold people information while the later, after the analysis of conditions, would transfer money to the beneficiaries.

In the year 2003, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva ascended to the Presidency, changing the political group in charge of Federal Government. The new government created MSD, which proposed the BFP in order to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil through a aid offered to every family in the condition of extreme poverty. At that time, the income transfers which were previously pilot projects, gained political projection as one of the main goals of the new term. Thus, the Federal Government put conditional income transfers in the core of its agenda by centralizing BFP in MSD, including IS that supported the previous social programs. About enrolling other ministries to promote the BFP and CadÚnico, an excerpt from the interview follows:

"When the unification of social programs took place, the Federal Government's transition team that carried out the study and unification of the programs worked physically inside the Bolsa Escola building. Bolsa Escola was the largest cash transfer program that existed among the four programs that were unified.

They considered it important to have profound knowledge of the dynamics of this program to understand what to expect, how it worked etc. The inception of the unification of the programs had been built, but not the operation of the new unified program. An effort was made within Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) to make employees available to help the operationalization of the new unified social program together with the transition team. When the ministry that would serve the program was defined, part of the staff permanently migrated from MEC to MSD. During 2003 and 2005, I also worked at the MEC in parallel (...). In 2003 there was no MSD yet, there was not even an e-mail server. Extraordinary Ministry of Food Security and Fighting Hunger came first and only in 2005 that it migrated to MSD". (Respondent 8 -17 years in MSD)

By the end of year 2003, there were 6 million people receiving the money transfers from BFP. They were all registered in CadÚnico. CAIXA technologically supported the former social programs and had the infrastructure to enable the payment of these benefits. Moreover, CAIXA was the bank that operated social security in Brazil. Therefore, CAIXA held the skills and infrastructure to hold a national registry for social programs as well to deliver the money to its beneficiaries. It was hence chosen as the financial operator of BFP and started a relationship with MSD.

CadÚnico was then delivered to the municipalities that opted to offer "Bolsa Família". Every city in Brazil started to register families seeking access to the monthly aid. Law unified the registry, but the registering procedures were still fragmented in the various municipalities, as explained: "The database was decentralized. A person could be in several places, because people moved from city to city, and there was no such control in the registry" (Respondent 4 -15 years in CadÚnico). Interviewees referred to this third period as "CadÚnico offline" because there was no internet connection in all municipalities to support registration procedures directly to the centralized base at that time. Municipalities had to register families' information in a local system and later send it the database to MSD.

Second movementenrolling the municipalities

The following excerpt summarizes the technological challenge of the CadÚnico development in the first years: "In 2005, we barely had a computer to work with. In addition, we barely had access to CadÚnico. The very first CadÚnico database I had access to was delivered just in January 2005. The system was offline and installed in 5,571 municipalities. The base was problematic. The data was transmitted to CAIXA and had a return file for each municipality. The municipality analyzed the issues and all inconsistencies, treated and sent them to Even though it was unified, there were multiple registrations. When the city hall's management changed, the previous management erased the entire previous base. The municipality then had to ask CAIXA for a new base. This generated a great deal of rework for city halls". (Respondent 6 -13 years in CadÚnico) During the period known as CadÚnico offline, it was possible to notice several issues related to the continued management of CadÚnico, according to the following excerpt: "A study of the CadÚnico's database was carried out and many problems and multiplicities were identified. There was no flag of active and inactive registrations. CAIXA had to limit access to the CadÚnico base nationwide. Everyone stayed without work waiting for the end of the appointments at the base. From the moment it made this appointment, MSD launched Law 360/2005 to update its registration. The MSD remunerated the municipalities to promote the registration update". (Respondent 6 -13 years in CadÚnico)

There was an urgent and necessary action to systematize the process to avoid issues, such as the constant extinction of the base during the municipalities' mayor transition. Law 360/2005 was published after marking the bases to promote the registry update and offered incentives for data quality improvement to municipalities. With the reward for registry improvement, municipalities promoted the registration update in their communities. This was the first moment of political promotion of CadÚnico's system to the municipalities. In 2006 the number of people assisted by BFP was around 10,5 million, almost double from 2003 figures when CadÚnico started.

CadÚnico's transformation was imminent. The offline data transfer from municipalities to centralized CadÚnico incurred in data and money losses to MSD and CAIXA, since this process was susceptible to errors. CadÚnico needed an online infrastructure to unify registries, and to share them among all government levels.

