SAP Usability Glossary A-K

A B C D E F G H I J K [ L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ]

Version 1.0, 03/18/2003 – last revision: 04/12/2005

The following glossary lists and explains usability terms, which are relevant for the SAP software world. The information was taken from several sources and adapted to the needs of this glossary. Among the sources are: www.whatis.com, the book authored by Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood "Software for use: a practical guide to models and methods of usage-centered design", the book authored by JoAnn Hackos and Janice Reddish "User and Task Analysis for Interface Design", information contained in articles and guidelines in the SAP Design Guild, own contributions (a.o. photos and graphics).

In this version, some ISO definitions have been added.

Note: There is some overlap with the SAP Web Glossary. See there for more Web-related topics.

Accelerator Keys

ISO Definition: Key combinations (sometimes called "shortcut keys") which invoke a menu option without displaying the menu on which the option appears or intermediate menus (Source: ISO 9241-14 (1997-06-00) ISO/TC 159)

Accessibility

In the world of electronic and information technology, "accessibility" refers to the possibility for everyone to access and use technology and information products. A piece of software or a Website, for instance, is fully "accessible" if it can be accessed by people with any of the following types of disabilities: Sensory impairments (vision or hearing), mobility impairments, and cognitive impairments

See Section 508 for US legislation regulating accessibility. See also Software Accessibility for Users with Disabilities (Section 508) in the SAP Design Guild for links relating to accessibility.

Affinity Diagram

Element of the Contextual Design methodology. Affinity diagrams are wall papers composed of hierarchically organized affinity notes taken from the protocols of site visits.

Figure: Example for an affinity diagram

Application

The term application is a shorter form of application program (sometimes the term software application is also used). An application program is a program designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application program.

Examples: word processors, database programs, Web browsers, development tools, drawing, paint, and image editing programs, communication programs. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

Artifact Model

Element of the Contextual Design methodology. Shows how artifacts are used and structured in doing the work.

Example: Typical artifacts might be personal notes or stickers.

Brainstorming

Approved creativity method used with groups for gathering important information about users who should be supported with an application. It comprises the identification of the task sets which define the user role (task analysis) as well as the user profile (user analysis), which defines the design relevant characteristics of these roles. An important element of brainstorming is that criticism has to be deferred until all ideas have been collected and consolidated.

See Resources -> Brainstorming Sessions in the SAP Design Guild for more information.

Concrete Use Case

A use case as originally defined by Jacobsen, representing interaction between a user and a given or assumed user interface; a class describing the common pattern of interaction of a set of scenarios. See also essential use case. (From Constantine & Lockwood)

Content

That's what a Website, report or information is about. Currently, many authors stress the importance of content for Websites. Following their arguments, information design will become more and more important in the future.

Contextual Design

Methodology for user interface design developed by Karen Holtzblatt and Hugh Beyer (InContext Enterprises, www.incent.com). Key elements are site visits and different work models, which capture the work of individuals and organizations in diagrams. Five different models provide different perspectives on how work is done: the flow model captures communication and coordination, the cultural model captures culture and policy, the sequence model shows the detailed steps performed to accomplish a task, the physical model shows the physical environment as it supports the work, and the artifact model shows how artifacts are used and structured in doing the work. Affinity notes and diagrams capture observations which do not fit the models, but also provide valuable inputs for the design.

The redesigned work practice is captured in a vision, a story of how customers will do their work in the new world we invent. A vision includes the system, its delivery, and support structures to make the new work practice successful. The team develops the details of the vision in story boards, 'freeze-frame' sketches capturing scenarios of how people will work with the new system.

The design is further explicated using user environment design and paper prototypes.

For more information see Contextual Design at SAP in the SAP Design Guild and the Website of InContext. Detailed information can also be found in the book authored by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt: "Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems" Morgan Kaufman: San Francisco, CA, 1998.

Cultural Model

Element of the Contextual Design methodology. Captures culture and policy within a company or part of it.

Customer

The buyer of a software. In the business world the buyer typically is not the user of the software.

Customization

Process of adapting and individualizing software for a customer and to some degree for users and their roles. Carried out by system administrators or external consultants and not by the user (preliminary).

See also Individualization, Personalization.

Design Session

See Interaction Design Session.

Design Studio (DS)

A tool developed by SAP that supports you when creating screen mock-ups (i.e. prototypes of user interfaces) for new software products.

