SAP Usability Glossary U-Z

[ 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

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.

Usability

Ease of use; a combination of learnability, rememberability, efficiency in use, reliability in use, and user satisfaction. (From Constantine & Lockwood)

Usability is the measure of a product's potential to accomplish the goals of the user. In information technology, the term is often used in relation to software applications and Websites (within the last several years, the usability of Websites has become a hot topic for Web developers), but it can be used in relation to any product that is employed to accomplish a task (for example, a toaster, a car dashboard, or an alarm clock). Some factors used in determining product usability are ease-of-use, visual consistency, and a clear, defined process. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

ISO Definition: Extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use (ISO 9241-11) (Source: EN ISO 9241-4 (1998- 08-00) ISO/TC 159)

See also the national and international regulations with respect to usability (DIN 66234/8, Euro 90/270/EWG, ISO 9241/10).

Usability Engineering Center (UEC)

Central group of user interface designers at SAP. Coordinates among others the activities for guidelines, the UIDs and training. Consults important design projects. Focuses also on end user activities like site visits, user days, and testing.

Usability Lab(oratory)

A room with stationary equipment for testing software with end users. SAP operates a central usability laboratory in Walldorf, Germany. Field tests are carried out without using such a lab.

See SAP Usability Laboratory for more information.

Usability Review

An expert-oriented method where at least two usability experts perform tasks with the application to be reviewed from a user's perspective. It is an economical and efficient method to identify weak points in the software.

See Resources -> Usability Reviews in the SAP Design Guild for more information.

Usability Test

Usability testing is a method by which users of a product are asked to perform certain tasks in an effort to measure the product's ease-of-use, task time, and the user's perception of the experience. Usability testing can be done formally, in a usability lab(oratory) with video cameras, or informally, with paper mockups of an application or Website. Changes are made to the application or Website based on the findings of the usability tests. Whether the test is formal or informal, usability test participants are encouraged to think aloud and voice their every opinion. (From www.whatis.com)

SAP conducts its more formal lab tests in the SAP Usability Laboratory located in Walldorf, Germany.

Figure: User working with an application in the lab while being videotaped

Figure: The test results are discussed with the participants of the test and the developer

Use Case

A single case of usage; a way of using a system that is complete, meaningful, and well defined to the user; an external, "black box" view of one required capability of a system. See also concrete use case and essential use case. (From Constantine and Lockwood - use cases have been promoted by Larry Constantine)

Example (From Lockwood and Constantine)

See also the respective much more abstracted example of an essential use case.

For more information on the "usability view" of use cases, see the book authored by Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood "Software for use: a practical guide to models and methods of usage-centered design" Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1999.

Note that in systems analysis use cases have a different meaning - usability aspects are not considered here:

A use case is a methodology used in system analysis to identify, clarify, and organize system requirements. The use case is made up of a set of possible sequences of interactions between systems and users in a particular environment and related to a particular goal. It consists of a group of elements (for example, classes and interfaces) that can be used together in a way that will have an effect larger than the sum of the separate elements combined. The use case should contain all system activities that have significance to the users. A use case can be thought of as a collection of possible scenarios related to a particular goal, indeed, the use case and goal are sometimes considered to be synonymous.

Use cases can be employed during several stages of software development, such as planning system requirements, validating design, testing software, and creating an outline for online help and user manuals. (From www.whatis.com)

User

Any person who actually interacts with a system (also called end user). One element of the "classical" usability triad user-task-system.

ISO Definition: Individual interacting with the system (Source: ISO 9241-10 (1996-05-00) ISO/TC 159)

Personas are "archetypal" users used in Goal-Directed® design. "Elastic user" is a term by Alan Cooper which characterizes the tendency to "tweak" user profiles.

User Analysis

Establishes a user profile as the basis for the design of a software product. User analysis has to be complemented through task analysis; therefore, often the term user task analysis is being used.

User and Task Analysis

User and task analysis is the process of learning about ordinary users by observing them in action. (From Hackos & Reddish) It combines both the user (see also user analysis) and the task aspects (see also task analysis) to establish a firm basis for the design of an application.

For detailed information on user task analysis, see the book authored by JoAnn Hackos and Janice Reddish "User and Task Analysis for Interface Design" John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1998. See also the book by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt: "Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems" Morgan Kaufman: San Francisco, CA, 1998.

User-Centered Design

User-centered design puts the user into the center of the software design process.

User-centered design of business and Web applications is fundamental to SAP's software approach. The user-centered development process at SAP is based on the following key elements: Brainstorming and Site Visits, Interaction Design Sessions, User Days (including Usability Tests) and Usability Reviews.

User Day

Meeting with customers and users for presenting, discussing and testing an application - an economical and efficient user-centered method to check the design of a product. The objective is to identify possibilities for improvement by direct cooperation between developers, user interface designers and end users.

See Resources -> User Days in the SAP Design Guild for more information.

User Environment Design (UED)

Element of the redesign process in the Contextual Design methodology. Structural model of the user interface which includes focus areas and their functionality, as well as communication channels and dependencies between focus areas.

