Tots to Teens is a catalog retailer specializing in
children’s clothing. A project has been under way to develop a new order entry
system for the company’s catalog clerks. The old system had a character-based
user interface that corresponded to the system’s COBOL underpinnings. The new
system will feature a graphical user interface more in keeping with up-to-date
PC products in use today. The company hopes that this new user interface will
help reduce the turnover it has experienced with its order entry clerks. Many
newly hired order entry staff found the old system very difficult to learn and
were overwhelmed by the numerous mysterious codes that had to be used to
communicate with the system.
A user interface walkthrough
evaluation was scheduled for today to give the user a first look at the new
system’s interface. The project team was careful to invite several key users
from the order entry department. In particular, Norma was included because of
her years of experience with the order entry system. Norma was known to be an
informal leader in the department; her opinion influenced many of her
associates. Norma had let it be known that she was less than thrilled with the
ideas she had heard for the new system. Owing to her experience and good
memory, Norma worked very effectively with the character-based system and was
able to breeze through even the most convoluted transactions with ease. Norma
had trouble suppressing a sneer when she heard talk of such things as “icons”
and “buttons” in the new user interface.
Cindy was
also invited to the walkthrough because of her influence in the order entry
department. Cindy has been with the department for just one year, but she
quickly became known because of her successful organization of a sick child
daycare service for the children of the department workers. Sick children are
the number-one cause of absenteeism in the department, and many of the workers
could not afford to miss workdays. Never one to keep quiet when a situation
needed improvement, Cindy has been a vocal supporter of the new system.
A. Drawing upon the design principles presented in the text,
describe the features of the user interface that will be most important to
experienced users like Norma.
B. Drawing upon the design principles presented in the text,
describe the features of the user interface that will be most important to
novice users like Cindy.
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children’s clothing. A proje appeared first on Skilled Papers.
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children’s clothing. A proje appeared first on My Blog.
