6 Human-Centred Design (HCD)
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee - MSC.1/Circular.1512 - Guideline on Software Quality Assurance and Human Centred-Design for E-Navigation - (13 July 2015) - Annex - Guideline on Software Quality Assurance and Human Centred-Design for E-Navigation - 6 Human-Centred Design (HCD)

6 Human-Centred Design (HCD)

6.1 HCD helps to ensure that human factors-related knowledge and techniques in system design and development processes are addressed, thus ensuring that user needs and safety are met. The primary goals of usability and safety through efficiency, effectiveness, risk reduction and satisfaction should always be maintained.

6.2 Key elements of HCD are the involvement of multi-disciplinary teams including users and an iterative approach to design. HCD is driven by knowledge about use, derived from evaluation and testing with users, the results of which drive a formal feedback loop in each of the design stages to ensure usability and safety. E-navigation systems should aim to ensure that navigational and associated tasks are effectively supported, with usability being the measure that is tested to ensure that this is achieved.

6.3 Figure 4 outlines the activities that should be undertaken in each of the life cycle stages, illustrating the interdependence of each activity. The following HCD activities are carried out to inform development throughout the life cycle:

  • .1 Pre-activity: Conduct Early Human Element Analysis (EHEA);

  • .2 Activity 1: Understand and specify the context of use;

  • .3 Activity 2: Identify the user requirements;

  • .4 Activity 3: Produce and/or develop design solutions to meet user requirements;

  • .5 Activity 4: Evaluate the design against usability criteria; and

  • .6 Activity 5: Maintain operational usability.

6.4 Fundamental to HCD is the collection of user feedback through UT. UT is an effective means to discover and resolve potential usability and design issues early as well as throughout the life cycle of a system by using an iterative testing approach to ensure a safe, satisfactory, effective and efficient system. Evaluation through usability testing is carried out iteratively at all stages in the life cycle and provides input for future versions of systems.

Figure 4: Overview of HCD for e-navigation systems

Pre-activity – Conduct an Early Human Element Analysis (EHEA)

6.5 The pre-activity involves establishing an understanding of usability issues. This may include conducting an Early Human Element Analysis (EHEA), which involves capturing lessons learned from operating similar systems, prioritization of human element issues, all documented in a risk register. Advantages of an EHEA include identifying emerging or innovative requirements and needs.

Activity 1: Understand and specify the context of use

6.6 Context of use consists of the users' characteristics (and their associated individual cognitive and physical factors), their goals and interactions with tasks, stakeholders, physical operating environments (i.e. the work environment where the e-navigation system is being used), and social and management environments (i.e. training, the company and its management policies and procedures). The context of use appropriately takes into account relevant aspects of socio-technical systems. As shown in figure 4, this is conducted during stages 1 to 4 of the design and development life cycle of a system with varying levels of intensity, as necessary.

6.7 Information gathered when establishing context of use can help frame scenarios which provide realistic examples of future use. Scenarios encourage designers to consider the characteristics of the intended users, their tasks and environment, and they enable usability issues to be explored at an early stage in the design process. They are best developed in conjunction with users. Scenarios also need to include common, routine tasks and rarely performed but critical tasks (e.g. those that need to be performed in an emergency).

6.8 When new systems are to be used in combination with existing systems, the context of use needs to include the overlapping elements and the interaction of the new system with the elements of the other systems.

Activity 2: Identify user requirements

6.9 The user requirements include user needs and task-related needs identified in the context of use of a system and task-related activity. This involves progressing user and contextual needs into an explicit statement of user requirements in relation to the intended context of use and the business objectives of the system.

6.10 Activity 2 involves some or all of the following:

  • .1 clarification of system goals;

  • .2 analysis of stakeholders' needs and expectations;

  • .3 analysis of user needs and expectations; .4 resolution of conflicts between different user and task requirements;

  • .5 identification of safety issues (risks and hazards);

  • .6 analysis of training needs;

  • .7 analysis of system/equipment familiarization requirements;

  • .8 generation of operational concept and top-level system requirements;

  • .9 ensuring the quality of user requirement specifications; and

  • .10 further development and refinement of task-based scenarios and test cases.

Activity 3: Produce and/or develop design solutions to meet user requirements

6.11 Activity 3 involves applying the knowledge gained earlier about the intended context of use, including user roles, responsibilities, tasks and their outputs to design solutions.

Activity 3 may involve some or all of the following:

  • .1 development of prototypes and/or specific test beds;

  • .2 development of design solutions and altering them based on UT and other feedback;

  • .3 designing user-system interaction and user interface to meet context of use and usability requirements; and

  • .4 development of a maintenance/support regime.

Activity 4: Evaluate the design against usability criteria

6.12 Activity 4 is the basis on which UT is carried out as appropriate to the particular stage in the life cycle. The evaluation of the design against usability criteria should be conducted before a system is deployed operationally and should, as a minimum, employ test participants who are representative of user groups.

6.13 Planning the UT involves:

  • .1 selecting scenarios and test cases;

  • .2 identifying and recruiting testing participants;

  • .3 choosing methods, techniques and documentation for collecting and analysing data; and

  • .4 determining acceptance criteria.

6.14 Measurements of usability should include effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Appropriate methods include expert evaluation (such as observation of scenario/task performance), questionnaires, interviews, walk-throughs, task-based user testing and observations. Typical measures for these are included in ISO/TR 16982:2002. Appendix 3 includes an example of a usability method referred to as the "usability rating method" applied to ECDIS.

Activity 5: Maintain operational usability

6.15 Activity 5 addresses HCD in a system's operation. Throughout a system's operational life users are trained and will use the system. They are therefore able to provide accurate feedback on use and usability. This feedback may lead to refinements to the system and subsequently improved performance in newer versions, and hence activity 5 is linked to the pre-activity through a feedback loop.

Parent topic: Annex - Guideline on Software Quality Assurance and Human Centred-Design for E-Navigation
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