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Usability Testing & Evaluation

Phase 1 — Initiation

Our business analyst performs a customer, target audience, domain, and competitor analysis. Then the client's contact person answers a short questionnaire. Then the business analyst and contact person define and agree on business goals, user goals, and project success metrics. As a result of this phase, the scope document is prepared by our project manager and agreed upon by both parties.

Phase 2 — Test Planning

Our user interface modeler and client contact person define and agree on which use cases and which personas should be tested. If personas are not defined, then our business analyst and user interface modeler define them. Then our business analyst and user interface modeler prepare usability test tasks that fit into selected use cases. These tasks should demonstrate how users work with the system when doing their everyday tasks.

Usability testing participants are people who are not involved in the project but fit the personas defined in Phase 2. They are taken from our database and paid for the time they participate. They also sign nondisclosure agreement.

Phase 3 — Test Run

Usability testing participants try to complete these tasks. The user interface modeler observes, protocols, and analyzes their performance. After the task is finished, participants pass through exit interviews in which their personal opinions about the system are noted. As a result of this phase, a test report is written that includes all test data collected — opinions from users and the test conductor, video records of the test process, and other materials.

Phase 4 — Test Results Analysis

Our user interface modeler analyzes the test report to acknowledge where the problems in the user interface are. This analysis results in a list of interface usability issues that should be fixed. Every issue is accurately described and explained as to what problems it can cause and why. The final step of this phase is made by the user interface modeler: issues are valued and weighted to prioritize which should be fixed first and which can be put on the back burner.

Phase 5 — Recommendations

Based on the issues list, recommendations for how to resolve them are made by the user interface modeler. Recommendations are presented in two ways: text descriptions for how to solve every issue and user interface specifications that show how these enhancements should be applied. These specifications include wireframes that define page content and layouts, use cases that define user interactions and their sequence, and software requirement specifications that define business rules. If these documents already exist, the user interface modeler updates them. Otherwise, they're created from scratch.

Final Phase — Delivery

Our project manager prepares all the deliverables and delivers them to client. After the deliverables are approved by the client, the project is considered finished.

Results

At the end of the Usability Testing & Evaluation process, there is a series of documents produced and delivered to the client:

• Usability Testing Report. A set of documents that include test background, text report, video, audio, and screen-capture records taken during the test.
• Usability Evaluation Report. A set of documents that include the evaluation background and text report.
• Usability Issues List. A text document that describes usability issues in detail.
• Usability Recommendations List. A text document that describes in detail how to resolve usability issues.
• Updated Wireframes. A set of graphic documents that describe page layouts.
• Updated Use Cases. A set of text documents that describe page navigation and interactions.
• Updated Software Requirement Specification. A text document that describes business rules and functionality in detail.

Have a question? Feel free to contact us.

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