Usability and the Separation of Concerns

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Usability and the Separation of
Concerns Redesigning Inland Revenues Online
Forms GOVIS May 2005
Regan Andrew, e-Business Development Manager
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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Contents
• Background
• Project Objectives
• Approach
• Project Timeline
• Usability
• Usability research
• Key recommendations
• User testing
• Final interface design
• Separation of Concerns
• Separating the FRCs concerns
• Apache Cocoon
• New presentation layer
• Approach to roll out

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Background
• Since 2002 over 50 interactive forms, returns and
  calculators were developed for the Inland Revenue
  website.
• Some examples of FRCs include
• Child support liability calculator
  https//www.ird.govt.nz/cgi-bin/cs-calculator/inde
  x.cgi
• Pay as you earn (PAYE) calculator
  https//www.ird.govt.nz/cgi-bin/form.cgi?formpaye
  2004
• Individual income tax return (IR3)
  https//www.ird.govt.nz/cgi-bin/form.cgi?formir3y
  ear2004
• Goods and services tax return (GST)
  https//www.ird.govt.nz/cgi-bin/form.cgi?formgst1
  01

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Background
• Initially, a tactical approach was taken for the
  development of FRCs
• Advantages of tactical approach
• Disadvantages of tactical approach
• Inland Revenues Forms, Returns and Calculators
  (FRC) Template System Redevelopment Project was
  tasked with redesigning the interactive FRCs on
  the Departments website.

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Project Objectives
• To create a new FRC Template System that is
• Scalable
• Flexible
• User friendly
• Able to render/present FRCs based upon the site
  they are being delivered through and is
• In keeping with internal and external user
  requirements.
• To improve the quality and usability of Inland
  Revenues online forms, returns and calculators
  from both internal and external perspectives.

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• What do those objectives mean?
• The project needed to
• Separate the FRC presentation layer from all
  other coding
• Make the FRCs easier for taxpayers to use
• Improve the operational management of the FRCS
• Ensure compliance with e-Government and WAI
  guidelines

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Approach
• Usability research conducted, with the purpose of
  creating a framework for the redesign of the FRCs
• The FRC Template System rebuilt the system is
  the engine behind the FRCs
• The FRCs designs documented (page schematics,
  calculation formulas, validation rules,
  conditional logic, backend processes etc)
• Business processes planned for the iterative
  improvement of the FRCs in the future and for
  post-production application and system support

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Project Timeline

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Usability
• Definition
• The extent to which a product can be used by
  specified users to achieve specified goals with
  effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a
  specified context of use (ISO 9241-11)
• Why is usability important?
• Users are able to achieve their tasks easily and
  efficiently, which has public relations benefits
  for the organisation thereby increasing uptake.
  
• Systems that have poor usability levels can
  result in substantial organisational costs
• People will avoid using the application if they
  find it difficult to use

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Usability research
• A local company, Shift, were the projects
  usability consultants. Between July October
  2004, they completed the following
• An industry best-practise audit of all the
  individual FRCs
• An overall critique of the FRCs
• A breakdown of the FRCs into specific interaction
  typologies
• Wire-frames / page schematics for 3 FRCs
• Iterative user testing for the 3 FRCs

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Key recommendations from initial usability
  research
• Allow users to save their data
• Establish user accounts
• Subdivide forms over multiple pages
• Use clear, consistent language and proactive
  labelling

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• User testing
• Shift provided the project with page schematics
  for three FRCs, which were then used to develop
  prototypes for user testing
• After the first round of user testing, changes to
  the FRCs were made based upon the feedback
  provided.
• A second round of user testing was made and
  further refinements to the FRCS resulted.
• These three tested designs have served as the
  basis for redesigning all of the remaining FRCs.

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Example of final interface design
• PAYE calculator for 2006 financial year

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Separation of concerns
• In Software Engineering, Separation of Concerns
  is the process of breaking down a program into
  distinct components that perform distinct tasks.
  The purpose and benefits of such modular
  approaches include reduction of complexity, ease
  of updates and changes, reuse, simplifying
  customization... In a way, it is similar to
  division of labour in Economics. From
  www.livestoryboard.com
• The separation of concerns is not a new idea
• The concept is relative, because it is rare that
  concerns can be grouped perfectly and so they
  cannot be easily separated. Nevertheless, it is
  a worthy goal!

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Separating the FRCs concerns
• By separating the presentation layer we can apply
  an unlimited number of looks to each FRC.
• The new FRC Template system utilises the Apache
  Cocoon framework, which was designed around the
  separation of concerns concept.
• Overview of Cocoon
• an open source framework based upon XML standards
  and Java
• a component-based web development framework
• uses component pipelines that specialise in a
  particular operation
• uses CForms (Cocoon Forms), which is similar to
  the XForms standard from W3C
• a form in Cocoon is in essence one page or
  screen. A return for example could contain a
  number of forms, especially when a return can
  take multiple paths depending on data entered.

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Apache Cocoon

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• New presentation layer
• Child Support Liability calculator for 2006
  financial year

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Approach to roll out
• The FRCs are very popular products with over one
  million page views of them since 01 February
  2005. Consequently, the roll out strategy needed
  to be very cautious.
• Outcome an incremental roll out of rebuilt FRCs
  using a phased approach
• Phase one high usage cyclical products
• Phase two mid to low usage cyclical products
• Phase three non-cyclical products
• Previews of the FRCs are made available for user
  feedback before the previous versions are
  replaced by the new ones, thereby minimising
  impacts upon the user groups

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Future iterative improvements
• Improved authentication and the ability to save
  data in an online account
• Personalisation of the services once behind an
  authentication system. Personalisation will occur
  in phases starting with the most simple of
  objectives and increasing in complexity over time
• Integration with a wider range of enterprise
  systems and applications
• Linking the services with those provided by other
  agencies
• Further iterative usability improvements based
  upon feedback and industry best-practices

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Usability and the Separation of Concerns
Redesigning Inland Revenues Online Forms

• Summary
• A new template system for Inland Revenues forms
  returns and calculators has been implemented to
  (1) improve usability and (2) separate the
  presentation layer
• A range of usability research techniques were
  utilised
• The Apache Cocoon framework was used because of
  its focus upon the separation of concerns and its
  utilisation of XML and Java standards
• A phased implementation is being used for rolling
  out the rebuilt FRCs
• A range of future improvements are planned for
  the FRCs