Title :
User-centred design and evaluation of support management system
Author :
Iqbal, R. ; Shah, Neil ; James, Ashish ; Duursma, Jacob
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. & the Digital Environ., Coventry Univ., Coventry
Abstract :
An important aspect of redesign for usability is to evaluate the system with its real users in order to explore implications for better design. In this paper we discuss the redesign of a support management system deployed in a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) in the UK. The system is used to support complex and distributed cooperative activities taking place in the SME. We evaluate the current system and analyse work practices using a user-centred design and evaluation philosophy. Following that we discuss how user needs are incorporated into the enhanced design of the support management system. The user-centred design techniques used in this research include interviews, questionnaires, observations and user tests. Finally, we present comparative evaluation results that show significant improvement in performance of user tasks using the redesigned support management system.
Keywords :
Internet; computer aided instruction; educational administrative data processing; groupware; small-to-medium enterprises; user centred design; Internet; distributed cooperative activity; e-learning support tool; evaluation process; interview method; questionnary method; redesigned collaborative support management system; small-and-medium sized enterprise; user observation; user requirement; user test; user-centred design technique; Collaborative work; Companies; Jacobian matrices; Project management; Quality assurance; Quality management; Strontium; Testing; Usability; User centered design; Interviews; Observation; Participatory Design; Questionnaires; Support Management; Test; User-requirements;
Conference_Titel :
Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, 2009. CSCWD 2009. 13th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Santiago
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3534-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3535-7
DOI :
10.1109/CSCWD.2009.4968051