In 2010, CadÚnico started to be online and data fragmentation was eliminated. The move from offline to online has brought a great improvement to CadÚnico. The most significant change was the possibility to transfer citizens' data from one municipality to another. This digital transfer carries several political articulations followed by technological improvements so that this movement could take place and reach CadÚnico online. This change eliminated data inconsistencies which occurred during the CadÚnico offline. At that time, BFP served 12.8 million families.

After the move from offline to online version, MSD released a new instrument to enroll municipalities in the CadÚnico maintenance, called DMI-M (Decentralized Management Index -Municipalities). DMI-M was launched through Law 754/2010 initiating a second moment of political action for municipalities to update CadÚnico. The municipality signed a term with MSD to comply with two registration indicators (updated and valid registration) and two social indicators referring to the conditions recommended by BFP (health and education). As the DMI-M increased, the more financial aid the municipality received from MSD. In 2012 the number of BFP beneficiaries reached the mark of 14 million people and since then this is the average number of people benefited by BFP. Moreover, CadÚnico holds data of more people, 28 million on average.

The various efforts to enroll municipalities, including on-line registering and DMI-M, were successful instruments since they aligned interest of MSD and municipalities for the qualification of CadÚnico.

Conclusion

This paper reports an investigation of the trajectory of CadÚnico, a registry that supports the BFP by drawing on ANT enrolment to discuss how CadÚnico incrementally aligned a network of political actors over fifteen years.

As described in previous sections, CadÚnico system was built as a response to unify several fragmented IS (the reason for its name). The former fragmented registers limited the scaling of the novel social program "Bolsa Família", but also offered a problematization of the new "unified register" CadÚnico.

The CadÚnico system was built in Brazil through five different government terms over 18 years and this shows its incremental and resilient nature. It was initially built by decision of the Federal Government; certainly, a crucial condition for its success. Nevertheless, its implementation did not take place without gradual growth, since negotiations and change of roles where necessary for its establishment. First, ministries were enrolled in CadÚnico and BFP. They changed their roles from managers of former social projects to partners of MSD, as now they monitor health and education indicators, for example, based on CadÚnico information. Later, municipalities enrolled in data registering in CadÚnico. Here BFP improved infrastructure, trained employees and used financial instruments to align local interest to the national agenda. Therefore, municipalities registered families and maintained the registry updated to assist people and have access to funding for local social services.

This analysis was carried out through a longitudinal case study, considering the quality criteria and using multiple sources of evidence. Our analysis shows that, despite CadÚnico's success, it was not enough to provide a good technological infrastructure with connectivity, computers and databases. It was necessary to go beyond articulating a network of actors to make possible the identification and registration of millions of impoverished families in Brazil. Thus, CadÚnico comprised a series of legal and political operations to attract city halls to register families in their respective municipalities.

As such, in this paper, we bring a theoretical contribution to refine the understanding of social IS in Brazil and in a specific scenario, by means of translation movements of the actors articulated themselves so that the CadÚnico could be transformed from offline to online IS. Through the interpretative approach method, the IS was studied in its context of production and use, and came up with critical and important knowledge for understanding social IS.

As a managerial and social contribution, this paper can help managers of the public agencies to get a starting point to reflect on how IS are produced within organizations, as well as to understand how different IS work using ANT concepts. This paper also proposes a new approach to observe and manage IS that can assist in their development process.

A limitation of our work was the lack of financial resources and time to conduct more interviews, considering the countless IS that operationalize BFP. We therefore hope to bring to light an unavailable knowledge -the story of the most important IS which supports a social program of enormous magnitude such as BFP As a research agenda, we suggest theorizing about IS that promote social services to citizens in the Brazilian context, considering the peculiarity of this very heterogeneous scenario. We expect future works to promote a stronger dialogue with established literature, for example, Information Infrastructure studies. Finally, based on this work, we concluded that CadÚnico is a vital condition for the BFP to have an updated registration and promote improvement in the lives of beneficiary families.

This paper was finished during the covid-19 pandemic, a time when CadÚnico is mentioned in many political discussions. Brazilian Congress passed a bill that offers an emergency relief income to help millions of informal workers left with no income by the social distancing measures adopted in the country to fight de pandemic. The emergency income is a two-month payment of approximately half minimum salary for every Brazilian citizen in poverty condition, and targets nearly 60 million people. An important part of the 28 million people registered in CadÚnico were able to receive the emergency income, while the remaining people spend days in lines to fulfill the information to qualify to the benefit. This catastrophe, besides the horror spread throughout the world, shows us the importance of IS to keep citizen information updated and ready to offer responses to unexpected situations.

