Intranet | Usability Evaluation

Introduction

An Intranet lacking usability means decreased productivity, higher training/support costs and lower employee morale.

An unusable Intranet significantly affects the work rate of employees. If the Intranet does not support the users' tasks then they are likely to work at a considerably reduced rate. Equally if an Intranet does not match user needs the overheads for support can be substantial.

In most cases an employee needs an incentive to use an Intranet. Generally this means making their job easier. If it doesn't make their job easier they will circumvent the Intranet and use other channels causing increased costs for the organisation.

Our Usability Evaluation reports detail the findings in an easily digestible format - suitable for management and developer alike. Our approach is the most comprehensive way of improving usability as it is based on proven usability methodologies, real-life scenarios of use and real users of the Intranet.

A Usability Evaluation will provide the intelligence necessary to improve an Intranet to enhance business processes.

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The Process

We recruit a sample of the Intranet's intended users and ask them to perform a series of tasks that are typical of those they would be likely to perform using the Intranet in the real world (for example 'Find the name and telephone number of the HR Director'). While performing the tasks the users are observed and recorded. Afterwards, participants are interviewed to gather further information about their experience. We can run the tests at our state of the art usability facilities or on-site at your location using our mobile testing lab.

We use specialised software to both collect and interpret participant behaviours. In addition to identifying usability problems our approach enables us to make recommendations to rectify them. These recommendations allow action to be taken the very same day.

We provide three key deliverables:

1. Usability Report - detailed document outlining our methodology, results and their interpretation plus actionable recommendations.
    
2. Video highlights - edited video clips of the most informative parts of the tests.
    
3. Presentation - an oral presentation communicating the most important findings and recommendations.

Prior to a Usability Evaluation Online Research and Usability Metrics services can be used to specifically target lab research against identified employee issues. There may be a number of important, but as far as the user is concerned, redundant areas of the Intranet that solutions could be found for if tested.

If you would like to discuss how a programme of usability research can be used to improve the performance of your Intranet please call or email us and a consultant will be happy to talk with you.

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© The Usability Company 2007