EDS Human Factors Group
Michael Burnett
EDS,
4 Roundwood Ave.,
Stockley Park, Uxbridge,
Middlesex UB11 1BQ,
United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 181 754 5890, Fax+44 181 754 5900
GMBurn@AOL.Com
ABSTRACT
The role of EDS' Human Factors Group is described. The group has adapted its services to link business process re-design to a range of user-centred issues including human-computer interface (HCI) design, user support development and change management. Implications for the wider application of Human Factors are described.
ROLE OF EDS' HUMAN FACTORS GROUP
EDS' Human Factors Group, formed in 1982, consists of 13 applied Psychologists and Ergonomists with between 1 to 20 years of experience. The group forms a pivotal role in EDS UK's multi-disciplinary Strategy & Change Department. The Human Factors Group works alongside specialists in business process re-engineering, management of organisational change, integrated logistics support, training and user support design. EDS, a US multi-national computer services company with over 110,000 personnel, specialises in enabling organisations to take advantage of IT to meet business needs. The consultants in EDS' Human Factors Group typically work in integrated project teams tasked with developing new business, organisational and IT systems. Examples of the type of assignments currently in progress are used to illustrate the role of the group.
Prior to developing an IT-enabled solution current business processes must be understood and modelled. The current business model forms the basis for the re- engineering of processes to reduce costs and increase effectiveness. One of our teams is currently re-designing human resource processes in a very large organisation of over 250,000 personnel. They are using a business process modelling technique, based on activity analysis, which feeds into a more detailed task analysis for HCI requirements capture. Process Charter, a flow-charting and business modelling tool, is used to represent the current and future business models. Using such tools we can evaluate the impact of HCI design in business terms, for example, through-put time, cost or staff levels required. We have found that positioning Human Factors at this stage in the business change helps to ensure that subsequent IT-enabled solutions are truly usable. Allocation of function decisions between human and computer and between human and human can be influenced right from the start.
In our view many human factors issues relate to the change process. For example, effective HCI prototyping not only gives empirical evidence about usability concerns, it also (if conducted correctly) will involve the user population in the change process in a positive way. One of our teams is currently helping a government agency to introduce MS Office and bespoke business applications at over 30 sites across the UK. This process involves top-down management buy-in, bottom-up communications
management, HCI prototyping and the use of organisational re-modelling techniques with staff in each location.
In the past our Human Factors consultants would design the complete HCI with IT staff. However, the scale of the IT applications and the need to introduce off-the-shelf products have changed the HCI design process. In the Command Support System for the Royal Navy our role has been one of advice and specialist intervention. We developed an HCI Style Guide for the IT staff and the users. We then facilitated user reviews of HCI modifications and new applications design. IT requirements and design teams are shown how to use task analysis methods. We check the HCI for consistency and usability. Finally we conduct HCI prototyping and user workload evaluations of critical parts of the system.
A major challenge facing all of our projects is to ensure that the user population can understand and quickly learn new roles. These new roles are likely to involve changed business procedures and new IT operating skills. The user support system is vital in enabling cost-effective business change. Effective user support must be provided during the transition to a new system and in the steady state of system operation. EDS' Human Factors consultants typically work on a range of design products that will form the user support system. These include on-line help and reference tools, intranet applications, a range of training solutions and user documentation. A typical project will require the development of a target audience database containing organisational and user profiles, task-related knowledge and skill needs, user support objectives and media options. Recent projects have included: the design of hypertext tools providing business process and IT procedural help; the introduction of usability principles into web-design standards; and integrated sets of on-line and off-line user documentation. We view the development of the user support system as a continuation of the HCI design process. This includes the need to help organise peer support within the organisation - the most common method through which many users seek help.
LESSONS FOR HUMAN FACTORS
We believe that we have learnt several lessons that have more general value for the application of Human Factors:
The importance of taking a holistic, multi-disciplinary view of business processes, organisational change, HCI and user support design.
The use of an integrated approach to link the business process model to more detailed allocation of functions and task analysis models which in turn are used in HCI style and object design.
An HCI design process, integrated into the IT design process, that meets usability objectives while also enabling effective organisational change.
Human Factors tools are developed and used to improve design productivity.
Metrics are used to assess the value of HCI design characteristics for the target organisation and its business.