Fig. 1 -

 1 Fig. 1 -Number of Bolsa Família Beneficiaries. Data gathered from MSD's System for Evaluation and Information Management [13].

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Strategy for the 2030 Agenda. Renata Araujo is also supported by the Brazilian National Research Council grant #313210/2019-5.

1


Scarlet Rahy
email: s.rahy@edu.salford.ac.uk

Julian M Bass
email: j.bass@sal-ford.ac.uk

Implementation of Agile Methodology in Developing Countries: Case Study in Lebanon

Keywords: Agile Methodology, ICT4D, Institution Theory, Capability Approach, Developing Countries, Lebanon

Researchers have become interested in agile approaches to information systems development, because of their potential to improve product quality and increase productivity. While often associated with project orchestration in software development, agile methods have a wider potential application within ICT4D. Our interest, in this research, is to explore how practitioners in developing countries describe factors that either enable or impede the adoption of agile information system development methods. We chose Lebanon to investigate this question, because it is a center for outsourcing software development in Middle Eastern countries. We employed a qualitative research approach by conducting 31 semi-structured recorded interviews with practitioners in three Lebanese software development companies. We employ an analytical model which interlinks institutional theory, the capability approach, and ICTs to explore creating software using agile methodology. The analysis revealed positive reinforcement between three factors that improve the effectiveness of agile methods including the inclusive and detailed sprint planning, rich variety of stakeholder communication tactics, and teams that embrace a rich variety of communication technologies that overcome challenges presented by geographical distance. On the other hand, we also discovered impediments to agile adoption including team and management misunderstandings of agile methodology and the current political and economic crisis in the country. The model revealed the low investment of companies in ICT. The lack of knowledge of agile ceremonies roles and artefacts created gaps in the implementation process. Also, the model highlighted bottlenecks that should be crucially tackled such as the lack of customer involvement and risk mitigation towards external factors.

Introduction

The agile methods are based on values and philosophies developed in the Agile Manifesto [START_REF] Beck | Manifesto for agile software development[END_REF], which promotes continuous customer involvement and encourages feedback. Agile information systems development is associated with the potential improvement of team productivity and software product quality [START_REF] Ahmed | Agile software development: Impact on productivity and quality[END_REF]. Agile is increasingly expanding its influence from software development project planning to applications within the information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). Thus, researchers have become interested in the study of this field.

As in the global market, the demand for software development in developing countries is rising. Software development providers aim to enhance the quality and productivity of their development process. This study chooses Lebanon as a research site since Lebanon falls in UNDP's list of development aid recipient countries and is a source for outsourcing software in the Middle East and Gulf region [START_REF] Feghali | Determinants of Lebanon's ICT export competitiveness: Evaluating a country's readiness to export ICT[END_REF][START_REF] Idal | Technology Sector in Lebanon Factbook[END_REF]. This paper describes and analyzes Agile Software Development in the developing country's software development industry using a model originally presented in [START_REF] Bass | A framework using institutional analysis and the capability approach in ICT4D[END_REF]. The model created by [START_REF] Bass | A framework using institutional analysis and the capability approach in ICT4D[END_REF] introduces an analytical framework for information and communication technology drawing on the capabilities approach and institutional theory. This combination uses institutional theory, focusing on roles, norms and organizational structures, and the capabilities approach, focusing on the achievement of goals and desires to account for the technology driven change in institutions in developing countries. It highlights the inhibitors and exciters between the model's different elements to create an analytical framework for ICT4D.

Three dimensions connect each of the elements that constitute the analytical platform. We explore how the human capabilities and their understanding of agile affect the roles and organization's structure in relation to agile implementation of ceremonies and artefacts in ICT context. This paper fills the gap and answers the below research question: What do practitioners in developing countries describe as factors that either enable or impede the adoption of agile?

The study employs a qualitative research approach by conducting 31 semi-structured interviews with practitioners in three Lebanese software development companies. We employ an analytical model which interlinks institutional theory, the capability approach, and ICTs to explore creating software using agile methodology. The model aids in identifying the inhibiters and exciters in the process.

This paper is structured as follows: first we present a literature review on agile software development and the research model. Then, we illustrate the methodology used to gather and analyze data. Then, we present an implementation of the model in the studied context followed by a discussion. Finally, conclusions and future work are presented.

