User Role Models EEE459.05

1
User Role Models EEE459.05
Royal Military College of Canada Electrical and
Computer Engineering
Ref CL p 78-90

• Professor Greg Phillips
• Greg.Phillips_at_rmc.ca
• 1-613-541-6000 ext. 6491

Major JW Paul Jeff.Paul_at_rmc.ca 1-613-541-6000
ext. 6091
2
Review

• Which user should we talk to?
• Can we talk to all of them
• Name some surrogates we talk to
• What are advantages and disadvantages of these?
• Ersatz - themselves, customers, manager
• Surrogates - domain experts, trainers,
  supervisors
• Informants - marketing/sales, technical support,
  documentation specialists
• Indirect - manuals, derived data, questions
• Why do we talk to them?

3
Review

• What do we do with the information we gather from
  the users?

4
Todays Class

• User Role Models
• Role Modeling
• User Role Maps
• Exercise

5
Role Modeling

• In its simplest form, a user role model is just a
  list of the user roles described in terms of the
  needs, interests, expectations, behaviors, and
  responsibilities that characterize and
  distinguish them

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Questions that help isolate roles

• Who would or could use the system?
• What is the general class or group to which they
  belong?
• What distinguishes how they would or could use
  the system?
• What characterizes their relationship to the
  software?
• What do they typically need from the software?
• How do they behave in relation to the software,
  and how do they expect the software to behave?

7
Goal create abstract user role

• Helps communicate with user about your
  perception of their needs
• May start with specific user then generalize to
  more abstract
• Requires brainstorming (see text page 82)
• Leads to focal roles
• most common
• most important
• etc

8
User Role Maps

• The user role map is a way of capturing the big
  picture it reveals how all the various roles fit
  together in defining who will use the system and
  how
• How can roles be related?
• Affinity
• Classification
• Composition

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Affinity
resembles
InformalResearcher
CasualDataMiner

• Refers to a recognized similarity or resemblance
  of an unspecified manner
• Connection is symbolized with dashed line

10
Classification
SalesStaffer
specializes

• A user role that is a subtype or specialization
• Connection uses a double line with arrow

11
Composition
WarehouseManager
includes

• A user role that includes characteristics or
  features from two or more other roles
• Connection uses a single line with arrow

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Exercise

• Teleguida Phone Book

13
Structured Role Models

• Purpose is to start informally to aid in the data
  gathering and brainstorming process
• But keep in mind usage centered design
• pragmatic design guidelines
• Ensures all the needed information is gathered
• Data is forwarded to operational context model
• What specific information do we need?

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Role Contents

• incumbents
• proficiency
• interaction
• information
• usability criteria
• functional support
• operational risk
• device constraints
• environment

See text pp 89-96
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Review

• What is the purpose of the previous procedures
  and activities?
• Create a model of user roles

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Next Class

• Another role modeling session
• Skim p 89-96