Human Factors in System Design (pdf)

Running head: HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
Interactive System: Automated Train Ticket Vending Automated
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author’s Note-

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Introduction
The usability of an interactive system is basically evaluated by an interactive system. The
usability engineering is considered as a methodology for evaluating the application including
users, developers, and contributors. This report elaborates the usability issues of the present
systems of automatic ticket vending machines. The user requirement is to be considered and the
operations that are performed by user are used to analyze the usability of the ticket vending
machine. This report consists of elaborate studies of the ticket vending machines mitigating the
drawback of the present system.
In this report, a detailed structure of the ATVM (Automated Train Ticket Vending
Machine) is proposed that allows the user to buy tickets from those machines. The user can avoid
the headache of standing in a queue in reservation counter of railway system. The system that is
proposed in this report deal with ticket vending in an automatic way with functional human
interaction with the system. A ticket vending machine is usually user friendly for the user to use.
The issues that are faced in present ticket vending machines are mitigated by the proposed
interface that is elaborated in this report. The interface that is described in this system provides a
good user interface.
Part ONE: Interactive System and its respective Users
When the user requests for ticket in the automated machines, the ticket vending machine
generates ticket for them. The ticket vending machine is basically built with an interface that the
user finds easy to use and the system is user friendly as well. The interface of the ticket vending
machine basically has the Menu link, which allows the user to select the preferred option by
them. The Menu link consists of different options such as search trains, checks availability,

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Choose from Map, make payment and generate ticket. The user can select any option from the
list of menu to proceed with their ticket purchasing. The instructions are given on the screen as
well about how to proceed with the purchase. The main goal of the ticket vending machine
allows the user to purchase tickets from the railway system that will be used by the user while
travelling. The user needs to check the train availability first in which he/she wants to travel. The
user can also put the starting place as well as the destination place in the system to check the
availability of train. If the train is available, the user can click the purchase link for purchasing
the ticket. After purchasing the ticket, the user can generate the ticket. While vending a ticket,
the user has to fill all the fields that are needed to buy the tickets. The number of traveller who
will travel is to be entered by the user to proceed with the purchasing. Otherwise, the machine
will take only one passenger as a default. Then the user will have to select the paying option that
he wills to. There are many paying options that include credit card, debit card, net banking, and
cash. The present existing machine have an issues of making the payment by cash. Usually, the
system cannot return the change if the user gives more cash than the required cost of the ticket.
This proposed interface of ticket vending machine allows the user to buy the tickets even with
cash and returns the change to the user through cash dispenser. And finally the user can generate
the ticket for travelling.
Part TWO: Use Cases
The system that is proposed in this report consists of a ticket vending machine that
provides the users to buy tickets from the machine. The main work of this machine is to provide
the user with travelling tickets for train. Both hardware and software is needed for the system
built up. This use case shows three actors who are related with the system.

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Figure 1: Use Case Diagram of Ticket Vending Machine
(Source: Created by Author)
The above diagram shows the use case of the ticket vending machine. The operations that
are performed by the user, the technician or the administrator are shown in the use case diagram.
The bank and the system of railway also plays a role in the system of ticket vending machine.
For purchasing the ticket, the user needs to provide a valid destination and the source place that
will helps the user to purchase the ticket. The user can choose the places from the map as well

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for buying the tickets. The number of passengers who will travel is to be selected first and then
the system will calculate the total amount of money for making the payment. There are options
of credit card payment, debit card payment, net banking, and by cash. The user can collect the
remaining cash dispenser.
The admin is a user that manages the whole system of ticket vending machine. The admin
looks that the system works well
The technician that is involved with the system includes managing the information
system and manage the printing system of the machine. The technician checks whether there is
availability of paper and ink for printing the ticket. He will also look at the matter that the
machine has all the money denominations so that the system can give change to the user.
Part THREE: Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation methodology consists of usability methodology. Usability methodology
mainly includes three factors. Usability methodology deals with the efficiency of the system,
satisfaction the user has while using the system, and the effectiveness of the system. The
methodology of evaluation usually consists of the usability methodology. The evaluation
methodology of the ticket vending system is defined in this section. The main factor that the
evaluation methodology deals with is the efficiency. The efficiency of the machine is to be
checked while dealing with a system. A system that is efficient produces accurate results when
the user requests for a particular function.
So, the machine that is designed deals with the system of taking the cash from the user,
cut the exact amount of cash for the ticket, returns the extra cash is to the user, and then finally
generates the ticket for user. If the user gives more amount of money than the ticket price, the