Agile software development in developing countries

The agile methodology promotes continuous involvement of the customer in the development process [START_REF] Hoda | Self-Organizing Roles on Agile Software Development Teams[END_REF]. In addition to software engineering, agile development has attracted attention in information systems and project management disciplines [START_REF] Dingsøyr | Agile Development at Scale: The Next Frontier[END_REF]. Agile methods are associated with increased level of productivity [START_REF] Dyba | What Do We Know about Agile Software Development?[END_REF]. Conventionally, agile methods are comprised of ceremonies, such as stand-up meetings, retrospectives and customer demos, artefacts, which fall under five categories: feature, sprint, release, product and development programmed governance [START_REF] Bass | Artefacts and agile method tailoring in large-scale offshore software development programmes[END_REF] and roles, which include selforganizing teams, product owners, and scrum masters. Agile practices may be tailored by practitioners to fit their context, large scale, regulated or disciplined environment [START_REF] Bass | Tailoring Product Ownership in Large-Scale Agile Projects: Managing Scale, Distance, and Governance[END_REF].

Agile Implementation in Developing Countries

Developing countries have been implementing agile methods in their software development process. Practitioners are aware of the benefits of agile and stress on the importance of its implementation [START_REF] Regassa | Agile methods in Ethiopia: an empirical study[END_REF]. Gaps between the developers and the end-users hinder the development process [START_REF] Akinnuwesi | An Empirical Analysis of End-User Participation in Software Development Projects in a Developing Country Context[END_REF][START_REF] Blake | Socially aware software engineering for the developing world[END_REF]. This is due to the end-user's IT skill level and communication pattern with developers [START_REF] Akinnuwesi | An Empirical Analysis of End-User Participation in Software Development Projects in a Developing Country Context[END_REF].

For instance, a study conducted in Egypt revealed the positive effects on the software development process and customer satisfaction when adopting agile methodology [START_REF] Mohallel | Agile software development practices in Egypt SMEs: a grounded theory investigation[END_REF]. Simultaneously, challenges were detected such as, high pressure on developers, inadequate use of effort estimation, and lack of sprint planning. Also, a study of an in-house software development for a Lebanese university revealed the lack of support from the educational sector [START_REF] Tarhini | Innovative sustainable methodology for managing in-house software development in SMEs[END_REF][START_REF]Mind the Gap a Labour Needs Assessment for Lebanon[END_REF] and poor ICT structure [START_REF] Tarhini | Innovative sustainable methodology for managing in-house software development in SMEs[END_REF]. The country's poor ICT infrastructure and lack of government plan for the IT industry stand as barriers to growth [START_REF] Wipo | Study on the Economic Contribution of the Software Industry in Lebnaon[END_REF]. There is scarcity in the literature studying the benefits of implementing agile, its challenges, practices, and information flows in the Lebanese context. Thus, there is a large scope for conducting new studies to understand agile in developing countries, through studying the Lebanese context. This research aims at providing an understanding of agile software development in developing countries in relation to the Technology Institutions and Capabilities model's elements.

Agile teams in developing countries have the potential to enhance their software development industry through effectively applying agile methods. The analysis of geographically separated teams in Kenya and The Netherlands showed how teams may use their differences in order to benefit and learn from each other's experiences [START_REF] Rahy | Information Flows at Inter-Team Boundaries in Agile Information Systems Development[END_REF]. Team members at The Netherlands learned and enhanced their agile process by observing agile being implemented in Kenya.

Research Model

This research is based on the conceptual model, Technology Institutions and Capabilities model (TIC) created by [START_REF] Bass | A framework using institutional analysis and the capability approach in ICT4D[END_REF] is shown in Fig. 1. The framework identifies a relationship between institutional theory, the capability approach, and ICT. In the context of the model, ICT is the technology used to 'deliver human centered development', the capability approach looks into the freedom given to individuals to expand their abilities using ICT, and institutional theory focuses on structure, technology, and institutional driven change. The bidirectional arrows between the model's elements represent the influences and interrelationships. The positive ones are labeled as exciters and the negatives ones are labeled as inhibitors. The model is used here to identify the strength and weakness of agile software development implementation in developing countries.

Methodology

The foundation of this research is based on the model presented by [START_REF] Bass | A framework using institutional analysis and the capability approach in ICT4D[END_REF]. This model enables us to present a framework that combines institutional theory and the capability approach in relation to ICT and analyze the influences along the three different elements. This research used a case study approach, guided by [START_REF] Runeson | Case study research in software engineering: Guidelines and examples[END_REF], to explore the practitioner's perception on agile implementation in the Lebanese software development industry. The case study replicates the investigation in three different software development companies. Interviews were conducted with 31 respondents who were ensured confidentiality and anonymity. The following section introduces the research sites, data collection and data analysis process.

Research sites

The agile software development industry is spreading across developing countries. Lebanon is considered as a case study for this research since it's a developing country and it outsources software to Middle Eastern and gulf countries [START_REF] Feghali | Determinants of Lebanon's ICT export competitiveness: Evaluating a country's readiness to export ICT[END_REF][START_REF] Idal | Technology Sector in Lebanon Factbook[END_REF]. Thus, we chose practitioners involved in agile software development form 3 different research sites. The three sites were labelled LEB1, LEB2, and LEB3 to protect their anonymity. LEB1 is a Lebanese based software development company providing solutions in areas of banking, analytics, technology, academy, insurance, retail, healthcare, and multimedia. LEB1 has its main headquarters in Mount Lebanon, and two other branches in North Lebanon, and Bekaa Valley. LEB2 is a software development company that provides technological solutions for clients in Lebanon and abroad. LEB2 develops on-demand and customized software using agile. LEB3 is a Lebanese based software development company that develops apps and websites for its clients.

Data collection

The primary source of data collection is face-to-face interviews conducted in person. A list showing the participants' research sites, roles, and respective location is found in [START_REF] Bass | Agile Software Development in Lebanon[END_REF]. The participants' selection was done with the help of company representatives. The interviews ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes with 45 minutes being typical. The data collected was obtained from semi-structured open-ended interviews. Probing questions were used to encourage participants to discuss any new topics that were not included in the interview guide. The interview guide and consent form used for interviews may be viewed at [START_REF] Bass | Tailoring in Large Scale Agile[END_REF]. All interviews were recorded after obtaining the practitioners' consent. Field notes were taken during the interviews by the researcher. Then, interviews were transcribed manually since it ensures correct transcription and reminds the interviewer of the social and emotional aspects that occurred during the interview [START_REF] Vaivio | Interviews -Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing[END_REF] thus effectively conducting the data collection stage [START_REF] Adolph | Using grounded theory to study the experience of software development[END_REF].

Data analysis

For the transcribed interviews, we performed open coding, applied constant comparison methods, identified core categories, and memoed the data. All transcribed data was imported to an analyzing tool Nvivo 11. Open coding includes the analysis of data and exclusion of prior judgment to produce the maximum number of concepts. Line-by-line open coding approach was used on the transcribed interviews. Codes from each interview were compared from codes arising from the same and other interviews. This constant comparison technique enabled the grouping of codes that constitute concepts. Then, each key point is assigned a code titled with a phrase that summarizes it. From these, interview concepts arise and are grouped into categories which then form the main categories. We then chose the topics that align with the model of our choice. We chose the core categories and perform selective coding according to the framework of the model explained in the previous section. Our analysis involves mapping of our case onto the conceptual model supported by textual description.

Findings

We now explore how the TIC model can be used to understand agile implementation in Lebanon. This will enable us to explore how each of the model's elements when strengthened can decrease the inhibitors and increase the exciters in each case.

Fig.2. TIC model adapted to the Lebanese context

In our scenario, the capabilities approach is the people's ability to fully understand and correctly implement agile. ICT is software development methods used along with the agile ceremonies implemented and artefacts created. Institutional theory includes the roles of the employees and the structure of the organization. Fig. 2 reveals the model adapted to the Lebanese context. Each of the three dimensions is explained thoroughly and the respective inhibiters and exciters are shown.

Dimension A: Capabilities to Institutions

A major obstacle towards applying agile is understanding what agile methodology is.

Using the TIC analytical framework, we find this as an inhibitor from capabilities to building the software development institution. Being a new concept in the Lebanese software development industry, understanding agile is a major struggle for employees. First of all, implementing agile was suggested by either employees who discovered the agile concept while researching or the CEO who heard about the concept in a different company having no prior experience or knowledge. S6 explained: "While I was researching for a project, I found out about agile. I presented this concept to the team leader and he liked the idea. So the company decided to turn into agile." Understanding agile and its importance was especially difficult for non-developers. A2 explained: "Business development and marketing team didn't understand agile's importance".

