ERP系统中的可用性问题英文PPT6084

System Output Limitations
Inability to get required output
• “It [the ERP] doesn't give you the information you need, and it just makes you[r] work more difficult – I found it not easy to use, not the right information, didn't update correctly, didn't have a lot of flexibility.”
Identifying Usability Issues
Anecdotal evidence
• Hard to get data into ERP system – Mismatch between ERP terminology and business practices
• Even harder to get information out! – Export data to Excel, Access to perform analysis
General feeling of overwhelming complexity leading to feelings of fear
Method and Informants
Data collection through semi-structured interviews At this stage, 10 interviews lasting on average an hour each A large variety of organizational roles representing shop floor technicians up through upper middle management All informants (except one) users of the same large-scale integrated ERP system
Identified Problem Categories
Identification of and access to the correct functionality Transaction execution support System output limitations Support in error situations Terminology problems Overall system complexity
Need for a glossary
• “I put together a glossary of how the vocabulary changed from pre-[ERP] to post, because people didn't understand the terms.”
Overall System Complexity
Cognitive complexity of query tools
• It's just that you need to be a brain surgeon to actually go out and …… produce your own [queries].
Support in Error Situations
Difficulties in understanding the dependencies between the modules
• “They're [warehouse, inventory] two separate modules that don't talk to one another. So, that creates that very situation, where somebody can go on the warehousing side, and cancel a transfer order, but they don't know to go look on the materials side of the module, to see what that resulted in.”
categorized? Can collaboration theory be used as a framework for identifying ERP usability problems and designing systems with improved usability?
Multi-Method Study
Lacking Transaction Execution Support
Poor support for exception situations leads to system avoidance
• “Like [a specific task], nobody wants to do [it] in the system. … You know, they’re used to just going and get[ting] the part and manually doing the paperwork and just taking the part and just telling the buyer-planner later about it.“
Lack of reen where we try and return parts to the warehouse and if that's already been done, the transaction has already been done, it says ‘1045 error’ on the bottom of the screen. What [expletive] does that mean to anybody?”
Forrester Research evaluation*
• Tasks require inordinate patience and expertise to complete
• Users should demand better usability
*[Chew, Orlov, & Herbert, 2003]
Research Questions
Which characteristics of large-scale enterprise systems have a negative impact on their usability? • How should these characteristics be
Organizational Context for Field Study
Division of a very large diversified Fortune 500 corporation Business: maintenance of complex engineering artifacts All data collected from a single facility
Field study to identify usability problems Development of a theoretical model to provide a strong foundation for enterprise system usability design and evaluation Development of a prototype Experimental analysis
Terminology Problems
Unfamiliar system language
• “The ‘Help’ is worthless because it's definitely programmer’s language based. So having the ‘Help’ customized for business processes would be [an] important piece.“
Incorrect or insufficient error messages
• “You’ve got to go see somebody about how come it’s red. But that’s after your transaction is completed. … It just says transaction failed or something like that.”
Inconsistent behavior
• “Well, I mean, we're so used to copying and pasting. … In some cases, it remembers and will carry over to some of the screens, but not in all cases.”
Lacking Transaction Execution Support
Unduly complex transactions
Need to enter data repetitively
• “…why do I have to keep entering the same data over and over?”
Missing error messages
• “We had the customized front-end and we had to hit two buttons to execute a transaction. But the system will allow you just to hit one. So the guys would hit one and everything would be green, hey, I must be okay, but they never created the other requirements that were necessary to [complete the transaction].”
• “Well, it was like the spaceship had landed, and these outer space creatures [trainers] got off, and started talking to us about how we were going to do our job, because nobody understood what they were saying.”
Need to use external tools to process the data further
• “And unless I export that down into [an] Excel file or something, the system [is not] capable of compressing that [data], to minimize it, reduce it.”
Identifying and Finding Correct Functionality
Navigation problems
• “Or maybe we have some menus, but presently it may take us four, five or six routes to get us to basically one screen. I don’t always see the links.”