Human Factors in System Design

This study explores the impact of human factors in system design and evaluates the usability of the interactive system used by British Airways and Lufthansa for their Android mobile application. The evaluation is done using heuristic evaluation method.

Running head: HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
Human Factors in System Design
[Name of the Student]
[Name of the University]
[Author note]

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Interactive System:
Interactive systems are considered as a viable advancement in technology that has
been attained in todays world by making use of man and machine interaction. The interactive
systems have been responsible for putting forward numerous sub-categories that are
responsible for the changes. The main sub-categories mainly include the following BCI or the
Brain Computer Interaction, the HCI or Human Computer Interaction and many more
(Neelapu et al. 2017). The user interface or the UI has been associated with witnessing
numerous different kinds of upgrades that is from the Skeuomorphism to the designs which
are much simple. However now it has been seen that the User Experience or The UX acts as
the prime factor for the designing of the interactive systems interface. Before moving to the
finding sections all the interaction systems are compared and contrasted so as to summarize
the results. The report is associated with analyzing the interactive system that has been
selected by the British Airways and Lufthansa for the Android Version of their mobile
application (Sarcevic Marsic and Burd 2018). Heuristic evaluation has been used for the
purpose of evaluating the system which in turn is associated with considering the heuristics
extending the 10 heuristics of Nielson.
User of the Interactive System:
Android version of the mobile application that is to be used by the British Airways is
the main subject of this paper. British Airways is associated with providing international
service and is one of the well-established airways of the European Continent. The interactive
system that is used by the British Airways is entirely responsible for providing various kind
of air flight services and different air flight services like the boarding, booking of tickets,
details of the flight, distance, price and many more are offered (Guerrero 2016). Another
example of the functionality provided by the British Airways is the “Pay for Brinks and M&S

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on board snacks”. Beow are the screenshots of the interactive mobile application used by the
British Airways so as to help in gaining an insight of the firm along with the system and the
users. Besides this a general use case diagram has also been created so as to put forward an
understanding of the functionality of the mobile applications.
British Airways is one of the oldest and the largest air carrier existing in UK in
terms of the size of the fleet ad the second largest air carrier in terms of the number of
passengers carried. This organization was established in the year of 1974 on 31st March and
its headquarter is situated in Waterside, Harmondsworth, United Kingdoms. The air carrier is
associated with providing different kind of air services which are generally provided in
different platforms and generally ranges from the website to mobile applications
(Venugopalan et al. 2018). The android version of the mobile application is chosen for
conducting this study which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store that is having a
rating of 4.2 and has been reviewed by almost 28,321 peoples. Features like the timeline,
personalized home screen, boarding passes, flight booking, checking the status of the flight,
widget, management of flights and many more are provided in order to gain an advantage.
The primary users include the passengers.

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Use Case Diagram:

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The use case diagram created is for the mobile application which is entirely dedicated
towards the airways. The application firstly consists of a sign-up section where the users
needs to get them registered and this is followed by the validation of the data by the users and
for storing the data in the database. Followed by this is the deployment of the credentials that
is to be used by the users so as to get access to the system as well as to the capabilities (Lin et

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al. 2015 ). After logging in into the application the users would be capable of getting an
access to various kind of features like the searching of flights, booking of the tickets, making
payments and other similar type of features.
Methodology:
The usability of the interactive system designs can be done by means of the few
prominent techniques like the Cognitive Walkthrough, heuristic evaluation and the Keystroke
Level Modelling. Amongst these three techniques the heuristic evaluation and the Cognitive
Walkthrough is generally associated with considering the users whereas the Keystroke Level
Modelling is not associated with considering the users and is an analytic technique. The
report is mainly associated with evaluating the usability of the interactive system that
generally involves the different human factors and for this reason the Keystroke level
modelling has not been chosen. Besides this amongst the heuristic and the Cognitive
walkthrough, the heuristic evaluation method has been chosen as this is driven by the
guidelines and the principles. Another main reason lying behind the selection of the heuristic
evaluation is that the interactive system which has been selected for the subject of this study
is consisting of numerous features that can be discussed (Neelapu et al. 2017). The cognitive
walkthrough evaluation method is associated with limiting the evaluation process to a number
of aspects that the functionality, visibility, interactivity and the usability however the
heuristic evaluation method would be associated with availing the evaluator with aspects like
the human limitations, the consistency, accuracy and many more. So, for the flexibility and
the in-depth assessment of the heuristic evaluation method acts as a primary reason for
selecting this particular methodology.
Heuristic Evaluation:

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Neilson and Molich in the year of 1994 was associated with introducing the heuristic
evaluation of the User interfaces and this is the most popular guideline used for reviewing
any kind f interactive system. The most prominent advantage of the heuristic advantage is
that it provides an easy and quick output. Deriving of the adequate output by making use of
this methodology is possible if the requirement is defined in a proper way (Guerrero 2016).
Firstly, the product is to be defined and the subject of this study is the mobile application.
Followed by this the selection of appropriate expert so as to discuss the study. Lastly the final
requirement includes the selection of the heuristics.
Evaluation
The evaluation of both the systems have been done based on the heuristics that have
been discussed above. Furthermore, to enhance the understanding and do a comparative
analysis between the two systems based on the heuristics, have been presented below.
System Status Visibility
British Airways application both of them offers the visibility of the status. As
evidence to the above made statements the screenshot from the applications have been
attached below.