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user is given with the change that the user deserves. This is not possible with the existing system
of ticket vending machine as they are not able to give the back the extra amount to the person. In
that case, the person has to cancel the transaction and therefore, has to cancel the ticket from the
system and stand in a queue for purchasing the ticket. This proposed system can overcome these
drawbacks of the existing ticket vending system.
The second factor that the usability methodology includes is satisfaction. Basically the
user experience defines the satisfaction for the system. If the user cannot use the system
properly, the satisfaction is not achieved. The system should have to be user friendly, and will
have to be used by all people who wants to use the system. The satisfaction of the user defines
the changes that the system needs and thus the system that is defined is not efficient. If the
system fulfils all the requirements of the user, then the system functionality gets satisfied to the
person who is using the system. The person can pay more amount of money if he does not have
exact amount of money and gets back the extra amount of money as a change in the cash
dispenser of the system. This proposed system satisfies all the needs of the user.
The factor that the usability evaluation next is the effectiveness. The system that is
proposed in this report is effective for the user as the system mitigates all the drawbacks of the
present ticket vending machines. Effectiveness generally depends on system designing and
system development. If the person who is using the system has god experience with the system,
then the system is said to be effective. Perfect design of the system can be defined if all the
function of the system work perfectly. If the user do not face any problem while purchasing the
ticket means the system is accurate and is giving the accurate results.
The study of usability involves both the end user of the vending machine that includes
user and the admin. Usability includes all the possible operations that the user dos and looks in

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the factor if the admin faces any difficulty in dealing with the system. The developer, who
develops the system should clearly state all the requirements that the user needs and makes the
system according to that.
Before implementing the system, the system should be checked so that there does not
exist any drawback in the system. The user should not face any difficulty while purchasing the
ticket from the vending machine. All parameters are to be checked and the resources are to be
collected before making the live. Usability testing is essential for building an interactive system.
Part FOUR: Evaluation
The main part of this system is the first page of the screen that deals with the Menu of the
system that the system provides. The menu page consists of all the functions and the instructions
that the system provides. The system design of different vending machines are generally
different depending on the countries they are being developed for. Each country has different
languages, according to which the system are designed with the local languages. All the systems
should have the option of local language as well as English language. The language that the user
is comfortable with can be selected by the user according to their will.
With the present system, the user mainly faces two difficulties. First is when the user
needs to cancel the ticket and gets refund from the machine and the second issue is with the
change after paying more amount of money than the exact fare. Also, there is another issue that
the user faces with the present ticket vending machine is that machine do not have voice enable
functionalities because of which the blind person cannot use the system.
The interface of the machine plays a key role in this system. The interface mainly
consists of many options that the user performs according to their will. The system is used for

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ticket vending for the railway system. The system functionality works well when the interface of
the system works well. This helps to give accurate results to the person who is using the
interface. The tickets are only generated when the user enter a valid input in the system along
with the respective fields which asks for the source and the destination stations. The payment
option is also to be made properly by the user. The user have to fill all the fields in the payment
page for making the payment successful. There are many option of making the payment. The
unique option that this available with this proposed interface is that it accepts cash more than the
required amount of the ticket and returns the change to the user through the cash dispenser. User
does not have to pay the exact amount of cash to the user. The machine returns the extra cash to
the user. This proposed interface also deals with the ticket cancellation of the system. The
present systems does not deals with cancellation of the ticket. The interface that is designed with
this new system deals with the cancellation of the tickets.
A system that takes some input from the user and then performs the operation
accordingly to the will of the user is commonly known as an interactive system. An interactive
system is actually a system that the user feels easy to use. The end user can do their job easily
done by performing some task. Basically, an interactive system has very attractive interface that
guides the user as well as provide direction for operating the system. User interaction is
enhanced by an interactive system. Usually, an interactive system comprises of system that
enhance the interaction between the computer system and the user. When interactive systems
were introduced newly, they were used using commands, which was not user friendly at all and
the user were not able to use them as proper training was also not given. But, the interactive
systems that are made now a days mostly deals with a user friendly interface. The modern user

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interface that is built today mostly are made by Linux or Windows based operating system.
Commonly there are three types of user interaction system.
1. Systems that are command based
2. Systems that are menu based
3. Systems that are user interfaced
The new vending system provide all such functionalities and mitigates the drawbacks of
the system. If the user cannot find the destination station or the source station in the list of the
system, the user can select the place from the map that is inbuilt in the system. Using the map,
the user can select the destination place and the source place by taking the point on that
particular place. Typing the first alphabet of the place, the system automatically shows all the
places with that particular alphabet present in the database of the system. So, the user will not
face any difficulty in while purchasing the ticket from the automated train ticket vending
machine.
After selecting the desired places, the user is taken forward to the payment page that
shows the options by which the user can make the payment. There are many options available to
the user that the user can avail. The options that the user can choose from includes debit card,
credit card, net banking, as well as cash payment. If the person selects the debit card, credit card,
and the net banking option the user will be redirected to that particular bank page which the user
selects. If the user selects the cash payment mode, then the user will be taken to a page where the
user will have to enter the denominations of the notes that the user will place in the cash
dispenser. The system will cut the exact amount of money for the number of tickets that are
selected by the user and the extra amount is also returned to user through the cash dispenser.

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When the payment is successful rom any of the option selected by the user, the user is
forwarded to the page where the user can find the confirmation of the ticket he purchased. But
the function of the ticket vending machine not only stops there. There is another option that the
user has to follow is to print out the ticket that the user has purchased. The user has to click on
the print ticket button for having the confirmed ticket been printed.
There are other options as well with the system. Some user has railway cards that gives
discount to the user. The machine also has a card reader where the user can place the card for
availing the discount. On placing the card, system detects the discount card and shows message
on the screen accordingly. Suggestions are shown on the screen about how to proceed with the
purchasing process is also instructed on the screen. The system of the vending machine is
automated and the screen works on touch of the user. If the person who cannot avail the option
of touching the screen, the user can take the option of voice instruction that is given by the
system. This makes the system more user friendly. All person can take the advantage from the
system. They do not have to stand in queue for purchasing the ticket. The interface design of the
system is shown below.

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Part FIVE: Findings of the evaluation
The vending machine prints the ticket only after confirming the details from the user. The
machine is considered to be reliable one as there is no chance of misleading the user or the
transaction failure with the system. The system works with proper interaction in between the
human and the system. This system of automatic ticket vending from the system helps to user to
make the ticket purchasing much faster and the user does not have to stand in a line for hours for
getting their seats confirmed. The ticket vending machine usually works for all 24 hours a day
and throughout the year. The system only stops if the there is a system update and the network
connection gets interrupted because of network of failure. The system of automated ticket
vending machine mainly works with Linus operating system. The technicians who are involved
with the system should look on the factor that the system works properly. The systems are screen
touched and the systems also has voice interactive system. The system of ticket vending machine
is a secured system with high end scalability. This works on all-weather condition and all the
station can avail the system all over the world. The system has the facility of selecting the local
language of the country or locality. This system is also cost efficient. The steps that are followed
while designing the ticket vending machine are listed below.

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Firstly the language is to be selected that is to be given in the first screen of the system.
After the selecting the particular language, the operations are to be stated by the
developer.
There are many options on the screen that are to be designed by the developer.
Instructions are to be added properly by the developer so that they do not face any
difficulty while using the system of ticket purchasing.
The voice that is to be given by the developer is to be clear so that the person availing the
voice interaction process should understand the instruction properly.
The system should give alert to the user if there is not printing paper in the machine. If
after processing with the whole transaction, the user does not get the printed ticket it will
be very difficult for the user to solve the issue.
So, the Automatic Train Ticket Vending machine is an advantageous system that the user can
use for purchasing ticket.

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