Usability Analysis of a Business Process Management Software Platform

Abstract

This study reports the results of a usability analysis on a leading suite of software for the creation, management, tracking, and automation of business process management (BPM) software, a system designed to make collaborative work quicker and easier to complete. The analysis focuses on two tools within the suite, and their effectiveness in enabling end users to model processes. Diverse methodologies that may be of interest to other BPM developers were used to examine how users would conceptualize, model, and execute processes using the software. A number of resulting recommendations are made to enhance usability and to better examine similar web-based software. This analysis consisted of eight activities, including unstructured interviews, a heuristic evaluation, a keystroke level model, card sorting, verbal protocols, scenario-based user testing, and surveys. These procedures are detailed below. Unstructured Interviews An unstructured interview with a subject matter expert at the software provider was conducted to gain general insight