User-centered design methods in adopting new software in an organisation
Lehtonen, Markus (2018)
2018
Tietotekniikka
Tieto- ja sähkötekniikan tiedekunta - Faculty of Computing and Electrical Engineering
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-06-06
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201805221787
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201805221787
Tiivistelmä
Organisations that have a software as key component of their business process might run into situation where the used software needs to be upgraded to follow changing business requirements. In such cases the business process of the organisation should be evaluated against the requirements that the new software sets for the process workflow. Also, it is crucial to evaluate how the new software is accepted among the employees of the organisation, because as the end users of the software they are the most affected by the change.
User-centered design traditionally has a basic principle that users are involved into the full lifecycle of design and development process. But when a new, existing software is adopted in the organisation, design mainly focuses on the customization of the software. This thesis aims at finding out how user-centered design can be applied when adopting software in an organisation and what changes could be made to the business process of the company so that the software would be utilized in an optimal way. Also, ways of measuring the successfulness of the software adoption in short term is considered.
A group walkthrough is used as a method for redefining the business process workflow. Quantitative data about the user selections in the walkthrough is analyzed for understanding the end user interaction with the software and for finding hidden features of the process. Also, qualitative data gathered from the walkthrough is analyzed with thematic analysis method to map out patterns in the workflow that are critical from the point of view of the end user.
Redesigned workflow of business process with improvements is introduced as a result of the research. And with thematic analysis, principles of technology acceptance theory are found being in line with the themes raised from the walkthrough data to justify usage of user-centered design. Though user-centered design is found fitting with the technology adoption, iterative process, resourcing users to the test session, and allocating their time for the research purposes can be hard to rationalize as all of it is taken from the contribution of the employees of the company.
User-centered design traditionally has a basic principle that users are involved into the full lifecycle of design and development process. But when a new, existing software is adopted in the organisation, design mainly focuses on the customization of the software. This thesis aims at finding out how user-centered design can be applied when adopting software in an organisation and what changes could be made to the business process of the company so that the software would be utilized in an optimal way. Also, ways of measuring the successfulness of the software adoption in short term is considered.
A group walkthrough is used as a method for redefining the business process workflow. Quantitative data about the user selections in the walkthrough is analyzed for understanding the end user interaction with the software and for finding hidden features of the process. Also, qualitative data gathered from the walkthrough is analyzed with thematic analysis method to map out patterns in the workflow that are critical from the point of view of the end user.
Redesigned workflow of business process with improvements is introduced as a result of the research. And with thematic analysis, principles of technology acceptance theory are found being in line with the themes raised from the walkthrough data to justify usage of user-centered design. Though user-centered design is found fitting with the technology adoption, iterative process, resourcing users to the test session, and allocating their time for the research purposes can be hard to rationalize as all of it is taken from the contribution of the employees of the company.