Increasing productivity and reducing errors through usability analysis: a case study and recommendations.
The usability problems of a system often occur due to inattention to well-documented and well-established design guidelines and heuristics. These problems often lead to increased errors, user dissatisfaction, and often user abandonment. Although there are a plethora of design principles, programs are still being constructed without integration of these principles. One family history-tracking program was examined for usability compliance. In addition to a user analysis, a task analysis was conducted comparing the designers' conceptualization of tasks with the users' conceptualization of these tasks. A cognitive walk-through was then conducted on these tasks. Finally, a keystroke level model was used to show the differences between the execution times of these tasks. This model showed a serious mismatch between the designers and users conceptions of the task. The suggested redesign showed timesaving for each of these tasks.
Johnson
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CM
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas School of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Health Informatics, Houston, Texas, USA.
Johnson
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Zhang
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D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006804:Ergonomics; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010375:Pedigree; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface