Scenario
Our final project will focus on the tasks of creating/viewing a schedule, submitting changes to a schedule, and monitoring attendance.
- Darryl would like to enter the schedule for the new season. He sets the first possible date to 12/9 and the last possible date to 3/23. He also selects which shifts will offer children’s and racing lessons and which days will offer the night shift.
- Sam is a ski and snowboard instructor at Snowy Hills. It is the beginning of October and he would like to submit his schedule for the upcoming season online. He has already received a username/password from the ski school and has logged in. Sam signs up to teach snowboarding on Friday evenings, children on Saturday during the day, and skiers on most Tuesday evenings. He has a couple of Tuesdays that he can’t teach and he is also available during several holidays to teach children. After filling out the online form, he submits it for approval.
- After all the instructors have submitted their schedules, one of the ski school administrators, Darryl, logs in to approve instructors shifts. He sends an email from Outlook Express to all the instructors who were hired letting them know which shifts still need additional instructors.
- All of Sam’s shifts are approved and Sam realizes that he can instruct children one Sunday that needs more instructors. He logs back into the website and submits a request to have that shift added to his schedule.
- Darryl sees that Sam has submitted a request and approves his schedule change.
- It’s the end of the first day of the season. Darryl was the supervisor for the day, and all of his instructors except one, Hillary, showed up for their shifts. Darryl wants to mark that Hillary missed her shift without notifying him ahead of time, so logs into the schedule website and marks Hillary as absent from her shift.
- It’s now December and Sam realizes that he has to be out of town for his day-time job one of the Tuesdays he signed up for in January. He goes to the website where he submitted his schedule and submits a request to be removed from the schedule for that particular Tuesday.
- Darryl approves his request, and he is automatically marked as excused on the schedule for that day.
- It is the end of the season and Jimmy is interested in finding out how often his instructors were excused from their shifts or missed them without calling. He logs into the scheduling program and views each instructors schedule. Since his supervisors were diligent about marking absences, he can see for each instructor what days they missed and what days they were excused from. He then uses this information to help him decide which instructors should be re-hired the following season.
Designs
Design 1
Design 1 is based on the ideas of modes. It allows users to specify which discipline they are teaching each shift by selecting the appropriate mode and then clicking on the shift. Similarly, it allows supervisors to mark absences (excused or unexcused) by selecting that mode and clicking on the appropriate shift.
Storyboard
Darryl would like to enter the schedule for the new season. He sets the first possible date to 12/9 and the last possible date to 3/23. He also selects which shifts will offer children’s and racing lessons and which days will offer the night shift. 
Sam is a ski and snowboard instructor at Snowy Hills. It is the beginning of October and he would like to submit his schedule for the upcoming season online. He has already received a username/password from the ski school and has logged in. Sam signs up to teach snowboarding on Friday evenings, children on Saturday during the day, and skiers on most Tuesday evenings. He has a couple of Tuesdays that he can’t teach and he is also available during several holidays to teach children. After filling out the online form, he submits it for approval.
After all the instructors have submitted their schedules, one of the ski school administrators, Darryl, logs in to approve instructors shifts. He sends an email from Outlook Express to all the instructors who were hired letting them know which shifts still need additional instructors.
All of Sam’s shifts are approved and Sam realizes that he can instruct children one Sunday that needs more instructors. He logs back into the website and submits a request to have that shift added to his schedule.
Darryl sees that Sam has submitted a request and approves his schedule change.
It’s the end of the first day of the season. Darryl was the supervisor for the day, and all of his instructors except one, Hillary, showed up for their shifts. Darryl wants to mark that Hillary missed her shift without notifying him ahead of time, so logs into the schedule website and marks Hillary as absent from her shift.
It’s now December and Sam realizes that he has to be out of town for his day-time job one of the Tuesdays he signed up for in January. He goes to the website where he submitted his schedule and submits a request to be removed from the schedule for that particular Tuesday.
Darryl approves his request, and he is automatically marked as excused on the schedule for that day.
It is the end of the season and Jimmy is interested in finding out how often his instructors were excused from their shifts or missed them without calling. He logs into the scheduling program and views each instructors schedule. Since his supervisors were diligent about marking absences, he can see for each instructor what days they missed and what days they were excused from. He then uses this information to help him decide which instructors should be re-hired the following season.
Analysis
Learnability
Pros: If a user understands the concept of mode, the system is consistent throughout (submitting initial schedule, changing schedule, managing attendance) so it will be easy for a user to understand later tasks once earlier tasks are learned.
Cons: A user may be confused why clicking on a particular shift does not give them the option to add that shift if they haven't first selected a mode. We can mitigate this problem by providing a feedback message if a user clicks on a shift while not in the mode. If users don't understand the concept of a mode, it will be very difficult for them to learn to use the system.
Efficiency
Pros: Once a user has selected a mode, it is very quick for him/her to select different shifts within that mode.
Cons: It takes a long time for a user to switch between modes, so if the user needs to mark multiple different types of shifts, the efficiency will be worse.
Safety
Pros: It is easy to undo any change by using the delete shift mode.
Cons: A user may forget which mode he/she is in and sign up for the wrong discipline. We try to mitigate this by having the mouse cursor change. While this can be undone, it takes time. Furthermore the user might not notice that the icon was incorrect and the wrong shift was selected. This would be especially bad if he was submitting a change schedule request and then had to submit a separate one that had to be approved again if a mistake was made.
Design 2
Storyboard
Analysis
Learnability
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Efficiency
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Safety
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Design 3
Analysis
Learnability
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Efficiency
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Safety
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