1. Purpose, Functionality, users & testing Of an information system

2. FROM Arrangements Document
Descriptions of purpose, functions, features and appropriate users of a specific information system.
Description of the interaction of information systems with search engines.
Understand the process and benefits of Beta testing.
Describe the process and benefits of usability testing.
Understand that compatibility issues may occur within information systems including:
sufficient memory and storage requirements
compatibility with the operating system

3. Description of the general Iterative phases of the development process: analysis, design, implementation, testing, documentation, evaluation, maintenance.
Description, identification and benefits of Development methodologies including:
rapid application development
top-down/step-wise refinement
agile methodologies

4. Information system
An information system is a way in which information is collected, processed and managed
Businesses have a huge amount of data that they wish to store and use as information
Fast access to the information is needed
Multi-user access is often needed
Previously :-
information was collated on paper and stored in filing cabinets
only one copy of data
hard to sort it into a different order
Nowadays information is stored on a computer – in a database, spreadsheet or website

5. Information system
In this higher you looked at two types of information systems:
Websites
Databases
Information systems should allow:
Multi-access
Fast access to information
Information to be sorted by different criteria
Information to be presented in different formats
Information to be inserted, deleted or amended

6. What is an information system?
Hardware: computer-based information systems use computer hardware, such as processors, monitors, keyboard and printers
Software: the programs used to organise, process and analyse data, eg databases
Users: different elements of an organisation need to be connected to each other, especially if many different people in the organisation use the same information system
Procedures: these describe how specific data is processed and analysed in order to get the answers for which the information system is designed

8. Description of purpose
All information systems will have a detailed description of their purpose
Allows prospective users to understand the purpose of the information system and what it will be capable of
This could include the following information:
What information is to be stored
Why the information is to be stored
How the information is to be stored
How the information will be used
Who will be using the information system

9. Description of purpose
Purpose is established at an early point in the development process
Clients will often have a clear idea of what they want the information system to achieve, but will require specialist input from Systems Analysts and Designers to firm up the points above
A poor decision at this stage makes it very difficult to further adapt the information system or add new features in future
There are two types of users of information systems that should be considered: humans and other software

10. Features and Functions of an Information System
E.g. BBC website
Features – Navigation bar, weather widget, search bar, text, graphics
Function is to inform the public about news, sport, tv programs, weather and to play videos of programs

11. Interaction of information systems with human users
The type of users that are going to use the information system must be considered during development.
There are two main questions that should be asked:
What is the age range of the target audience?
What is the experience level of the target audience i.e. novice or expert?

12. Human users – target audience
A website for pre-school children benefits from:-
a graphical design
lots of bright colours and images
Large buttons or links that are easy to click on
(Reading age for older children)
A website aimed at teachers will contain:-
more text
have a more refined design
it may be colourful but will be easy to read
A website aimed at someone with limited technological experience will contain:-
a medium amount of text, broken into screens
very obvious navigation features
a slightly larger than normal font

13. Interaction of information systems with human users - experience
Users fall into two categories for their experience: -
Novice –
does not have a lot, or any experience with the type of information system that they are to be using
Expert –
very familiar with the type of information system being used and will have used them before
likely to be familiar with all the common features of an information system

14. Interaction of information systems with human users - experience
A database to be used by novice users would probably include:-
a graphical user interface so that users were not overwhelmed by a large table
a design that allows them to accurately carry out tasks, while not presenting them with too great a degree of complexity
making choices by clicking buttons, using menus and drop down lists may allow them to access an appropriate number of commands without feeling overwhelmed

15. Interaction of information systems with human users - experience
A database for an expert user may include:-
a form that allows the user to select what feature they require via a button
a front-end to an online database system used by business people would be more text based and more business-like in its outlook, with the emphasis being on functionality and corporate identity rather than fun
keyboard shortcuts instead of choosing options from menus or drop-down lists which may slow the user down
greater access to more complex features
The amount of online help and how to access the online help will be varied depending on the experience level of users

16. Interaction of information systems with human users –well designed system
A well designed system should cater for both novice and expert by offering e.g. :-
two interfaces, allowing it to be switched between beginner and advanced mode
an interface which can be customized in advanced mode, enabling the expert user to add more features if necessary
wizards, allowing novice users to complete expert tasks without the need for the degree of expertise or knowledge gained by an expert user

17. Interaction of information systems with software
Apart from human users other software, such as another Information System, should be able to access and use the Information System
Designing and standardising the structure of the data being held allows Information Systems to interact with each other without human intervention

18. Search Engines
A search engine is a program which searches for and identifies websites in a database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user
It is an information system as it uses a browser- based program which uses a database program to solve a particular problem for a user (ie finding specific information or a specific website)
Websites are found by using:-
spiders and metadata
search engine optimisation

19. Interaction of information systems with software - Internet search engine
Web pages are defined by a standard language called HTML and have a standard structure
Internet search engines work by:-
automatically creating a database linking key words and phrases to the URLs of individual pages by:-
software called 'crawlers' or 'bots‘ scan through the HTML structure (just like a browser would do when rendering the page) and pick out the text, links, images and metadata that make up the page
this information is then automatically written into the search engine’s database by the crawler

20. Interaction of information systems with software - Internet search engine
Metadata 'helps' the crawler software by providing an easily identifiable piece of information
When you look at the source code for a web page, you will usually see this type of metadata in the <head> area of the document

21. Interaction of information systems with software - Internet search engine

22. 'Aggregating' comparison sites
Websites that search through other sites are very popular
Used when e.g. booking a holiday, or insuring a car
Pull results from a number of websites
E.g.