Figure: Example for a user environment design

User Interface

The part of the system with which a user interacts to make use of the system and through which the user understands the system (to the user, the user interface is the system). (from Constantine & Lockwood)

Command-based user interfaces communicate with users via a text-based command language which has a strict syntax to be observed by users. Examples for this are the DOS and the UNIX user interfaces.

Graphical user interfaces provide graphical objects and physical interactions like pointing and dragging. Though there are still rules to be observed by users, these so-called "direct manipulation" rules are much easier to understand and learn by the users than the syntax of a command language.

Examples for graphical user interfaces are the Windows and Apple Macintosh desktops.

User Interface Design

The design of the user interface. This typically involves application developers, user interface designers (interaction design), graphic designers (visual design), as well as information designers (information or content design). In some cases, the user interface can be developed parallel to the application itself, a task which can be carried out by user interface and graphic designers.

User Interface Designer (UID)

Person who consults developers with respect to the design of the user interface and interaction of an application. The UID may also design and create the user interface him- or herself.

At SAP, user interface designers are organized (1) in a central group, the Usability Engineering Center (UEC), and (2) decentrally in the development groups. The UEC coordinates the information flow for the UIDs in the company and between the UIDs and the UEC.

User Role

A role defines an activity set and all the sources of information and services that an individual needs in order to achieve a desired business objective. A role, rather than a person, defines how a business process is fulfilled, and how the business process leads to achieving a particular business objective. Processes become wrapped in roles, and roles are responsible for ensuring that process tasks are carried out. A role can't truly exist without a business process or many business processes that define a necessary activity set.

Note that the term "role" has a different meaning in the Contextual Design methodology.

For more information, see Editions -> User Roles in the SAP Design Guild.

Vision

Element of the redesign process in the Contextual Design methodology: The redesigned work practice is captured in a vision, a story of how customers and users 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; it may be sketched as a "big picture" first. 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.

Figure: A "big picture" for capturing the vision

Visual Design

Visual design and graphical design are basically the same, but visual design can be seen as the broader term, because it may include aspects of text and information design. Visual designers are professionals in these areas and complement the contributions of user interface designers and developers in a development team. This cooperation is especially important for the design of Websites and Web applications.

Web

See World Wide Web (WWW).

Web Application

A software application based on Internet technology and consisting of HTML pages. A Web application may be part of a Website, a Web portal, or stand-alone - in the latter case, typically within Intranets or in specialized scenarios.

SAP calls its Web applications Internet Application Components (IACs). These are based on Sap's Internet technologies (Internet Transaction Server, ITS).

For more information and guidelines on SAP's Web applications see Resources -> SAP Interaction Design Guide for Internet Application Components in the SAP Design Guild.

Figure: Example of a Web application

Web Brochure

Term used to denote a Website which primarily offers information - as a contrast to Web applications which primarily offer functionality.

Figure: Example of a Web brochure

Website

Websites (also written Web sites) are the basic organizational element of the WWW. A Website is a collection of Web files on a particular subject. It includes a beginning file called a home page, which links to the other pages of the Website and, maybe, to other Websites. This is typically the address that is being published by the owner of a Website

For example the address or URL of the SAP Design Guild is www.sapdesignguild.org (ore more precisely http://www.sapdesignguild.org). References to other pages of a Websites are possible, but usually not published.

Typically, Websites offer information, but more and more Websites also offer functionality, thus blurring the distinction between information sites, also called Web brochures, and applications - in this case Web applications.

World Wide Web, WWW, Web

The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"), a graphical user interface consisting of hyperlinked pages containing text, graphics, and possibly multimedia elements. Form-like elements can also be added to pages and provide the basis for Web applications.

The Web's outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing. When you select a hyperlink, you will be transferred to the site, page, or page section that is relevant to it. Hyperlinks can be words, phrase, but also buttons, images, or portions of images that are "clickable."

Using the Web, you have access to millions of pages of information. Web browsing is done with a Web browser, the most popular of which are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The appearance of a particular Website may vary slightly depending on the browser you are using. (Adapted from www.whatis.com)

The WWW is based on the HTTP protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Pages are based on the HTML language (Hypertext Markup Language).

For more information on the WWW see the Website of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). You also find further information on the Web and Web applications in The Web - A Short Introduction and in the SAP Interaction Design Guide for Internet Application Components in the SAP Design Guild.

Work Environment

ISO Definition: Physical, chemical, biological, social, and cultural factors surrounding a person in his/her work space. However, social and cultural factors are not covered by this International Standard. (Source: ISO 6385 (1981-06-00) ISO/TC 159)

Workplace

The place, i.e. physical location, where a user is working.

ISO Definition: For a given worker, the combination of work equipment in a work space, surrounded by the work environment, constitutes the workplace of that worker. (Source: EN 614-1 (1995-02-00) CEN/TC 122)

SAP: The mySAP.com Workplace offers functionality and information (content) that fits the respective user's role (user role). The mySAP.com Workplace features a home view consisting of MiniApps; they form a personalized view with important information and functionality for the user.

See the first edition in the Editions section of the SAP Design Guild for a more thorough discussion of the mySAP.com Workplace and MiniApps.