Integrating Usability Work in the Development Process at a Consulting Firm

Abstract: When needing software, using the services of an IT consulting rm is todaya common solution for companies nowadays. To make a system suited forthe intended users it is important to focus on usability.There are many dierent approaches possible to use when developinga usable system. The purpose of this study was to study if any of theapproaches, goal-directed design, could be used when a customer orders asolution from a consulting rm. This was to be studied through a case studywhich was conducted at the IT consulting rm Sigma. One of Sigma's customersis Toyota Material Handling Group which is a supplier of forkliftsand additional services like the online eet management platform ToyotaISite. The platform is about to be further developed by connecting it to amobile application with the purpose of making the platform more accessibleand ecient. The assignment in the case study was to develop a prototypefor this mobile application. This was done using the goal-centered design approach.Further, in order to understand the work at Sigma today, interviewswere conducted with developers at the company.The data collected led to an analysis about how Sigma and other similarIT consulting rms could use the goal-centered design approach when developingsoftware. The conclusion drawn was that parts of the method couldbe motivated to the customer and thereby be used in future projects, whilesome parts would be harder to motivate for the customer. The includedsteps were user research, context scenarios, requirements and high-delityprototyping. These conclusions can be used to integrate usability work inthe development process in the context of an IT consulting rm deliveringa system to a customer.