The reporting tool nobody used
A college buys a new tool for reports on student attendance. It looks good. But each report takes a full minute to load. It needs nine steps to run. A blind teacher cannot read it. It does not work with the old timetable data. And nobody knows who to call.
The college paid a lot. The system still fails its users.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Functionality | the things a system can do |
| Pain point | a part of a system that annoys or blocks users |
| Accessibility | making a system usable by people with extra needs |
| Compatibility | working well with other systems |
| Legacy system | an old system a firm still uses |
| Downtime | time when a system is not working |
| Future proofing | choosing and planning so a system lasts and can be updated |
| Installation package | a ready made file that sets up the software for you |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can say whether a digital system meets the needs of its users, and name the fault if it does not.
Starter: last lesson
Have a go
Starter: last lesson
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
A good system does the job
Good functionality means the system lets users do every task they need. If staff must use a paper form for one job, the system is missing a feature.
A pain point is a part that annoys users. Two common ones are response time and complexity. Slow answers waste time. Too many steps make users give up.
Tell users how long they must wait
Users cope better when they know what to expect. A service desk should say when a user will get an answer. If that time changes, it should tell the user at once.
A simple task should take few steps. If a task takes ten clicks, find a way to cut it to three.
Find the slow requests
-- Which requests took longer than promised?
SELECT id, task, promised_hours, took_hours
FROM requests
WHERE took_hours > promised_hours;Check: functionality and pain points
Have a go
Check: functionality and pain points
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.