On the other hand, the ability to communicate across diverse geographical location acts as an exciter from capabilities to institutions. Interviews revealed that teams were located in different geographical locations while working on the same project. These team members come from different culture, tradition, and religion, which highly affects the person's character in Lebanon. Communication between these members is smooth. Surprisingly, from all the interviewed practitioners, who worked with outsourced employees or with team members in different company branches, none claimed that they are currently facing communication difficulties. Team members would join for meetings virtually through different communication platforms. A1 explained: "Every morning at 9, everyone had to participate in the stand up and the employees outside the office would join in virtually." Different communication platforms were used to communicate with employees who are outside the office such as slack, email, calls, video conferencing. A6 said: "Every time we needed something from someone we used slack, whether they are in the office or outside. The communication was very easy." Sometimes, urgent matter arise and employees from different geographical locations will have to join at the headquarters. Managers try to minimize the movement between branches to decrease time loss time; since the branches are located in different districts, no public transportation is available in Lebanon, and traffic jams are major.

Dimension A: Institutions to Capabilities

In the opposing direction, micro management by the CEO and allocation of tasks by the managers are inhibitors from institutions to capabilities. First, dealing with the pressures of the upper management is one of the main challenges faced by employees. A2 said: "Honestly, the biggest challenge faced is the upper management." Practitioners revealed how the CEO was micro-managing and continuously involved in the process.

In regards to communication, the CEO requested to know all the details of every project. So the CEO would request a morning meeting to be informed of all the details. V9 expressed their opinion on these meetings: "Instead of taking 20 to 30 minutes for each daily meeting, we would use it for our work to be done." These morning meeting will last longer than advised. Managers complained from the CEO's interference in how they lead their team and plan and execute their upcoming tasks. A4 described: "I am not given the space to implement the work independently. So I had the CEO assign tasks to my team without me knowing. He was deciding our next steps even if I didn't know." Thus, A4, team manager, and A7, team member, described how they would use WhatsApp and Slack in order to communicate without being interrupted by the CEO. They would plan their overall tasks and daily to-do lists.

Second, managers and team leaders assign tasks to the team members. V7 explained: "We assign the global tasks for each team and then each team leader will assign the tasks to his team." Occasionally, team leaders discuss the task distribution with their team members. This creates occasional tension between the team leaders and project managers. Also, when tasks are imposed, tension between team members rise and they prefer to choose the tasks they want to work on. As A7 describes: "I dislike the idea that our leaders allocate the tasks. I would like to choose the tasks I have to do." S6 added: "It would be motivating if I chose my own tasks from each sprint." When tasks are allocated, some team members object and some team leaders disregard it.

Conversely, the upper management are open to implement agile. This demonstrates positive intentions towards this method. Also, external support is provided through the Beirut Digital District (BDD) which is a project that aims at creating a hub for the digital community in Lebanon. Occasionally, BDD conducts workshops on agile software development. Few practitioners mentioned that they attended these workshops.

Dimension B: Capabilities to ICT

The employee age difference and resistance are inhibitors flowing from capabilities to ICT. First, the age difference between employees is a challenge for managers to overcome. An employee who has just joined the company may be more qualified than another employee in a senior position. V4 gives an example: "My challenge is how to say to a senior that a junior developer will be your supervisor." This difference in ICT knowledge creates tension between certain employees. In addition, the employees' resistance has been a subject in the management world for decades. In our studied companies, resistance was detected from the employees as well as the upper management. Employee resistance was detected when implementing new methods or when assigning certain tasks. V1 claimed "Maybe they feel they are overwhelmed with the work load they have; they feel it is out of their roles and responsibilities; or they have some tension with other team members." Employee resistance was also detected when implementing agile methods especially amongst non-developers. A2 explained: "The business development team and the marketing team do not understand the importance of agile." Upper management resistance appeared when implementing new agile methods. A2 continued: "Honestly the upper management was my main struggle towards reaching agility."

On another hand, software products being created from the Lebanese companies to local and international markets are exciters from the capabilities to the ICT sector. The numerous success stories revealed by practitioners show how much the team's capabilities is enhancing the industry.

Dimension B: ICT to Capabilities

The inhibitors that flow from ICT to capabilities are the high internet connectivity costs and the improper implementation of agile ceremonies. In developing countries such as Lebanon the internet access is characterized by high costs and low quality. This sometimes hinders the process and increases the time for a certain task to be completed.

