Ariel
Glossary
Here
are terms associated with performance centered design and related
subjects. We hope you find this glossary useful.
Advance
Warning (Design Principle)
A
technique used to provide the performer with advance warning
of their actions’ consequences.
Affordance
(Design Principle)
An
object’s visual appearance suggests its use.
Answers
Descriptive Questions (Design Principle)
A
technique used to answer descriptive questions relating to physical
objects, concepts, processes, or terms the job performer encounters
or uses in the work process. Such questions might include:
- What
are the differences between this and that?
- What
past situation is similar to my current situation?
- What
is this related to?
- How
does this work?
Answers
Functional Questions (Design Principle)
A
technique used to answer functional questions such as, "What
does this do?"
Answers
Procedural Questions (Design Principle)
A
technique used to answer procedural questions. Such questions
might include:
-
How do I?
-
What should I do now?
-
How do I do this better?
Automates
Tasks (Design Principle)
The
system processes or handles tasks wherever possible.
Best
Practice
The
most effective and efficient method of completing a task within
an organization.
Breadth
of Functionality
The
scope of a software application. How many different functions
or job tasks the software addresses.
Business
Performance Model
A
systematic investigation technique that identifies barriers
to performance, prioritizes them, and helps, strategize solutions
and recommend interventions to improve performance.
Captures
Best Practice (Design Principle)
The
design captures and integrates the best practice of experts
into the system.
Case-Based
Reasoning
A
method for leveraging prior experiences to identify current
problems or decisions and developing solutions for such problems
or decisions based on those of the prior experiences.
Collaborative
Design
A
cooperative design effort that includes representatives from
technology, business, training, support, and user groups.
Consistent
(Design Principle)
The
application reuses objects, concepts, terms, and other items,
where appropriate, to eliminate unnecessary relearning.
Corporate
Knowledge
Information
within a corporation that is necessary for smooth running of
the business process.
Data
Perspective
Designing
or analyzing an application by how it uses and generates data.
Data
Structure
How
data is organized within an application or organization.
Database
An
electronic collection of data or related files needed by a person
or organization to perform necessary functions.
Depth
of Functionality
How
much detail a software application addresses within a single
function or job task.
Design
Feature
An
aspect of software that makes it easier to use or more effective
in the job context.
E-Commerce
Doing
business over the Internet or intranet.
Essence
of the Work
Fundamental
aspect or the essential steps of the job task at hand.
Feedback
(Design Principle)
The
system monitors performers’ actions to provide advice, status,
and consequences based on the work process. The feedback provided
may answer goal and activity related questions such as:
- How
is the job performer doing?
- How
is the organization doing?
- What
tasks have been started, completed, or are in progress?
- What
is the status of work?
- What
is the consequence of a choice made?
Focus
Group
A
group of people gathered together to discuss a specific topic
or address a specific agenda.
Forgiving
(Design Principle)
The
system offers performers the opportunity to correct mistakes
by allowing them to return to a previous state.
Functional
Prototype
A
prototype that has the same visual interface as the final system
and that performs work in the same way as the final system,
but that may not use the same technology behind the scenes as
the final system. A functional prototype may be built using
a visual programming language or the final programming tool.
Goal
Establishment (Design Principle)
The
principle of Goal Establishment is to help the job performer
determine what he or she wants to do or accomplish. The application
should proactively provide this information. For example, the
application might
provide a list of what the job performer can do given what the
application already
knows about the current situation, or status of the job.
Human
Performance
A
person’s speed, accuracy, and effectiveness while using an application
or performing a job task.
Infrastructure
The
hardware and software system in place to support business goals.
Interprets
(Design Principle)
A
technique used to answer questions of why or how something happen.
Iterative
Development
Making
small incremental improvements to software during the development
process prior to the final release of the application.
Knowledge
The
facts, concepts, principles, rules of thumb, guidelines, or
expertise that resides in the mind of a job performer to enable
that performer to make decisions and take actions.
Knowledge
Acquisition
The
process for capturing knowledge from the minds of job performers
for representation in a knowledge base.
Knowledge
Base
The
electronic representation of knowledge.
Knowledge
Management System
The
human and computer processes by which knowledge is managed,
captured, stored, disseminated, and applied within an organization.
Knowledge
Representation
The
form in which knowledge resides. There are a number of places
where this knowledge is represented - in a job performer's minds,
in the computer knowledge base, and in the interface that is
presented to the job performer.
Knowledge
Sources
The
place where the knowledge originates from such as people's minds,
books, processes, or systems.
Layered
(Design Principle)
The
application provides increasing levels of detail to suit diverse
audiences.
Legacy
System
Older
computer, network, or data systems for which compatibility continues
to be maintained and are costly or time consuming to replace.
Match
Flow of Work (Design Principle)
The
application should match the timing and flow of how the work
presents itself to the job performer.
Mental
Model
How
a person thinks about or views the job or job task.
Minimizes
Translation (Design Principle)
The
interface design minimizes the performer’s need to interpret
special terms.
Organizational
Knowledge
The
information, knowledge, and know how within a company usually
stored in people’s minds or sophisticated knowledge management
systems.
Proactive
Support (Design Principle)
By
monitoring and evaluating the performer’s actions, the application
provides system initiated advice, recommendations, or warnings.
The support given should be relevant and allow the performer
appropriate control.
Program
Specification
A
document that defines the scope, functionality, and data structure
of a software application.
Rapid
Development
The
process of developing a program using very fast and limited
development cycles.
Recognition
(Design Principle)
The
interface design allows the performer to rely on their ability
to recognize rather than recall knowledge wherever possible.
Relevant
(Design Principle)
The
interface design provides only appropriate or significant information.
Resources
(Design Principle)
The
application provides performers with direct access to launch
tools, initiate commands, access previously stored data and
information, and/or obtain additional textual or graphic detail.
Rule
Engine
Software
that executes a set of predefined steps or rules that are focused
on the successful completion of a specific job or task.
Search
(Design Principle)
The
application gives performers a format for electronically seeking
information on specified words, topics, or questions.
Stimulus
Response Path (Design Principle)
The
application provides a continuous path from user stimulus to
response.
Structured
Observation
Watching
a person use an application in the work context with the aid
of a specific set of issues or objectives.
Support
Structure
A
mechanism of providing assistance to a user at the moment they
need help. This may be in the form of information, tools, automation,
or guidance.
Task
or Process Focused (Design Principle)
The
interface design directly shows the structure of the task or
the process to the performer.
Technical
Prototype
A
prototype that focuses on proving one or more technical issues,
such as connections or data architecture, with little or no
emphasis on user interface.
Transaction
Requirement
The
data, information, knowledge, or tools required to complete
a specific task or step within an application.
User-Friendly
An
application or user interface that is designed to make it easy
and intuitive to use.
Visual
Prototype
A
prototype that appears to the job performer like the final application
but that does not use actual data or perform real work.
