Design and Usability Evaluation of Work Control Documentation

Abstract

The present study develops a methodology for design and usability evaluation of work control documentation for aircraft inspection based on the application of human factors research in the areas of information design and aircraft inspection. A taxonomy for design of usable documentation was developed using four basic categories: Information Readability; Information Content; Information Organization; and Physical Handling and Environmental Factors. Within the framework of this taxonomy the existing work control documentation for two extreme representative conditions of aircraft inspection tasks, the A-check and the C-check was evaluated for usability. Issues for workcard redesign were identified within this taxonomy using data from usability evaluation and these were then formulated into a set of 49 guidelines for design. These guidelines were then used to develop alternate design solutions offering improved usability. The increase in usability of the redesigned documentation was measured in an on-site empirical evaluation and proved significant. This methodology is currently being extended to the design of usable information for the design and evaluation of portable computer based documentation for aircraft inspection tasks.

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