Analysis of Human Factors in Microsoft Excel Help Support System

This essay discusses the critical need for a more user-friendly interface in Microsoft Excel, focusing on its Help Support system which currently lacks sophistication. As one of the primary tools within the Microsoft Office suite, used by millions for data analysis and storage, there is a significant demand to guide new or amateur users effectively through its complex features. The essay highlights deficiencies in the current HELP option provided by Microsoft, suggesting improvements based on Nielsen's Heuristic Principles and Human-Computer Interaction guidelines. Recommendations include prompt assistance from Help assistants, enhanced customer feedback mechanisms, algorithmic tracking of frequently searched doubts for future updates, and incorporating audio-video tutorials. An improved system would not only aid users in exploring Excel’s vast tools but also adhere to HCI's advocacy for user-friendly support systems in software development.

Running head: HUMAN FACTORS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Human Factors In Information Technology
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HUMAN FACTORS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Providing a user-friendly software interface is extremely necessary for any
Information Technology service provider. This discussion is about the problems faced by the
users in finding proper help while using complex features of Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Excel, being one of the core products of the Microsoft Office package,
needs to upgrade its Help Support system. Millions of people use this product on a daily
basis. It is widely used in industrial and educational purposes for data storage, complex
calculations, extracting graphs and what not (products.office.com, 2017). New or amateur
users must be guided properly in this context to avoid confusion and their fear of complexity.
For easy understanding of the accessible Excel tools like functions, charts and macros,
Microsoft must take proper initiatives.
With the advancement in application interfaces and services, one would expect a more
sophisticated helpline option from Microsoft. However, the HELP option provided by
Microsoft is still in its early slumber. The Microsoft Office forums are loaded with questions
and confusions put up by millions of users. Sometimes it takes up an eternity to load up and
connect online. This shows the incompetency of the HELP option. The Nielsen's Ten
Heuristic Principles and the Data-Entry rules from Interface Design Guidelines of Human
Computer Interaction (HCI), recommend the earliest offering of help with proper diagnosis
and solutions (McMillan, Morrison and Chalmers, 2013).
To strive out of this, Microsoft Help assistants must be prompt in the right analysis of
difficulties or errors and provide solutions. Customer feedback options must be enhanced.
Algorithms should be implemented to keep track of the most frequently searched doubts. This
would later help the organization in developing the updated versions. Apart from the textual
guidance present currently, audio and video modes of tutorial should be provided for
beginners.

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HUMAN FACTORS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An improved Help Support system is the need of the hour for any MS Office product,
especially MS Excel. Users can then get to know more about the variety of MS Office tools
and their helpfulness. The HCI too emphasizes on the application of user-friendly phenomena
with appropriate help support systems, in software development.

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HUMAN FACTORS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
References
McMillan, D., Morrison, A. and Chalmers, M., 2013, April. Categorised ethical guidelines
for large scale mobile HCI. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (pp. 1853-1862). ACM.
Products.office.com (2017). [online] Available at: https://products.office.com/en-in/excelc
[Accessed 17 Oct. 2017].