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enVision Intelligence Community User Experience Evaluation Ashutosh Kaushik October 5, 2009

enVision Intelligence Community User Experience Evaluation Ashutosh Kaushik October 5, 2009. Contents. Project Background Review Methods Finding Summary Detailed Findings Navigation Language and Labeling System Feedback Layout Visual Design Conclusion Appendix. Evaluation Overview

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enVision Intelligence Community User Experience Evaluation Ashutosh Kaushik October 5, 2009

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  1. enVision Intelligence Community User Experience EvaluationAshutosh KaushikOctober 5, 2009

  2. Contents • Project Background • Review Methods • Finding Summary • Detailed Findings • Navigation • Language and Labeling • System Feedback • Layout • Visual Design • Conclusion • Appendix

  3. Evaluation Overview • Project Background • Review Methods

  4. Project Background • Goals of the Intelligence Community (IC) are to • Provide enVision customers with an outlet to communicate, share ideas and best practices • Gather valuable customer feedback for enVision team • Promote open communication between enVision team and customers • Provide scheduled technical training sessions • Problems faced by the IC (as presented to us): • Low participation rate as compared to the high enrollment • Not self-sustaining

  5. Review Method The purpose of this User Experience Evaluation (UEE) is to • Identify the problems that users encounter with the Intelligence Community • Recommend enhancements that will ultimately increase user participation and improve their overall experience Review methods included • Heuristic Evaluation - Determine if the application conforms to a checklist of standard best practices within the UX field. • Expert Review - Review the application’s usability through UXD expertise, understanding of the product and its users • User Interviews* - Conduct customer interviews to gain a better knowledge of how customers interact with the IC and to collect their feedback on how their experience can be improved *Not a standard component of the UEE.

  6. Finding Summary • Strengths of the IC • Areas of Improvement

  7. Findings Summary • Strengths of the IC • P2P: A powerful resource for enVision users to communicate, share ideas and best practices. “[The Intelligence Community has been] our primary source for any solution or information along with Tech support” – Brock Fray, Senior information security manager, Fifth Third Bank • Content: Content in the forum helps the users leverage enVision to its full capacity. “The content [Dave Glover’s webinars, for example] of IC has helped me understand enVision much better” – Mike Wade, Sr. Data Security Analyst, Limited Brands • Features : Announcement, Kudos, New posts, Subscription are the most appreciated and most used features “Kudos is a very useful feature, Kudos posts are a great resource” - Mike Wade, Sr. Data Security Analyst, Limited Brands

  8. Findings Summary • Areas for Improvement • Interface: not well organized, redundant and lengthy text “Its not very easy as compared to the other forums I have been to” – Ankush Baveja, Security Analyst, TCS • Global navigation: Logout button placement, organization and labeling “For some Novice enVision users, the headers might not be very clear” - Mike Wade, Sr. Data Security Analyst, Limited Brands • IC Management: More active participation from site moderators “[The IC needs] stronger moderators who could perform active storming of the whole forum and help organize information better” - Ryan Stillions, Senior Security Admin, Rockwell Collins

  9. Findings Summary • Areas for Improvement (continued) • Format: Long thread lists, thread indentations, too many sidebars “The long list of replies are not easy to understand …as it becomes difficult to understand who’s replied to whom” – Ankush Baveja, Security Analyst, TCS • Participation Rate: Not enough knowledge, not enough time “New users might not know enough about the product to comment” - Mike Wade, Sr. Data Security Analyst, Limited Brands • Promotion: Lack of promotion from field reduces user enrollment and participation “enVision support and sales need to talk up Intelligence Community more and encourage new users to visit the Intelligence Community. - Brock Fray, Senior information security manager, Fifth Third bank

  10. Issue Severity Scale • Major = Could block the user from completing tasks and increase help desk calls – addressing would reduce help desk calls. • Moderate = Major Irritation; results in extra clicks, long pauses and uncertainty – should be addressed; addressing would greatly improve user experience. • Minor = Minor irritation, results in short pauses and momentary uncertainty – nice to have; addressing would improve user experience.