With Design Studio you can build HTML prototypes on the basis of SAP's library of Unified Rendering controls.
For certain development areas Design Studio, additionally contains specific predefined user interface building blocks and patterns. These blocks and patterns further accommodate the creation of mock-ups.

DIN 66234, Part 8

German industrial norm (DIN) regulating the usability aspects of software, especially the principles for designing the dialog between user and system (Grundsätze der Dialoggestaltung). Its basic principles comprise

• suitability for tasks (Aufgabenangemessenheit)
• self-descriptiveness (Selbstbeschreibungsfähigkeit)
• controllability (Steuerbarkeit)
• conformity to user expectations (Erwartungskonformität) and
• error tolerance (Fehlerrobustheit)

These principles have been adopted and extended by ISO norm 9241, part 10. See also the respective European regulations.

End Users

Synonym for users.

Essential Use Case

A simplified, abstract, generalized use case defined in terms of user intentions and system responsibilities; a technology-independent use case without unnecessary restrictions or limiting assumptions regarding specific implementation details reduced to its minimal form of expression within the language of users and the application domain. See also concrete use case. (From Constantine & Lockwood)

Example (from Constantine & Lockwood)

 
See also the respective much more detailed example for a use case.

European Norm 90/270/EWG

European regulation for the usability of hardware and software (Richtlinie des Rates vom 29. Mai 1990 über die Mindestvorschriften bezüglich der Sicherheit und Des Gesundheitsschutzes bei der Arbeit an Bildschirmgeräten). The usability aspects (man-machine interface) are covered in part 3 of the appendix.

Extranet

An Extranet is a private network that uses the Internet protocol and the public telecommunication system to securely share part of a business's information or operations with suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses. An Extranet can be viewed as part of a company's Intranet that is extended to users outside the company. (From www.whatis.com)

See also World Wide Web (WWW).

Flow Model

Element of the Contextual Design methodology. Captures communication and coordination within a company or working environment.

Figure: "Real-world" example of a flow model

Goal

Typically the users' goals are considered. As Alan Cooper notes, these goals may be different from the company's or customer's goals. A typical user goal might be not to appear stupid, or to get one's work done in time.

Goal-Directed Design®

User interface design methodology based on the users' goals; developed by Alan Cooper and his company Cooper Interaction Design (www.cooper.com). The methodology employs a process consisting of the following steps: (1) Interview and observe customers who will use the application (site visit); (2) discover their goals; (3) create a persona, an archetypal user who embodies these goals; (4) design something that satisfies this archetypal user.

For more information see Cooper Interaction Design Enjoys SAP in the SAP Design Guild and the Website of Cooper.

Graphic Design

Comprises all the graphical and aesthetic aspects of software design, such as graphics, diagrams, text presentation, colors, backgrounds etc.

Graphical User Interface

Today's major operating system provide a graphical user interface (short form: GUI). Applications typically use the elements of the GUI that come with the operating system and add their own graphical user interface elements and ideas. A GUI sometimes uses one or more metaphors for objects familiar in real life, such as the desktop, the view through a window, or the physical layout in a building. Elements of a GUI include such things as: window, pulldown menus, buttons, scroll bars, iconic images, wizards, the mouse, and no doubt many things that haven't been invented yet. With the increasing use of multimedia as part of the GUI, sound, voice, motion video, and virtual reality interfaces seem likely to become part of the GUI for many applications. A system's graphical user interface along with its input devices is sometimes referred to as its "look-and-feel."

The GUI familiar to most of us today in either the Mac or the Windows operating systems and their applications originated at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Laboratory in the late 1970s. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

GUI

Acronym (usually pronounced GOO-EE) see graphical user interface.

For database applications like SAP's R/3 the term GUI also stands for the presentation server, a program which delivers the graphical user interface. Often this notion also includes the development tools for creating the user interface.

Guideline

A rule or heuristic for designing the user interface of an application. The term guideline is not as strict as the term norm; in practice, however, there need not be differences between the two. Style guides collect guidelines in a readable format.

The Resources section of the SAP Design Guild offers a number of style guides which contain guidelines for designing the user interface of various application types.

Hardware

Hardware is the physical aspect of computers, telecommunications, and other information technology devices. The term arose as a way to distinguish the "box" and the electronic circuitry and components of a computer from the program you put in it to make it do things. The program came to be known as the software. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

Help

Term denoting the user support in an application. Typically help is provided in form of documentation, but other ways of user support are usually more effective, because most users do not read documentation.

Ideally, an application is self-explaining, so that users do not need help.

