Workflow Analysis

1
Workflow Analysis

• Describes how work is done when several people
  are involved
• Coarsest level of granularity
• Provides an overview

2
Workflow Analysis

• Professor records grades, gives to secretary.
• Secretary collates all grades from professors,
  sends to registrars office.
• Registers office records receipt of grads, sends
  them to Information services.
• Clerk transfers grades into database.
• Operator prints grades for each student.
• Postal machine operator stuffs envelops and
  stamps them.
• Transportation person takes all letters to Post
  Office.

3
Job Analysis

• Focuses on a what a single person does in the
  course of a day, week, or month
• Looks at all tasks a single person does

4
Job Analysis

• Example, Receptionist
• Call Security to get parking permit for visitor.
• Schedule a meeting with prospective client.
• Refer incoming calls to customer service.
• Call for copier service.
• Check inventory of office supplies.

5
Task List

• More detailed look at Job Analysis
• Focuses on one component of job
• One task and how it is broken down
• important to be consistent of level of detail
• Reasonable number of tasks

6
Task Sequences

• Establish order in which tasks are performed
• Example
• Write letter
• Address the envelope
• Put letter in envelope
• Place stamp on envelope

7
Task Sequences

• Order can be different
• Example
• Address the envelope
• Write letter
• Place stamp on envelope
• Put letter in envelope

8
Task Sequences

• Sequences can be constrained because
• Physical Realities
• Tradition

9
Task Hierarchies

• Document the components of a task, called
  sub-tasks
• Can show how sub-tasks are compriased of actions
• Level of detail is dependent on type of site

10
Task Hierarchy
11
Procedural Analysis

• Contains the most detail
• Depicts individual steps of tasks
• Shows flow of control
• Considers constraint of user interface
• Shows how users carry out tasks

12
Procedural Analysis
13
Environmental Analysis

• Considers local of usr with using site
• Typically home or office
• Could be
• outdoors (information kiosk)
• factory floor
• Extreme weather
• handheld device

14
Observing and listening to users

• Discussed what you need to consider
• How did you gather required information?

15
Observing and listening to users

• Thinking aloud
• Talk Right After
• Role Playing
• Cueing Recall
• Other Techniques

16
Thinking aloud

• Running commentary on users work as they perform
  it
• Encourage users to explain what they are doing
  and why
• Keep the user talking

17
Talk Right After

• If user cannot talk talk while performing job
  customer service
• Ask user about job once they have time to talk
• Perform remotely

18
Role Playing

• Find out about infrequent tasks
• Scenario-base approach
• Pretend to be a user
• Not as credible
• Not as useful

19
Cueing Recall with videotape

• Useful when do not want to interfere with user
• Record users activities with camera
• Review tape with user, ask about tasks

20
Other techniques

• Focus groups
• Mailed surveys

21
Recruiting Users

• Where to find users?
• Primary access from sites customers, users,
  clients
• Other sources.

22
Employment Agencies

• Good source of end users
• Can request certain types of users
• Expect to pay
• Might get biased users

23
Market Research Firms

• Finds specific type of users
• No expectation of job
• Can be expensive
• Less concern about biasing users

24
Other Possibilities

• College campuses
• Newspaper advertisement
• Customer lists
• User Groups

25
How Many Users?

• Depends on what you need to learn
• Size of site
• Number of unique user types
• Enough for breath of representation
• Might be a moving target

26
Usability Specifications

• Answers How good is a web site?
• Defines the means to measure the success of a
  site
• Used during evaluation phase of development lift
  cycle
• Helps define what to look for

27
Usability Specifications

• Two categories of specifications
• Qualitative
• Quantitative

28
Quantitative Specifications

• Performance measure
• Quantifiable measure expressed as numbers
• Directly observable
• Directly measurable
• Example
• Time to complete a task
• Number of tasks completed
• Number of errors committed

29
Qualitative Specifications

• Preference measure
• Users opinion
• Not directly observable
• Examples
• First Impression
• Ease of use
• long-term satisfaction

30
Qualitative Specifications

• How to measure?
• Likert scale means to quantify preference
• Example

31
Usability Specifications

• More usability specification examples
• Usability Software
• Bohmann Usability Specifications

32
Usability Specifications

• Software for Usability

33
Memory

• Role of memory in usability
• Based on model of human memory

34
Memory

• Short-Term memory is small
• Long-Term memory stores large amount but fallible

35
Memory

• Chunking
• Break large data into smaller more recallable
  chunks
• SSN vs Drivers license number
• URL Design