Manufacturing Inventory Management System

1
Manufacturing Inventory Management System

• Michael Lawler
• Daniel Spare
• Jeffrey Tindall

2
Client

• Our client is a HTI, a small software company in
  Marietta, GA.
• They create and sell end-user software to
  distributors and directly to the client.
• A solution was needed to monitor the raw
  materials that are used in the production of the
  software they create and sell.

3
Design Goals

• Create a quick and easy utility that would keep
  track of the raw goods and the finished product.
• The utility should be portable to other
  industries
• Users should be able to learn and use the
  application in a matter of minutes as a result of
  temps

4
Solution

• A dialog-based application that would allow users
  to quickly lookup, modify, and re-order inventory.

5
Inventory Management

• The primary interface displays a table for users
  to quickly lookup the information pertaining to
  the manufacture of the goods.
• Buttons are clearly labeled and hot keys are
  provided for fast access to most program functions

6
Planned Design Features

• Tool tips provide more information on functions
  of buttons and system windows.
• Large inventory screen draws attention to
  important information.
• Large buttons are all the same size and are
  equally spaced. No two adjacent labels look
  alike to avoid confusion.

7
Planned Design Features

• Modal dialog boxes allow the user to see where
  they came from.
• Buttons are placed consistently throughout the
  screen.
• Screens with similar purpose look alike.
• Hot keys are consistent across all screens (ESC
  closes the window, F1 for help, etc)

8
Quick Demo

• Start

9
Users

• Our target audience falls into two categories
• Full time employees who are familiar with the
  manufacturing process
• Temporary employees who are used throughout the
  year when demand is high or during holiday
  seasons when employees often take vacations

10
User Testing

• We had the users operate the program under the
  following conditions
• Without any instruction, just throwing it at them
• After having them run the tutorial or having us
  explain the system to them
• While doing their normal tasks (answering phones,
  writing emails, etc)
• After a day of not using the system

11
User Testing

• We gathered their opinion in the following areas
• Clarity of Menu. Understandable menu options,
  intuitive placement, menus flow in a logical
  manner.
• Speed. Ability to switch between screens with
  little effort. Data entry is simple but
  complete.
• Information. The information is presented in a
  concise way that portrays all relevant data for
  easy navigation.
• Utility. The systems features meet your needs.
  The system is an improvement over your current
  method.

12
Test Results - Positives

• Hot keys
• Table layout
• Ability to customize the column order
• Formula results (knowing how much finished
  product is possible)
• Tool-tips (for the people who found them)
• The quick start tutorial

13
Test Results - Positives

• Simple. Easy to use.
• Functional
• Instant updates of inventory
• Low inventory alerts
• Simple ordering. Users are able to submit
  requests for inventory to be restocked with a
  click of the button. (This is a feature of the
  system, but it does not actually connect up to
  any retailers yet)

14
Test Results Non Positive

• First screen SUCKS. During the first test, most
  people (Temps) had NO idea what to do
• Solution would be to start off in the inventory
  screen

15
Test Results Non Positive

• Screens do not include any instructions.
• Initially, we decided not to do this since it
  would take up too much real estate, but during
  testing we found that the benefits to the first
  time user are far greater. Solution would be to
  add the screens purpose and instructions to each
  screen.

16
Test Results Non Positive

• Hot keys were not obvious.
• Solution would be to underline the letter in the
  buttons to indicate they can be access using the
  ALT-LETTER combination. Include on the screen
  any key strokes that are not obvious (such as
  INSERT or DELETE).

17
User Suggestions

• Eliminate startup menu.
• Grid lines in the tables for visual tracking.
• Add more hotkeys / underline hotkey letters.
• Allow user to add more fields to items for
  description.
• Allow user to add/edit suppliers while editing
  items.
• Double click item to bring up item editor.
• Allow user to sort the inventory list.
• Describe each screen with some text.
• Make the program more visually intuitive.

18
Test Results - Summary

• It ended up being a much bigger challenge than we
  expected to account for expert and novice users
  at the same time.
• We ended up having to look at how often a the
  novice users were going to be using the system
  and work to the least common denominator.

19
Test Results - Summary

• One of our biggest UI obstacles was the formula
  editor. Having to represent multiples goods and
  corresponding quantities at the same time and
  allowing them to be edited forced us to create
  models for users to test after the preliminary
  design.

20
Test Results - Summary

• Any suggestions?

21
Final Thoughts

• We definitely learned the most from the user
  testing.
• We got many great suggestions for the Next
  version of the software.
• There are a lot of search results for Chris
  Shaw on Google. (Some are a lot funnier than
  others)

22
How much time do we have left?

• Questions
• Comments
• Snide Remarks

23
The End

• How many slides does it take to end a
  presentation?

24
Well Lets Find Out

• 1

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Well Lets Find Out

• 2

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Well Lets Find Out

• 3