  11. Detailed Findings

  12. Navigation Navigation refers to the ease to which a user can move around an interface (global navigation, breadcrumb trails, related links, pagination (previous/next page), footer navigation, etc.) and the visual manifestation of such systems (hyperlinked text, tabs, buttons, etc.)

  13. Navigation: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The Intelligence Community link on the breadcrumb trail is the only way to get back to the home page Severity:Major • Recommendation: • Add a ‘Home’ button to the global navigation that brings the user back to the home page.

  14. Navigation: Findings/Recommendations Finding: Clicking the page title can have unpredictable results. Severity:Major Navigation:Log IN > Intelligence Community (Home) • Recommendation: • Make the page title static text, rather than a link

  15. Navigation: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The breadcrumbs could be overlooked among the numerous layers in the header. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Reduce the number of layers in the header to make the breadcrumbs more prominent • Use the standard carrots (>) for the breadcrumbs

  16. Navigation: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The ‘Logout’ button is situated in the middle of other actively used buttons which could cause accidental logout Severity:Minor • Recommendation: • Relocate the ‘Logout’ button to the top right or at the far end of the menu bar so that the user doesn’t click it by mistake.

  17. Language and Labeling Language and Labeling refers to the word choice and phrasing of all textual elements of the interface such that it matches the user's vocabulary

  18. Labeling: Findings/Recommendations Finding: Content labels are vague, which can cause confusion about what content belongs where Severity:Major “Having an explanation for the headers might help in better organization” - Ryan Stillions, Senior Security Admin, Rockwell Collins • Recommendation: • Use more detailed language in section headers • Include a short description of what content is expected under each header

  19. Labeling: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The ‘Options’ label is used in multiple places for different actions Severity:Major • Recommendation: • Rename the ‘Options’ buttons to specify their function. Consider using ‘Thread Options’ and ‘Message Options’. • Consider combining all these individual option buttons including ‘Community Options’ and ‘Board Options’ under a single heading called ‘Options’.

  20. Labeling: Findings/Recommendations Finding: ‘Help’ takes the user to the ‘FAQ’ page. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Have the page header and breadcrumbs consistent with the page link.

  21. Language: Findings/Recommendations Finding: ‘My Profile’ does not work as would be expected. It takes the user to a settings page. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Change ‘My Profile’ to ‘Settings’

  22. Language: Findings/Recommendations Finding: In the message screen, users may not notice the ‘Compose New Message’ tab because it is the last option. Severity:Minor • Recommendation: • ‘Compose New Message‘ should be the first tab after ‘Inbox’, making it easier for users to notice. Users read from left to right, so the most frequently used and important tabs should be the leftmost tab.

  23. System Feedback System Feedback refers to the capability of the system to make the user aware of what is happening with the system.

  24. Feedback: Findings/Recommendations Finding: New users are required to wait three days after registration before gaining access to the complete forum. Severity:Major • Recommendation: • Provide quicker access to the forum because some of the users might become frustrated and never return to the forum after the three day wait.

  25. Feedback: Findings/Recommendations Finding: During the three day wait period, it is not clear what level of access is provided to the user. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Make the user aware of their registration status in the forum by emailing them and letting them know the date when they would have complete access

  26. Feedback: Findings/Recommendations • Finding: Searching without search criteria displays seemingly random results (user has to scroll up to see the message that no data was entered) Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • When searching without any search criteria, a message should appear on the screen

  27. Layout Layout refers to the arrangement of elements on an individual screen within the interface.

  28. Layout: Findings/Recommendations • Finding: The threads are not collapsible, causing unnecessary vertical scrolling Severity:Major • “[The user should be] allowed to collapse the message thread” • - Brock Fray, Senior information Security Manager, Fifth Third Bank • Recommendation: • Provide the capability to collapse the threads.

