Methods

Shumac has acquired extensive expertise with a wide range of testing and analysis techniques. All of our methods have been used and validated and are recognized as state of the art in the field of human factors.

• Task Analysis:
• Data collection through on-site observations, interviews, focus groups, document and work trace analysis.
• Generation of task diagrams.
• Needs Analysis:
• Business needs analysis.
• Business architecture.
• User needs analysis.
• Information Architecture:
• Validation of analyses (users, tasks, needs, card sorting, personas).
• Generation and validation of information architecture.
• Design and Prototyping:
• Interactive products (Web, software, automatic tellers, others).
• Consoles.
• Control rooms.
• Workload Assessment - physical, cognitive, both
• Product Assessment:
• Heuristic evaluation or inspection.
• Usability testing.
• Accessibility testing for users with specific needs (visual, auditory, motor or cognitive deficiencies).
• Human Reliability Assessment:
• Method HEART (for "Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique").
• Incident analysis.
• Root cause analysis (RCA).
• Technical Writing:
• Work and operating procedures.
• User guides.
• Literature reviews:
• From publications and reports from the Web or from our own database of over 5 000 documents.
• Using specialized data banks.
• Standards:
• ISO 13407 Human-centred design processes for interactive systems.
• ISO 9241 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs).
• Mil Std 1472 Revision F Human Engineering.
• CSA Z 412 Guideline on Office Ergonomics.
• Several other standards and guidelines aimed at improving human performance.