23. 'Aggregating' comparison sites
Possible due to good Information Systems design where huge effort has gone into designing, documenting and sharing the structure of data
Booking a flight and hotel to Orlando involves searching a huge number of:
airline reservation databases
hotel databases
Sound financial sense - with no human input your product appears in to many more potential customers than just those visiting your website
A small arrangement fee is charged to the airline or hotel when a booking is made through a third party site e.g. Expedia
Standardised Information Systems allow Expedia™to search for hire cars too using the original locations and dates you entered

24. 'Aggregating' comparison sites
Current trend to make sites as structured as possible
‘Semantic web‘ –
“provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries”
New markup - being invented all the time
It should be possible to determine exactly what each element of a page is from the structure information
Will go beyond HTML, which only focuses on page structure (e.g. if you add a price to a standard HTML document, there is no way of denoting that it is a price from any other piece of text)
Standards such as RDF(Resource Description Framework) are already being used to ensure the trend towards increased interoperability between information systems continues to develop

25. User Interface - Usability
User interface practical task

26. testing – Beta Testing
Beta testing puts the completed product/app/software into the hands of end users in order to see whether these users will actually use the new product or feature once it has been released while gathering feedback and bugs in the process.
The developers will be very familiar with the software so might not think of mistakes or invalid operations that normal users will make.
Beta versions of software can be made available to the general public so that the developers can gain as much feedback and it can be tested on many platforms.

27. testing – Beta Testing Process
1. Goals of the test are set out. i.e. what does the company want to find out through beta testing?
2. Participant Recruitment
The ideal candidates are those who match the product's target market and whose opinions won't be swayed by a prior relationship with the company.
Most private beta tests include anywhere from 10 to 250 participants.
3. Product Distribution
Beta is most effective when a complete package including all appropriate materials (software, hardware, manuals, etc.) are sent to participants.
4. Collecting Feedback
Feedback comes in many valuable forms including bug reports, general comments, quotes, suggestions, surveys, and testimonials.

28. testing – Beta Testing Process
5. Evaluating Feedback
While bugs are often the core focus of a beta, other valuable data can also be derived from the test. Marketing and public relations material, customer support data, strategic sales information, and other information can all be collected from an effective beta test.
6. Conclusion
Providing feedback to the participants about their issue submissions, updating them on the status of the product, and taking the time to thank and reward ( with a free version of the finished product) them for their effort.

29. testing – Beta Testing Process Summary
Draw a diagram

30. Benefits of Beta Testing
Tests performed by real customers across lots of platforms.
Cost savings - many testers will be willing to test a website or piece of software, free of charge

31. Disadvantage of Beta Testing
Some users may not be impressed with the number of errors in a project and may not wish to use the product in the future, so care is needed to ensure users are aware of the beta status and the improvements that are implemented.

32. testing – Beta Testing Process Questioins
Can you think of some questions developers would include in a beta test?

33. testing – Beta Testing Process Questions

34. testing – Usability Testing
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35. testing – Usability Testing
Usability testing is a way to see how easy to use a program is by testing it with real users.
Users are asked to complete tasks, typically while they are being observed by a researcher, to see where they encounter problems and experience confusion.

36. testing – Usability Testing

37. testing – Usability Testing Process
1. Goals of the test are set out. i.e. what does the company want to find out through testing?
2. Participant Recruitment
The ideal candidates are those who match the product's target market and whose opinions won't be swayed by a prior relationship with the company.
3. Observation
Users are asked to complete tasks, typically while they are being observed by a researcher, to see where they encounter problems and experience confusion.
4. Collecting Feedback
5. Evaluating Feedback
6. Conclusion

38. testing – Usability Testing

39. Testing – Compatibility Issues (memory, storage requirements, operating system compatibility)
Users now view information systems on a variety of different devices. Make a list of the devices below -
These devices are able to display web pages they are still very different and have different features - input devices, a different operating system, a smaller memory, smaller amount of RAM and a slower processor.
This means that not all devices can display the same version of a website.

40. Testing – Compatibility Issues (memory, storage requirements, operating system compatibility)
If you have used a smartphone before you may have found that when you try to view a web page you are directed to an app, or the smartphone version of the website. This is because the 'normal' version of the website cannot display on the smartphone. Why might this be the case?
You might find that it is necessary to create different versions of the same website that are suitable for different devices. If your website cannot be viewed from a smartphone or a tablet then you are limiting the number of potential users and customers that you will receive.

41. Testing – Compatibility Issues
Compatibility issues Solution
Maintaining different versions of the same website would be inefficient.
'responsive web design‘ can be used - This means that one website can be coded in HTML where each element’s size and position can then be controlled by CSS.
The platform can be detected by a script on the page and the appropriate style sheet selected. Modern browsers usually support media-type definition in CSS by default.