HCI Design Project: Final Paper and Presentation - Report Example

HCI Design Project: Final Paper & Presentation Number Lecturer Advancement in the computing sector has basically changed the way we interact with the computing interfaces. In order for any system or application to be effective in meeting its purpose, the designer must put much consideration in the design of the user interface. Technology and use of computers have been adopted in most business and organizations thus calling for the development of software and application to aid the users in their work. Humans interact with the computers and other computing devices to be able to accomplish their daily activities. Therefore, effectiveness of the applications and the computing devices is dependent on the ability of the user to communicate with the system in user friendly, convenient and effective manner (Heim, 2008). This is entirely dependent on the design of the interface. With this in mind the project aimed to develop a sales interface for an online based sales company. The project aimed at developing a reliable, effective and efficient interface that is easy to use, learn and deploy for users to manage inventory and clients and customers to make orders. Project goals and relevance. Conventionally, the design of a user interface has some general goals and objectives geared towards effectiveness, learnability, usability and efficiency (Lieberman, 2009). These goals formed the basis for the goals and objectives for the project. The specific goals for the project included: Develop a system to assist users to accomplish their personal goals; According to Lieberman (2009), it is a tenet of the Human Computer Interaction paradigm for a user interface to assist the user in accomplishing their tasks more effectively and efficiently. In our case the system is designed to assist the employees and the customers in managing inventory and making sales and orders. The system employs the use of user interfaces to aid the users in carrying out different tasks and activities in the online shopping experience. Develop a system that fits into the current work practices; The system is aimed at improving the activities done at the business without changing any work practices as that would affect the operations in the organization. The system simply creates automation and interfaces for the known practices such as registration, inventory management, sales and delivery or purchased items. Develop a system that is easy to use and user friendly; This is accomplished by using basic forms and input controls that are easy to learn and straight forward to use. It reduces complexity thus making the user interface friendly. Develop a system that uses methods of input and output that are natural and known to the user; Most users have come across the use of forms and input boxes for input and output of data and information. The user interface is designed using these controls to make it easier for the users. System overview The system’s goals is to simplify the customer’s experience as well as the employees productivity by providing tools to ease the acquisition of the desired products that would otherwise be done manually and collected physically. By doing so the system would offer the customers an exciting and convenient shopping experience while at the same time simplifying the work of the respective employees. More specifically, the system allows the customer to maintain and manage their own shopping list and their payment methods more efficiently. A client can simply make purchases from the comfort of his or her home and use their credit card to make payment. Goods are delivered once the payment has been verified by the accounts department. The system also helps the inventory clerks to maintain accurate inventory of all items available. Communication with the client and the company will be done via the online platform and through the email provided by the customer. Fill in forms and selection panes are used through each stage of product cycle from inventory to purchase. The customer also provides their details through fill in forms and makes selection of products to purchase through the selection panels. Most importantly, the system contains a relational database where the product details and the customer details are stored. System Requirements The system was developed using Microsoft visual studio 2010 for the development of the interface and the Microsoft office Access 2013 for the backend relational database. The system design is composed of the back end and the frontend environments. The backend stores the relational database where all the data to be used in the system is stored. This will require a server machine for storage and web server for internet access through the web portal. The front end is composed of the employee interface and the client interface. These can comfortably run on any computing device but must be running a windows operating system. A basic computer on the clients end will be sufficient. On the employees end, the computer used must be fast with proper display. The main actors or users of the system are the employees and the clients or customers. Employees are responsible for managing the sales and inventory, billing and deliver of items purchased by the clients. Essentially, the system will be required to assist the employees to manage the inventory and sales and the clients to make purchases. These requirements are accomplished using interfaces designed for the respective users. Software design The system is structurally decomposed into three sections that include the sales, inventory and transaction. This decomposition is based on the nature of data and information needed for each subcomponent and the entities responsible for these components. The system is further decomposed into functional units that include client registration, definition of products, editing products, search product, make purchases, delivery and payment. Each function is completed by different entities in the system including the client, sales