Measures Required to Achieve Objectives

Model Character of Focus Applications

One difficult question in the initial phase of EnjoySAP was how the members of the UEC could best be used in order to obtain the greatest possible leverage. The answer to this question was provided by establishing which applications generated the highest number of dialog steps during processing in R/3. 22 "focus applications" were thus defined. Together, these focus applications accounted for more than 50 % of the interaction volume with R/3. The responsible teams of developers were obliged to use this bundle of methods in the development process. In return, the project management assigned a usability expert from the UEC to accompany and provide intensive support to the development team during every phase. A UEC member and the development team’s usability coordinator shared the responsibility of providing this support. In the interests of knowledge transfer, members of the development team gave presentations about their experience with the new methods to other software engineers working on non-focus applications. In this way, developers were able to learn at first hand from colleagues and with a minimum of delay what they should take into account when organizing and carrying out site visits, for example, and what benefits were brought by the methods.

On the one hand, the objective was to breathe live into the process innovations described and, in the case of the focus applications, to completely eliminate the initial hurdles when new methods are introduced. On the other, the intermediate results of these applications served as an example of best practice for other development groups. New design paradigms were tried out here first, for example. Overall, the focus applications thus served as an experimental environment for trying out process innovations and progressive interaction design on the product. The usability experts from the project team received the opportunity to learn directly from the use of the method bundle because they worked in close coordination with, and were integrated in, the development team. Thus, potential for improvement and empirical values obtained during the practical application of methods, such as how to conduct design sessions, for example, could be reported back and the methods adapted accordingly.

From the project team’s viewpoint, the intensive support for the focus applications had a strong multiplier effect. Consequently, the development resources focused on the 22 selected applications had a more widespread impact than if a larger number of development teams had been supported less intensively.

Source:  EnjoySAP - Success Factors