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The demographics for all user classes are very similar. Users can be either gender, belong to any culture, speak any language, have any level of education, experience any type of physical limitation, and have any level of computer experience.
Task Analysis
1. Which Elevator?
Task: The system will need to convey to the riders which elevator he or she should get in. There will be situations where an elevator is going in the direction that the user wants to go, and maybe even passing their floor, but he or she should not be getting in the elevator.
Need to Know: The user will need to know how the system works and that he or she should be looking for a specific elevator to enter. They need to know that they can’t just walk into any open elevator — they need to look for the elevator assigned to their floor.
Where: All displays (i.e. floor selection and current floor panels) will indicate which elevators are going to which floors. A user need only look at whichever display is closest to them to find which elevator they need to get in.
Environment: The area will probably pretty crowded depending on the time of day.
Frequency: Users will need to find out which elevator to use each time they want to use the elevator. This can vary from a few times a day in the case of workers or residents of the building to once in a lifetime for visitors.
Time/Resource Constraints: Users will need to find out which elevator is assigned to their desired floor and make it to the elevator before the elevator leaves.
Learnability: This will be a learning problem. We need to train people to only enter elevators that will be stopping on their floor. Users will be learning how to use the system either by staring at the display or watching others use the system. Much of this will be by word of mouth.
Potential Problems: This could be a security problem: how do we prevent someone from getting on an elevator that is headed to the top floor, and just stopping it when they get to their floor (inconveniencing their fellow passengers in the process)?
2. Display Use
Task: Users need to know how to use the display to get to his/her desired floor. Most people are very familiar with the existing two-button elevator requesting system and may be confused when they encounter an elevator that doesn’t work that way.
Need to Know: Users will need to know their target floor. They will also need to know that they are required to indicate their desired floor before getting into an elevator.
Where: This will happen at any of the displays near the group of elevators in the building.
Environment: The area may be crowded depending on the time of day.
Frequency: Users will need to indicate which floor they want to go to each time they want to use the elevator. This can vary from a few times a day in the case of workers or residents of the building to once in a lifetime for visitors.
Time/Resource Constraints: This task is less time/resource constrained, but improving efficiency will be beneficial to elevator riders both old and new.
Learnability: Users should be able to learn the system by watching others, staring at the displays, and learning by doing. There may be simple directions near the displays.
Potential Problems: It is possible that in a rush, people unfamiliar with the system will just rush into any available open elevator instead of indicating their floor. In our system, if they don’t indicate a floor before stepping into the elevator, it is unlikely the elevator will stop on their desired floor.
3. Wait Times
Task: One of the big differences between the traditional elevator system and our new system is that users may potentially need to walk further to get to their proper elevator. Therefore, we need to find a way to minimize the number of people rushing through each other to get to their desired elevator and/or maximize the amount of time they have to get to the elevator they need to get in.
Need to Know: Users will need to know how the system works (that they may have to walk to the elevator that they are assigned) and also where he or she needs to go
Where: This will occur in the area surrounding the group of elevators
Environment: The environment can be very busy when everyone is going to or leaving work. It can also be almost unused in some times and locations.
Frequency: Users will need to locate their elevator every time they use the system. This can vary from a few times a day in the case of workers or residents of the building to once in a lifetime for visitors. So maximizing the time users receive to locate their elevators without greatly increasing the time the elevator takes to arrive at the target floor is a task that will need to be performed every time anyone uses the system.
Time/Resource Constraints: Users will need to make it to their elevator in as little time as possible so they can catch their elevator and not slow down the entire process.
Learnability: This task can be learned either by studying the display or by watching how other people react after they find out what elevator they must use.
Potential Problems: The safety aspect will be interesting — both from a physical standpoint as well as a design standpoint — since we want to make sure people can start walking to their elevators before it arrives so that they have enough time to make it there and/or walk to another elevator if they get confused (recover from errors).
Other: This system must be very learnable since many of the people using the system will be first-time users.