HFI Process Risk Assessment

back to processforusability

HFI Process Risk Assessment (PRA)

Provides assurance of ease of use (definition) by matching HFI to project need. It uses a model of HFI as a benchmark
to define project need and to monitor project activity.

For the new more general site on Usability Assurance, please click here

It can be used:

To see whether the HFI instructions in the AMS are being adopted.
To reduce project risk.
To help with planning e.g. defining a risk-driven HFIP.

The information provided on this site covers the following topics:

Topic

Content

Role of HFI PRA

Executive summary of what HFI Process Risk Assessment (PRA) offers and why to use it

Downloads

A list of the documents relating to HFI PRA that can be downloaded from this site.

Mappings

Provisional mappings from the Human-Systems Model to other related models.

Competence, roles and responsibilities

Preliminary material on the competence required for effective Human Centred Design, and the roles that a process-based approach introduce.

Guidance

Guidance on how and when to use PRA. Guidance on using HFI PRA to mitigate risks and to comply with AMS Instructions

Quick PRA

A set of resources to help you conduct a quick PRA

Full PRA

A description of what is involved in a full PRA and links to resources

Background

Discussions of the HSL Process Model, the impact of HFI PRA and the HSL model on HFI, assessor competence and training issues, Similarities with software CMM, the technical rationale for the approach adopted.

Human-System model

Some graphics of the proposed standard for the Human-System (HS) model, based on the HSL model and summary tables of the HS model.

FAQs

A set of Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions A large set of definitions and explanations

Abbreviations Abbreviations and acronyms

Contacts and links People to contact for advice and links to other resources

About this site This site is a quick prototype for one to go on the AMS. You can send comments from this page.

Last Update :
14 May 2001, brian@sherwoodjones.plus.com

Role of HFI Process Risk Assessment (PRA)

Provides timely assurance of ease of use
Reduces cost and timescale risks
Helps to align acquisition and Human Resources
Supports stakeholder involvement
Provides benchmarking
Ensures that HFI activities deliver result

If we wait until after the system is designed to find out how easy it is to use, it is usually too expensive to make improvements.

What is it that leads to ease of use? The answer is user-centred design.

An organisation that has well-defined processes for user-centred design can be fairly sure of producing a usable system.
An organisation with ad hoc processes is likely to produce a system that is hard to use.

HFI Process Risk Assessment can determine the extent to which an organisation does user-centred design against a model of best practice.

The assessment findings can be used to provide assurance of ease of use before resources are committed. The findings can be used for Process Improvement or for contractor selection.

For help with deciding when a Process Risk Assessment would be appropriate and determining its scope click here. The general way in which Process Risk Assessment is used in a project is described here.

To download a leaflet on HFI Process Risk Assessment click here for a version in Word 97 (67KB) or click here for a version in pdf (117 KB) (use right click and 'save target as..')