  29. Layout: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The thread’s indentation format makes the words wrap. Also the format makes it confusing to follow the thread Severity:Moderate • “The long list of replies are not easy to understand…as it becomes difficult to understand who’s replied to whom” • – Ankush Baveja, Security Analyst (TCS) • Recommendation: • Adjust the indentation to be the same for all the replies. Also the folder icon makes it clear to the user a new thread started

  30. Layout: Findings/Recommendations Finding: Redundant introductory text clutters the interface and users are unlikely to read it. Severity: Moderate • Recommendation: • Include all of the introductory information in a single location

  31. Layout: Findings/Recommendations Finding: ‘Search’ is not positioned where users are accustomed to finding it. The ‘Go To’ menu positioning may not be intuitive either. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Switch the positions of ‘Search’ and ‘Go To’

  32. Layout: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The ‘Next’ and ‘Previous Page’ buttons are below the ‘Legend.’ Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Move the ‘Legend’ to the footer, as the legend is typically the last information on the page

  33. Layout: Findings/Recommendations Finding: There are too many side bars, causing excessive vertical scrolling. Severity:Minor • Recommendation: • Provide the ability to collapse or hide the sidebars to preserve vertical space and prevent excessive scrolling

  34. Visual Design The appropriate use of color, typography, style, and attention getting techniques.

  35. Visual Design: Findings/Recommendations Finding: Inconsistency when highlighting selected items using Float to top functionality Home Page Severity:Moderate Threads • Recommendation: • Functionality should have the same visual treatment across the entire system to prevent confusion.

  36. Visual Design : Findings/Recommendations Finding: There are many different saturated colors used (e.g. white, red, blue and the various shades of gray) with no specific meaning assigned to them. Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Use fewer and less saturated colors to avoid visual overload.

  37. Visual Design: Findings/Recommendations Finding: The contrast of white text on saturated color backgrounds causes readability issues Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • To improve legibility, use lighter color backgrounds with dark text.

  38. Others The issues that are not easily categorized in one of the previous sections.

  39. Others: Findings/Recommendations Finding: Users do not hear much about the IC from Sales and Tech support. “If an issue is resolved by tech support, a gentle reminder to post the solution on the Intelligence Community would go a long way in increasing participation” - Mike Wade, Sr. Data Security Analyst, Limited Brands enVision support and sales need to talk up the Intelligence Community more and encourage new users to visit the Intelligence Community. In the Admin training I attended the Intelligence Community was mentioned on the last day right at the end - Brock Fray, Senior information security manager, Fifth Third bank Severity:Major • Recommendation: • Tech support and Sales have an opportunity to enhance promotion of the IC to new and existing users.

  40. Others: Findings/Recommendations Finding: User are expecting more moderator contribution “More posts from the moderators as there is more authenticity to a moderator post or reply - Ankush Baveja, Security Analyst, TCS “Better housekeeping would lead to better organization of information” - Ryan Stillions, Senior Security Admin, Rockwell Collins Severity:Moderate • Recommendation: • Increase moderator contribution in the short term, until other improvements begin to make the IC more self-sustaining.

  41. Conclusion

  42. Conclusion The following set of recommendations may increase user participation and help the IC become more user-friendly and self-sustaining. These recommendations are based on the results of the UEE evaluation exercise. • The problem: Low participation rate as compared to high enrollment • Provide quicker access to the forum (No three day wait time) • Notify users of their status via email after enrollment • Increase promotion of the IC by sales and support teams

  43. Conclusion • The Problem: Not self-sustaining. Poor organization of content requires an increase of moderator involvement • Make the headers more descriptive • Eliminate redundant text • Reduce vertical page scrolling by incorporating expand/collapse to the side bars • Re-label the navigation elements and reduce the number of menu layers • Make it predictable: breadcrumb trails, button labels, headers, Search, etc. • Re-format thread indentation process and add thread collapsing

  44. Appendix

  45. Appendix: Major Finding

  46. Appendix: Major Finding

  47. Appendix: Moderate Finding

  48. Appendix: Moderate Finding

  49. Appendix: Moderate Finding

  50. Appendix: Moderate Finding

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