A Design Evaluation Checklist for User-System Interface Software

This report proposes a checklist for evaluating the design of user- system interface USI software. That checklist is based on recently published ESDMITRE guidelines for USI software design, and can be used effectively only in conjunction with the source guidelines material. The checklist items cover six general functional areas of USI design data entry, data display, sequence control, user guidance, data transmission, and data protection. For application to any particular system, the importance of each checklist iteem must be weighted in order to tailor the checklist to specific design requirements for USI software. This tailoring process should involve the joint efforts of system development managers, the software designers. and the intended system users. Once design requirements have been established in this way, then any proposed or implemented USI design can be evaluated in terms of its judged compliance with the specified checklist items. Overall estimates of design quality can be derived, along with more detailed analysis of design strengths and weaknesses, in order to recommend needed design improvements. This design evaluation checklist should prove a useful tool in Air Force system acquisition, As the USI design guidelines are revised and expanded, the checklist can be updated correspondingly. In the future, the checklist might be implemented to an on-line computer tool, with automated aids to facilitate its use. This report describes some of the potential computer aids that could be provided.