CEM, IMAT5209: Usability Evaluation of Interactive System Report

This report presents a comprehensive usability evaluation of an interactive system, specifically focusing on a microwave control panel. The report begins by introducing the interactive system and its users, followed by a use case diagram illustrating the system's functionality. It then details the usability requirements, including efficiency, reliability, accessibility, and security. The core of the report outlines the evaluation methodology, emphasizing factors like learnability, memorability, and error analysis. The evaluation section analyzes the system's efficiency, learnability, and error rates, alongside user satisfaction. The findings highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the control panel, including the impact of touch responsiveness and user interface preferences. The report concludes by summarizing the key aspects of the microwave control panel and its usability, providing valuable insights into the user experience and system design.

Running head: HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
Table of Contents
Part One: The Interactive System and its users...............................................................................2
Part two: The use case diagram.......................................................................................................3
Part three: Usability requirements...................................................................................................4
Part Three: The evaluation methodology........................................................................................6
Part Four: The Evaluation................................................................................................................7
Part 5: Finding of evaluation...........................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Part One: The Interactive System and its users
Interactive system is referred to type of system that helps in providing better interaction
between the systems. This also includes vast amount of interaction within the humans and
computers. The interactive system that is chosen is microwave control panel. There are different
types of systems that offer a high capability for interacting with the human computer interaction.
The interactive system is microwave control panel that contains only one user. This system is
mainly developed for the purpose of having better accessibility is provided towards the users.
The usability evaluation will help in understanding the functions and the way in which the
system allows the user to interact. Thus in order to understand the proper working of the system
it is important to understand the evaluation methodology. The evaluation methodology is
described in the report so that it becomes easy to understand the working of the system. The
report will provide an analysis of the system along with proper evaluation. In addition to this the
report will also focus on describing the interactive system and findings related to the usability
evaluation.

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Part two: The use case diagram
(Figure1: use case diagram for control panel)
(Source: Created by author )
The developed use case diagram demonstrates the working of microwave control panel.
The main actor for this system is the user. The user is responsible for performing all the

4HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
activities. The main functions that are performed within these interactive system includes
inserting food into the system, increasing the temperature, setting the time as per the need,
decreasing the temperature, updating the time, starting the process, stopping the process and
choosing the appropriate mode.
Use case Description
Inserting food This allows the users to insert the food and to
perform the function. Based on the type of food the
users are allowed to choose their timing.
Increasing temperature After the food is being inserted the user can
increase the temperature as per the need.
Decreasing temperature As per the need of the food user can reduce the
temperature.
Choosing appropriate mode The user is allowed to choose appropriate mode for
the food. The system offers 5 types of modes that
can be selected by the users.
Start The user can start the process of cooking the food
by clicking on the control panel.
Stop Once the user feels that the cooking is complete
than they can stop the process.
Part three: Usability requirements
Usability requirements are basically related to focusing on the factors that can be used as
criteria for addressing the functions. The main usability requirements that are used to assess the

5HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
functioning of the interactive system include accessibility, security, flexibility, reliability and
efficiency. These criteria are used for evaluating the performance of the system in an effective
manner.
Efficient: these are used for addressing whether the developed interactive system is
efficient or not. After evaluating the performance of the microwave panel it can be stated that the
system is efficient enough to produce maximum benefits. The panel is effective enough to
produce proper output.
Reliable: the control panel is reliable towards the system and also ensures that proper
working of the microwave is achieved. The user can completely rely on the system and also
provides better output. The system can be accessed by users so that they can maintain proper
working.
Accessibility: the system has developed proper accessible criteria so that it can be
accessed by maximum number of people. Accessibility also ensures that effective benefit is
obtained by the users. The user can access the system by just touching at the buttons present over
the system. These are further used for the purpose of accessing the microwave and they can
select the modes that are needed for performing the activity.
Security: security is also an important aspect that ensures proper working of the
microwave control panel. This will ensure that proper objective is being met by the system. The
users are allowed to access the system and there is a user guide provided towards the users that
ensures proper guidance towards them. The user guide helps the user to get knowledge regarding
the system so that they can perform the tasks effectively.

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Part Three: The evaluation methodology
This becomes essential to check the interactive system and to evaluate the working of this
system. With the use of this system it becomes easy to control the microwave panel. The
interactive system is generally evaluated based on the certain key factors that are needed to be
addressed effectively. This will eventually help in determining the effectiveness offered with the
interactive system. For controlling the interactive system it becomes essential for the users to
understand the working effectively so that it can be handled properly. The user needs to have
sensible enough so that they can have the proper control over the system. The usability needs to
be understood effectively so that it can ensure better working of the system.
The usability evaluation needs to have a proper interactive system so that it becomes easy
to determine the performance and efficiency offered with the microwave. The main purpose of
usability evaluation is to determine the errors, memorability, learnability and also ensures proper
satisfaction towards the microwave control panel.
For understanding the learnability feature of the microwave panel a group of people are
selected so that they can perform activity that is going to be recorded for future references. The
interactive system is provided to different users at different type so that the working can be
analyzed effectively without any issue. In order to understand the memorability it is important to
understand the way tasks are being performed by the users. Everyone will be allowed to access
the system so that based on this proper procedure can be addressed within the time. This
methodology will help in analyzing the ability of the users to perform the task without facing any
difficulty. Apart from all this error analysis is another factor that is needed to be addressed at
time so that they can provide better usability towards the interactive system. One of the major
factors that are needed to be focused is the user satisfaction. With proper usability evaluation it is

7HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
important to understand the accessibility that is offered towards the users. The user satisfaction is
used for analyzing the performance of this system. The acceptable users for the microwave are
being evaluated along with the usability factor.
Part Four: The Evaluation
This part of the report aims at focusing on evaluating the performance of the interactive
system. The interactive system for microwave oven is the control panel. Firstly it becomes
essential to evaluate the efficiency that is provided with the control panel of microwave. After
applying the evaluation procedure for the purpose of determining the efficiency it can be stated
that the functions performed by the microwave control panel. The digital control panel can be
treated as touch responsive control panel. After evaluating the interfaces it can be stated that both
the interface are effective enough and also offers great control over the system. The interfaces
are efficient enough and ensure that proper working is by done these systems. However it is
observed that maximum user prefers to use touch responsive microwave control panel for the
purpose of evaluating the function. The main reason behind choosing the digitalized interface
over the analogue control is that it offers more efficient way of handling the functions.
The second methodology that is being described in the above part is learnability. The
learnability offered by the microwave control panel is high and ensures proper working of the
system. It is observed that maximum number of users was able to access and operate the
microwave without any problem. Thus it can be stated that the system offers specific functions to
perform the different functioning. It is observed that the system is quite efficient for the users
and can be handled easily. Moreover it is observed that with the learnability of microwave panel

8HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
it becomes easy for the users to control the system. The efficiency of system has increased with
the effectiveness that is generated on the system.
Error is one of the important criteria that are needed to be focused on for understanding
the usability of the microwave control panel. The evaluation is being performed regarding the
control panel. After evaluating the functionality offered with the system it can be stated that the
error rate for the microwave control panel is too low and thus it can be neglected. It is observed
that at some instances the microwave control panel failed to generate effective results that have
lead to generation of error. However this was considered as one of the minor errors. Apart from
this while working with the digital microwave control panel there were some errors faced by the
users. These errors were reported by the users as it affected the working of the system. The touch
panel turns out to be unresponsive whenever there is moisture in the figures of the users. The
control panel is basically a sensitive system thus it is important to ensure the system is being
used when the hands are dry. This will minimize the chances of error occurring. Thus it is
important to ensure that user maintains proper way to use the system. This will ensure an
effective way of managing the system.
User satisfaction is a major criteria for addressing the evaluation of microwave as this
helps in analyzing whether the system provides an effective way of managing the system or not.
In order to achieve the response of users it is important to conduct interview that helps in
ensuring proper working of the system. With the help of interview it becomes easy to
understanding the evaluation procedures of the interactive system. The interview has been
conducted for reviewing the details regarding the process. After analysis it is being concluded
that maximum users felt it easy to operate the system however there were some users who faced
difficulty while using the device.

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Part 5: Finding of evaluation
After evaluating the interactive system it can be examined that there is a high need to
have an effective analysis of the microwave working control panel. Microwaves control panel is
used for the purpose of setting the ovens direction so that becomes easy to perform the function
on the oven. Evaluating each stage related to the system helps in analyzing the main functionality
associated with the micro oven. The micro oven’s control panel helps in providing a better
interface towards the users. The main logic behind the software of control panel is to recognize
the performance of the system. The main units that are associated with the MCU scan include
effective working of the switches. This includes details regarding the modes, the switch for
increasing and decreasing the temperature and the switch that helps in setting the time. In
addition to this there are buttons that can be pressed for starting and stopping the function of the
interactive system. The major functionalities that are performed by the microwave control panel
include displaying the standby modes offered by the microwave, selecting modes from the types
of modes available. The users can switch on the device and are allowed to adjust the
temperatures. The users are allowed to interact with the microwave through this control panel.
Thus it can be stated that the control panel will offer a better way of interacting with the system.
In addition to this the microwave also offers a option for manually adjusting the temperature and
selecting the mode. The system has also developed with auto sensing that senses the food and
gets adjusted accordingly. Once the process gets started the user needs to wait until the
microwave shows the signal in the control panel. The user can choose the time of food and the
function they want to perform on the food. The heuristic evaluation helps in detecting the
problems that are faced at every stage and ensures that proper analysis is performed on the
system. There is a high need to analyses the working that is offered by different buttons present

10HUMAN FACTORS IN SYSTEM DESIGN
over the control panel. Once the functioning of this buttons is analyzed it becomes easy to gain
control over the panel. The major issue that is faced with the working of the system is that when
user overheats food material and when the user chooses wrong cooking mode. It becomes
important for the user to have better knowledge so that it does not impact the working of the
microwave. The user must know which containers are appropriate for heating the food within the
container. The user should avoid using plastic containers. Moreover the control panel part also
includes a caution sign that states the temperature that can be used while using the temperature.
This also includes instructions regarding the container. The interactive system is developed in
such a way that it will not cause any harm towards the user nor towards the systems. The buttons
allocated at the system plays a crucial role and thus it becomes important for the user to know the
working of each button individually. This will ensure that the system is being used by the users
effectively. Proper knowledge regarding the interactive system will ensure that the system is
working effectively and able to provide better results towards the users. The interactive system
includes converting the current into DC current and also ensures that effective actions are
performed with a touch by the users.

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