Through the interviews, it was apparent that practitioners either didn't implement standups or implemented them incorrectly. For instance, LEB1 didn't implement the standup meetings with the team members. Instead, morning meetings were held with the CEO, top managers and team leaders. V6 explained: "In this meeting, we put all our active items. The CEO starts and then asks each team leader what they have for the day." V8 indicated that the morning meeting takes around 30 minutes and: "They should have a different formulation. We discuss the project in general. It is sometimes repetitive." Another example is the stand-up held at LEB3 where all the members of the company, even the employees who weren't present in the company premises, would join in using Zoom. The time for each standup took from 20 to 30 minutes which was a "tiring way to start the day كنا[ نهلك من ,"]الصبح according to A4. Similarly to LEB1, the CEO used to take the lead in the standup. After an all-inclusive meeting, the product owners and team leaders weren't able to conduct their own standup with their team members: "It was impossible for me to do that again with my team."

In addition, through our interviews, confusion was detected on retrospectives, even in the same company. When asked about retrospectives, 21 interviewees didn't know what retrospectives are. So, as the interviewer, I had to explain what happens during retrospectives and how they are conducted. S1 responded: "We did not do retrospectives; we didn't have formal evaluations. We just informally say what was wrong." As for the interviewees who responded to the question regarding retrospectives, they lacked a clear understanding of what they are. Every response was different from the other and misconception on retrospectives were clear even in the same company.

On the other hand, implementing sprint planning, an agile ceremony, acts as an exciter from the ICT to capabilities. Sprint planning was done by all interviewed practitioners. All practitioners identified its importance towards the success of the sprint.

Dimension C: ICT to Institutions

The lack of understanding of agile act as an inhibitor from ICT to institutions. This lack of knowledge led practitioners to implement a combination of methods, Waterfall and agile methods or tailored agile methods with traditional project management methodologies, and ineffective end-user involvement. As mentioned by V1: "Inside the agile iteration we use the Waterfall methodology by respecting the sequence of processes."

The sequence is explained by collection of requirements, design, development, testing and delivery. Another example, the upper management needed to see a global picture of the requirements. The overall requirements were given in the traditional project management methods. V9 explained: "We get the requirements from the project manager."

In addition, although the companies have no direct control over the end-user, the enduser's lack of involvement hinder the process. V15 expressed: "I've noticed with Lebanese clients is the staff's availability and commitment is not always as promised."

The various communication platforms used are seen as exciters from ICT to institutions. Communication is highly encouraged at the agile implementing software development companies. Diverse communication channels are open for employees at the company. The usage of communication channels depends on the needs and message delivered. If it is a simple update, then instant messaging platforms are used. If it is formal, then emails are sent and meetings are held. V4 explained: "Sometime, I have to send just an informal message; I use WhatsApp." A1 indicated that slack is one of the major communication platforms used. When practitioners need to communicate and are present in different geographical locations, they use online video conference call applications that are available free of charge.

Dimension C: Institutions to ICT

The lack of investment from institutions in agile software development acts as inhibitors towards building an agile environment. Of the three research sites, non had a certified agile coach who guides employees through agile implementation or a scrum master. A2 was responsible for implementing agile in LEB3 with no prior experience or certification. In LEB1, agile was tailored according to trial and error methods. V1 explained: "Unfortunately, we base our work on research that we do on our own. We never had a coach specialized in agile methodology. We do our own research and we let ourselves be guided at the same time by the real needs on the ground." The employees didn't thoroughly understand the concept of agile. For instance, some interviewee had no knowledge on what agile ceremonies and artefacts were. They knew general concepts such as individual interactions over processes and working software over comprehensive documentation.

Discussion

Since agile information systems development is associated with the potential improvement of team productivity and software product quality, we aim to explore how practitioners in developing countries describe factors that either enable or impede the adoption of agile information system development methods.

We use the TIC model to understand the exciters and inhibitors in each dimension in the agile software development industry in developing countries through our case study in Lebanon. We identified virtuous and vicious circles that enhance or diminish the role of agile methodology in the software development industry. The study identifies positive reinforcements between factors that improve the effectiveness of agile methods. An example of a virtuous circle is the exciter: inclusive and detailed sprint planning (ICT to capabilities) leading to the creation of software products (capabilities to ICT). The various communication tactics act as exciters when used along with a rich variety of communication technologies between teams across different geographical locations. Although our case isn't cross-country with no time difference, yet employees cross long distances in personal cars with no public transportation available. These exciters enable team members to overcome distance and religious and cultural differences.

