User Guidance and Support

Ravden and Johnson (1989) evaluate usabihty of human computer interfaces. They identify nine top-level attributes visual clarity, consistency, compatibility, informative feedback, explicitness, appropriate functionality, flexibility and control, error prevention and correction, and user guidance and support. They disaggregate each into a number of more measurable attributes. These attributes can be used as part of a standard multiple-attribute evaluation. 

The median user guidance and support results are presented in Figure 11.10. The results show poor scores for all aspects of user guidance and support. There appears to be little support for operators confronted with an unfamiliar situation. 

FIGURE 11.10 Median user guidance and support results. .287... 

User guide and support— The level of guidance and snpport that the system provides to its end users systems should be informative and easy to nse and should provide relevant guidance and support, both on the system itself (e.g., help function) and in document form (e.g., user guide) to help users understand and use the system. 

As a user of macromolecular models, you are faced with judging whether each model really supports the insights it appears to offer. The principles presented in Chapter 7, on how to judge the quality of models, apply to models obtained from all types of diffraction experiments. But today s structural databases also contain a growing number of models obtained by methods other than diffraction. In the next chapter, I will describe the origin of the major types of non-diffraction models and provide some guidance on how to use them wisely. 

A year earlier the GAMP Forum supported the formation of the Supplier Forum dedicated to the needs of suppliers. It was run along the same lines as the GAMP Forum and eventually became an official part of the GAMP Forum in 2001. Guidance materials produced specifically by suppliers for suppliers included user specifications, testing, and receiving customer audits. 

US EPA has developed a benchmark dose software package that provides various models for quantal, continuous, and nested data (developmental toxicity study results). The software can be downloaded from US EPA s website (see section Relevant Websites) free of charge, and it is frequently updated. This website also provides support documentation, including a software user s manual and a guidance document on the interpretation and use of BMD modeling. 

SAS The SAS Institute support organization has recently published resources for both validation (21) and actual IQ/OQ guidance (22). This should certainly be reviewed as a plausible starting point for the OQ. The same advice regarding analyses from standards organizations (15) applies. Please note that both S-Plus and SAS provide a wide range of capabilities for model creation, data analysis, presentation, and interfacing to databases and other software. It is incumbent on the user community to identify, at least initially, the capabilities that will be utilized in the user requirements documentation. Such software-specific capability should then be appropriately tested in the OQ. 

BS/EN/ISO 13407 1999 (Human-Centered Design Processes for Interactive Systems) also provides guidance on allocation of function. It cites the benefits of a high-level human factors approach as being not just about technical optimization but also increased productivity, enhanced quality of work, reductions in support and training costs, and improved user satisfaction. 

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