personnel, inventory clerk and the accountant. Products must be defined and details kept accurate, a client must register to avail the details that will be used for the final transaction. The system has several interfaces that are aimed at accomplishing the system requirements. The interfaces help the system to interact with external entities. There are two major interfaces for the customer and the Employee interface. The customer interfaces help the customer to interact with the system and carry out the desired transaction. On the other hand the employee interfaces are used to mainly interact with the system databases for defining products updating inventory details and completion of transactions. The system is divided into the online interface used by the customer and the employee interface used by the company staff. With the online interface the customer is able to register, log in and browse for the various products of their choice. The results in this case will be based on the search criteria that are used by the customer. These results will be viewed in a list with product details and with pictures of the searched products. Each row of the list will have product picture, name, description, price and availability. The customer can then select the product of their choice and it’s automatically added to their purchase list. The online interface also offers a platform for which the client can carry out their transactions. The employee interface accords the employee the ability to update records of inventory, complete customer transactions and the general management of the system. It also allows the employee to make the necessary changes to the database regarding the available products and the particulars. Evaluation Plan The user interface and the system at large was evaluated using the heuristic evaluation and usability evaluation criteria. The usability testing involved employment of users to test the effectiveness of the interface before it is released for final use. The two criteria were effectively and easily achieved by using questionnaires. The best methodology to achieve the desired goals of the evaluation was the use of the system Usability Scale. Questionnaires and observation were the commonly used in evaluating the interface. The questionnaires were administered with both close ended and open ended questions to obtain feedback and information from the users. User reaction and other parameters such as time taken were observed and recorded. The plan also stated the goals of usability that ultimately guided the usability evaluation plan. The main goal of the design usability was to meet the needs of the user in terms of interface use. Most users have different needs and preference when it comes to the use of the interface. The primary objective of the user interface design is to ensure that the interface serves its purpose in a user friendly manner. In evaluating the usability of the user interface the main goals of evaluation was to streamline the processes and workflows of the interface to meet the needs of the users. Test Plan The test plan was developed to effect the usability evaluation, the test was carried out to determine and predict the performance of the user interface in meeting the varied needs of the users of the system. The test measured the effectiveness of the user interface as it is and determined the changes needed to improve the user interface. The usability testing investigated the sales system user interface prototype and used the results of the test to rectify and refine the user interface of the application. The usability test was basically directed at determining the functionality of the interface. It was aimed at addressing the usability issues such as learnability, ease of use, efficiency and effectiveness among others. The user testing participants were selected to reflect the following characteristics. Experience; for this purpose an experienced inventory clerk, sales personnel and an accounts clerk will participate. Two members of the general public such as a student with no experience will participate. Education; All participants must have some college education as minimum education level but computing knowledge is not mandatory. However, they must have some knowledge on computer use. The participants were prepared and oriented before beginning the test. Their reactions and responses while performing the various tasks in the system were observed and noted for each individual. Most importantly the following parameters were used in the test; The amount of time that was taken to complete ever task, the percentage of participants that completed each task, the ratio of participants who completed and those that did not complete the various tasks, number and type of errors encountered in the usability testing and the number of negative and positive statements made by the participants. These data and information is mainly collected through use of questionnaires, In-depth interviews, video and audio recording and observation. The overall feeling about the user interface is determined through questionnaires aimed at determining the number of users liking the interface. The likert scale was then used to measure rating of the various sections of the interface based on the post evaluation questionnaire. Results of the test; Test Parameter Test Results The amount of time that was taken to complete ever task Average 5 minutes The percentage of participants that completed each task 98% The ratio of participants who completed and those that did not complete the various tasks. 15:1 The number of negative and positive statements made by the participants. Positive 15 Negative 2 References Heim, S. (2008). The Resonant Interface : HCI Foundations for Interaction Design. Carlifornia: Pearson/Addison Wesley. Lieberman, H. (2009). User interface goals, AI opportunities. AI Magazine, 30(4), 16. Sauro, J. (2011). Measuring usability with the system usability scale (SUS). Wiegers, K., & Beatty, J. (2013). Software requirements. Pearson Education. Read More