Inhibitors create vicious circles that undermine the agile software development process. For example, lack of agile methodology understanding (capabilities to institutions), leads to task allocation by managers to employees (institutions to capabilities). In addition, we were able to identify loops that hinder the correct implementation of agile methodology. For instance, the combination of agile and waterfall methodology (inhibitor from ICT to institutions) leads to the task allocation by managers to employees (inhibitor from institutions to capabilities) which in turn lead to employee resistance (inhibitor from capabilities to ICT). These closed loops obstruct agile implementation.

We had a difficulty assigning a satisfying illustration of an exciter from institutions to ICT. In our case, this may be due to the current economic and political crisis in the country. Also, the recognition of the institution's role in support of ICT is less fortified.

Our findings are consistent with previous research conducted in Ethiopia, which show novice agile practitioners tend to mix plan-based and agile methods [START_REF] Regassa | Agile methods in Ethiopia: an empirical study[END_REF]. Also, companies experience gaps when implementing agile practices with missing roles, ceremonies and artefacts due to lack of staff, knowledge and finances. We also, found that, like in Egypt, novice agile practitioners find effort estimation challenging [START_REF] Mohallel | Agile software development practices in Egypt SMEs: a grounded theory investigation[END_REF]. However, a surprising finding from our research was the enthusiastic adoption of communication technologies to overcome challenges of geographical distance

The software development industry in Lebanon needs to tackle in parallel the social and technical issues [START_REF] Blake | Socially aware software engineering for the developing world[END_REF]. The relation between ICT and capabilities approach in the model stress the latter. This reveals the need to mitigate for the social bottlenecks that companies face. These include the lack of involvement of the end-user in the development process [START_REF] Akinnuwesi | An Empirical Analysis of End-User Participation in Software Development Projects in a Developing Country Context[END_REF][START_REF] Sommerville | Software Engineering, Global Edition[END_REF] and the political and economic issues the developing countries face, especially Lebanon in the current situation. The end-user gives the requirements to the development team then reduces the contact with them and responds late to requests. In the final stages of the project, Lebanese customers tend to inform the development of changes which causes frustration and stress among developers and lateness in delivery date. In addition, the political and economic situation in Lebanon carries high risks ranging from employee transportation, internet connectivity, and employee motivation leading to possible delays in delivery of software.

Limitations

A limitation of this research study is that the research sites were dictated by the availability of research sites and willingness to participate in this study; similarly for research participants. Thus, the study was conducted in a relatively small number of research sites. Yet the constant comparison technique used allows the accommodation of more data from new contexts; especially through the replication of the study in other developing countries. Further, using the TIC model as a basis for our analysis aided in the analysis of agile implementation in relation to the three elements. Difficulties were encountered when identifying an exciter from institutions to ICT. To achieve rigor and generalizability in qualitative research, four critical factors have been identified [START_REF] Vaivio | Interviews -Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing[END_REF]: construct, internal and external validity, and reliability. They were achieved through collecting data using multiple sources of evidence, specifying unit of analysis, replication of the study, and use of a universal interview guide for participants, respectively.

Conclusion

Agile software development can enhance product quality and improve team productivity. In our study, we explore the practitioners' perceptions of the factors that enable or impede agile methods in developing countries through observing three companies in the Lebanese software sector.

Our study uses a qualitative research approach. The case study replicates the investigation in three research sites resulting in 31 semi-structured open-ended interviews with agile software development practitioners. The research employs the TIC model which interlinks institutional theory, the capabilities approach, and ICT to explore ICT4D. This model aids in understanding of agile software development process in developing countries through highlighting impediments and stimulators of the process.

The analysis reveals positive reinforcements which include detailed and inclusive sprint planning, a wide range of communication tactics used by stakeholders, and different communication technologies used to facilitate communication across geographical locations. In addition, the analysis of the model revealed impediments that demonstrate how, from an institutional perspective, there was low investment in ICT. A lack of agile process knowledge created implementation process gaps across the roles, artefacts and ceremonies of agile. In addition, we discovered from analyzing the impediments between ICT and capabilities the need to tackle the technical and social bottlenecks that include lack of customer involvement and risk mitigation of the critical political and economic situation. Future work will investigate adaptation of agile ceremonies in the Lebanese context and observe the challenges faced and benefits achieved.

Fig. 1 :

 1 Fig. 1: Technology Institutions and Capabilities model adapted from Bass et al. (2013)