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BA System Visibility

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The images attached that has been provided above is associated with depicting the
fact that the animations of the application have been designed in such a way that different
operations of the business can be carried out in an easy way. It is to be noted that the
animations of this application are also responsible for making the application slower and this
is one of the major problems that needs to be mitigated (Sarcevic Marsic and Burd 2018).
These animations are designed along with being made suitable so as to be utilized by various
kind of operations and British Airways have been associated with limiting the animations
which are suitable for the heuristics that has been discussed.
“Limited animation of BA limits the understanding of the users of what action is being
undertaken and why the user has to wait. While Lufthansa offers better system status
visibility with suitable animation for each action.”
Real World and System compatibility
Understandable outputs are put forward by the application of the British
Airways to the users and is also responsible for providing offers related to the relevancy of
the understanding. The output that is presented by BA does not account for any of the activity
but is only associated with considering the completion of the work (Venugopalan et al. 2018).
Additionally, the application is also associated availing the users with the various kind of
opportunities for reviewing the details that have been provided acting as one of the most
crucial factors.
User Control and Freedom
Designing of the interface has been done by considering the various discussed
aspects along with the findings which has been associated with reveling various features of

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the application. In the application of the BA whenever a user makes an error they are drafted
back to the initial page and they have to undertake the actions again which they have done
before making the mistake.

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BA Error Output
Consistency and Standards
The functions of the action along with the scenarios which has been presented
by the application is seen to be effective along with being efficient and well designed and
clear. Drop down box option is also provided by the application for the information which are
closely ended and are consisting of certain response for it (Knudsen, Chiarandini and Larsen
2018). Additionally, the users are provided with support so as to understand the functions of
any of the detail that have been offered. So the clarity as well as the standard is provided with
clarity regarding the different kind of actions, situations or the words that have been
considered.
Error Prevention
Enabling the users is considered to be one of the most prominent method
responsible for the prevention of the errors. Besides this another crucial factor includes
offering the user with the output for the various actions that have been conducted by them.
this would be responsible for enabling the users in understanding the impact of the selection
so as to guide them in moving forward with further actions. British Airways application is not
associated with offering any kind of documentation help for each of the interaction that is
conducted by the system as well as by the user however it is associated with offering selected
helps for the options that require understanding (Mills and Helms Mills 2017). One of the
notable points in the documentation provided by BA is associated with covering the entire
screen, along with the hiding of the previous screens and by closing the pop-up screen only
all the other options can be viewed.

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BA Error Prevention

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Recognition rather than recall
The interaction system is associated with offer functionality related to the
recognition and the major reason behind this is the search algorithm which the application is
having and is associated with offering recognition option for the various inputs that are
offered by the user (Ahmed, Adil and Latif 2015).

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BA Recognition

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Efficiency and Flexibility of use
The application is generally considered to be flexible as well as efficient
enough so as to leverage the entire system.
Aesthetic and Minimalist
The screenshots provided below helps in understanding the fact that the
application of BA is associated with sharing of information which are relevant for the users,
and BA is associated with providing a detailed information (Mills 2017). The information tab
of the BA is always shown in a new tab.

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Assist users in recognizing, diagnosing and recovering from the error

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The application is associated with offering the error message and is also
responsible for providing opportunities in order to analyze and diagnose the various kind of
errors (Mills and Mills 2017). Application of the BA is associated with forcing the user in
undertaking the operations in a complete manner. The application is associated with
highlighting the section or error with red color in order to make sure that the user is capable
of identifying and diagnose the error.
.
BA error message
Help and documentation
From the above discussion it is clear that the application is associated with
offering help as well as documentation to the users in order to make tehm capable of
understand the needs as well as the actions of the application that are to be taken.

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Precision
British Airways is in a current position where it is not capable of providing
precision and it is evident from the figures that has been provided below (Blair et al. 2017).
That is in one case the application was searched for London however it offered the previous
results of the previous search that is New York.

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Forgiveness

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Previously it has been discussed that the BA is associated with enforcing the
users in undertaking certain processes again in case if any kind of error is made and this is
entirely not in context with the discussed heuristic principle.
Fulfilment
The interaction taking place between a human and a machine and the level of
satisfaction of human is entirely dependent upon the various aspects and the application has
been designed for the purpose of offering an improved user experience (Pietzsch et al. 2015).
But it has been seen that the BA is lacking in particular fields and requires an improvement
so as to make sure the application is providing a better result to the user.
Suitable Tempo
The applications interface has been designed for providing support to all the
users but there certainly exist certain factors that might seem to be different and this is
dependent upon the user and one of the factors is the presentation and the operation speed.
Findings
The table presented below provides the heuristic and in the sub-sequent cells offers
the case subjects. The findings of the paper have been summarized to present them in the
format of a table.
Heuristic Comparison
System Status
Visibility
The animation of BA is Limited which in turn is
associated with limiting the understanding of the users
regarding the actions that are to be taken.
Real World and
System compatibility
The output obtained from the BA interactive
systems is easy to understand by the users.
User Control and
Freedom
Less user control and freedom

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Consistency and
Standards
The consistency and standards of the application
is responsible for providing a clarity regarding the
actions, situations and words which are considered.
Error Prevention The interactive system is associated with offering
support to most of the crucial actions only along with
covering the entire paper.
Recognition
rather than recall
Associated with offering functionality related to
the recognition as well as the search algorithm of the
application is associated with offering recognition
option for the inputs that are offered by the user.
Efficiency and
Flexibility of use
The less amount of flexibility
Assist users in
recognizing, diagnosing
and recovering from the
error
The interface of the application has been
designed for helping the users in identifying, diagnose
and solving the error.
Help and
documentation
The application as well as the interface is
designed by considering all the discussed heuristic
which is a part of the interface designing
Precision Precision for the BA application needs work.
Forgiveness Application of the BA needs improvement
Fulfilment The applications needs a lot of improvement in
order to become capable of providing a higher level of
user satisfaction
Suitable Tempo BA is associated with providing suitable tempo
for operation and speed for all the users

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