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C-assure-taguchi Framework Forcost-effective Holistic Heuristicis Evaluations
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Badii, Atta Smith, Andy |
| Copyright Year | 2002 |
| Abstract | Aspiring to achieve holistic IS evaluations is fraught with data acquisition and interpretation problems arising from the multi-faceted nature of empirical data on all aspects of usability, actability and user preferences. The relevant data consists of both quantitative and qualitative elements arising from both the requirement specification and design parameter optimisation phase as well as the IS deployment impact elicitation and analysis phase. Some of this data may be capable of interpretation or processing using parametric statistics or dynamic optimisation techniques whilst other data elements, for example organisational impact data, will only lend themselves to the narrative of situated interpretation and local sense making. C-Assure has been previously applied to the elicitation, evaluation and thus optimisation of direct and indirect socio-technical consequences of IS deployment in a distributed actor environment whilst the Taguchi method had been powerfully applied to support the evaluation and thus optimisation of alternative design specifications of advanced information systems, for example Web Portals. In this paper the authors examine the integration of the above two complementary and cost-effective approaches to information systems (IS) evaluation analysis namely the C-Assure and Taguchi methods. To illustrate the efficacy of the resulting C-Assure-Taguchi platform we first examine the potential for additional usability optimisation, particularly dynamic usability theory and man-machine relationship understanding using C-Assure (Badii 2000a,b). This is applied to the cost-effective but holistic heuristic usability and impact analysis of an enterprise information portal for the insurance industry. Additionally the Taguchi method as applicable to IS design optimality analysis (Smith and Dunkley 1998) is deployed to conclude the ranking of some of the key factors for optimisation of the lower level design parameters of the above portal. In this study these factors were found to be usability, branding and speed in ranked order of their influences re the overall impact of the website on its typical target users. In future studies it is planned to deconstruct design usability further into sets of drivers that are as linearly independent as possible thus assuring optimisation over the key orthogonal variable space i.e. best global trade-off of design parameters to support user satisfaction. Further we conclude that the above approaches can contribute much to the effective and efficient usability evaluation and optimisation of information systems and in particular web-mediated systems and may be used separately or together as part of a Web Systems and Services design toolkit of methods and guidelines for Holistic Heuristic (H) Usability-Actability Evaluation and impact analysis. Badii & Smith/C-Assure-Taguchi Holistic Heuristic IS Evaluations Framework 2002 Eighth Americas Conference on Information Systems 1199 Success? Failure? IT system: (technical system) Organization: (social system) Figure 1. Introducing IS into the Organisation Introduction Systems Success or Failure? Several researchers (e.g. Rowland 2000, Seminario 1998) have pointed out the crucial impact that web usability can have on competitive advantage particularly in dominantly e-channel oriented valuechains. In recent years many researchers have analysed the phenomenology associated with the failures in deployment of information systems into organisations; (e.g. Hirschheim & Smithson 1999) particularly in the government sector. Nearly a decade ago when discussing the chronic crisis of software usability, Gibbs (1994) stated that three quarters of all large systems were operating failures that either did not function as intended, or were not used at all. Even earlier research (e.g. Butler Cox Foundation 1986, Lyytinen 1988) suggests that up to half of information systems projects when introduced into the social system of the organisation (as depicted in Figure 1) fail to become successful or yield the expected return on investments. Concurrently a number of researchers (e.g. Eason 1988) have emphasised the importance of the socio-technical nature of information systems, and the need to provide not just a technical systems product (hardware and software), but also a social systems product (organisation and job design), within a user-centred approach to systems development (Smith 1997). Furthermore it is now generally understood that the impact of the information system on its end users is critical in determining success and, particularly, in promoting a healthy ecology of patterns-of-power-and-relating within the actors environment (Badii 2000a,b). The latter, we maintain, crucially determines the prospect for organisational resilience and enduring success. However in the context of web-mediated man-machine relationship building, new theoretical frontiers have been opened by dynamic usability theory advances as incorporated in C-Assure (Badii 2000). Essentially C-Assure aids modelling and reasoning about the likely cultural match and usability impact resulting from IS deployment over the whole lifecycle. This extends from inception to development into the environment through to ongoing post deployment usability relationships situation assessment. This paper reviews these new approaches to the user centric evaluation of information systems and in particular proposes the incorporation of such methods as important elements of an IS usability evaluation toolkit whereby the crucial drivers of usability and technology acceptance can be identified and measured. IS Impact Evaluation It may be useful to start this analysis by looking at what we mean by an information system. Gupta (1996) states that an information system is a system that creates, processes, stores and retrieves information. Whilst it would be difficult to disagree with this definition we need to explore the full entailments of an information system. We are firmly in agreement with Checkland (1991) and others that the thinking of an IS as starting from a means (a computer) is flawed and that one that addresses its ends (an organisations conceptualisation of its world) is more appropriate. In essence we need to treat IS more as a cultural rather than a technical phenomenon. IS culture can itself exist at different levels from the organisational level to the individual level. At the individual level the success of IS is often referred to in terms of user acceptance or rejection. Herschheim and Newman (1988) provide an extensive review of the theory and practice of user resistance to the introduction of computer systems. Eason (1998) describes a method by which the impact of a proposed technical system on a target organisation can be judged. The process, as depicted in a slightly modified form in Figure 2, identified four stages: User group identification, through which the individual user groups that could possibly be affected by the proposed technical system are identified User group cost benefit analysis, in which the potential effects of the proposal on each user group can be identified User reaction assessment, through which the probable responses of both winners and losers in the organisation are identified Organisational cost benefit analysis, in which the global effect on the organisation and user groups is summarised Information Systems Evaluation 120 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1525&context=amcis2002&httpsredir=1&referer= |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