High Fidelity Prototype

Prototype which captures already much of the look and feel of the final application; it often includes essential parts of the functionality and can nearly be handled like the real application. The degree to which look and functionality are implemented depends, of course, on the purpose of the prototype (presentation, discussion, user test).

Figure: Example for a high fidelity prototype

HTML Prototype

Prototype based on HTML pages. HTML prototypes may be very simple, for example consist of pages containing screen shots with links for simulating navigational aspects of an application (Low fidelity prototypes).

Figure: A simple HTML prototype using HTML forms elements

Figure: Demonstrating navigation using HTML prototypes

HTML prototypes can be used to explore dynamics of applications like navigation; this prototype already includes graphical elements, thus providing a preview of the look of the final application

High fidelity prototypes can also be realized using HTML, especially when the possibilities of DHTML (e.g. JavaScript) are exploited.

Individualization

Process of adapting software to the user's needs. This process can in part be done beforehand by the system administrator (Customization), and by the users themselves (Personalization).

Suitability for individualization is one of the ISO 9241/8 requirements.

Information Architecture

Information architecture involves the design of organization and navigation systems to help people find and manage information more successfully (from Lous Rosenfeld, Argus Associates).

The term Information architecture is typically used within the context of Website design.

Information Design

Information design is concerned with the structure and presentation of information, be it textual, graphical or an animation. Traditionally, these are on-screen instructions, help, and documentation. But today, information design means much more, as content plays an increasingly important role, especially for the design of Websites and Web applications.

Interaction Design

That part of application design which deals with the interaction between users and the system. Interaction design can be dealt with on a more abstract level, like the structure of the dialog between users and the system. It can also be dealt with on a more concrete level, like selecting controls and arranging them on a screen or page. The visual design aspects, e.g. the graphic design, is typically not handled by interaction designers, but by visual or graphical designers (see Graphic Design, Visual Design). Issues like on-screen instructions, help, and documentation are handled by information designers and documentation writers (see Information Design).

Interaction Design Session

In a design session usability specialists, developers and other application experts jointly develop an implementable user interface. Using this method, the particular knowledge of each expert contributes to the goal of a human-oriented design.

Figure: Discussing the screen design in a design session

Figure: Building paper mockups during a design session

See Resources -> Interaction Design Sessions in the SAP Design Guild for more information.

Interactive System

ISO Definition: System combination of hardware and software components that receive input from, and communicate output to, a human user in order to support his or her performance of a task.
Note: The term "system" is often used rather than "interactive system". (Source: ISO 13407 (1999-06-01) ISO/TC 159)

Internet ("the Net")

A worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPA Network. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to" research computers at other universities.

Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the Intranet and the Extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

See also World Wide Web (WWW).

For more information see SAP Interaction Design Guide for Internet Application Components and The Web - A Short Introduction in the SAP Design Guild.

Internet Application Component (IAC)

SAP's Web applications. These are typically simple applications, well suited to beginners and casual users. Examples of SAP Web applications are self-service applications used by employees to, for example, apply for holidays or to search for address data. Other SAP IACs are Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) applications.

Figure: Example of an Internet application component (IAC) following the current SAP Web design

For more information and guidelines see SAP Interaction Design Guide for Internet Application Components in the SAP Design Guild.

Intranet

An Intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise, based on Internet technology. Typically, an Intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an Intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An Intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences. (From www.whatis.com)

See also Extranet, World Wide Web (WWW).

ISO 9241, Part 10

International norm regulating the usability aspects of software; It extends the German DIN norm 66234, part 8.

See also the respective European regulations.

iView

iViews are small applications that populate a page in the SAP portal environment. They are tailored to the needs of the user and its role and provide essential information and basic functionality.

Users may personalize portal pages and select the iViews they need for doing their jobs.

Figure: An alert iView

For more information and guidelines see the SAP iView Guidelines in the Resources section of the SAP Design Guild.

Job Design

ISO Definition: Process of determining what the job content should be for a set of work tasks, how the tasks should be organized, and what linkage should exist between jobs.

Note: For the purpose of this part of ISO 11064, a definition of job design is introduced which indicates the design of several jobs, instead of one job (such as defined in EN 614-1, Annex B). (Source: ISO/DIS 11064-2 (1999-03-18) ISO/TC 159)

Knowledge Management

KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. It's important to note that the definition says nothing about technology; while KM is often facilitated by IT, technology by itself is not KM. (From "The ABC of Knowledge Management" by Megan Santosus and Jon Surmacz)