Input and Output Design

The user interface is the most important part of the system to the user as it is the only part which the user can see and interact with the system. So design of user interface should be not only informative to the user but along with that it should be appealing, user friendly and attractive.

The steps for designing the interfaces are -

Make the summary of the interfaces to be required for the system.
Identify the human computer operational boundary in the data flow {means what to input as data and what to be computed by the computer}.
Interface wise get the review of the data elements to be included in each screen, form document or report.

User interface design (UID) must take into account the needs, experience and capabilities of system’s users.( physical and mental limitations of the human being who uses the computer system. The most important need is to recognize the short term memory and avoiding overloading the user with information. Some of the design principles which should be embedded in any user interface design are-

Consistency:- The design should work uniformly in all parts of the system. This allows user to learn something once and apply that knowledge again and again. For example: windows interface.
Robustness:- The interface should not fail, because of some actions taken by the user or by a user’s errors. This requires check that prevents users from making incorrect entries.
Aesthetic integrity:- Design should not have loud graphics, dark backgrounds which can interrupt the user rater than helping.
Usability:- Effectiveness and efficiency are the best ways to evaluate the interfaces. For example: input must be well laid- out so that fewer keystrokes can bring desired result, names must be précised, abbreviations must not lead to confusions.
Visual effects for the interfaces:- Means documents on the screen must look in the same way they will look even when they are printed. e.g: when we want bold fonts we can see it on screen and get it in the same way when we print.
Provide immediate feedback: - Invalid message is displayed for wrong entry number.
Make interface forgiving:- Means user’s action should be easily reversed if we make a mistake we should be able to come back to initial position without causing any damage. This helps the user to learn by trials and error.
Avoid modes:- Means whenever user is in mode the user interface should make it obvious by providing good visual cues. e.g: in cut and paste mode that operation should be highlighted and at the same time all other modes are avoided i.e. other options become faint to show or express that it cannot be activated.

INPUT DESIGN

To get the data into the computer an analyst has to design the form, design the input record and design methods for getting the data into the computer. The computer accepts the data which is in machine sensible form. If it is not it has to be brought in that form.

1 Input consists of data and instructions:

So input design involves data capturing and data validation. Following are the important aspects of input design.

Data collection: The process of getting the data to the computer for processing is called as data collection.
Data capture: The objective of data capturing is to reduce the volume of input up to the extent possible and to minimize manual efforts. It involves
Recording of data: It is collection of data at its source means preparation of source documents by applying manual checks.
Data transmission: If main processor has many terminals, the transfer of data from a particular terminal to the main can be considered as data transmission.
Data preparation: The transcription of source document on to an input media is referred as data preparation.
Sorting; Sorting is the process of arranging the data into some desired format or sequence.
Data validation: The objective of data validations to detect errors at the earliest possible stage of system development. It can be done up to certain extent by manual verification in data capturing stage. In spite of this, still there may be incorrect batches of input data, missing data or redundancy of data. So it is necessary that before the data is first input to the computer for processing different checks are carried out. These checks classify valid and invalid data.
Data entry: Is the process of translating the source document into machine readable format.
Data input: It comes to the computer only after the data has been entered into one of the machine readable format.

2.Validation checks: Various validation checks applied to data are:

1. Field checks:

Limit check-It ensures that every data item of record lies within predefined size.

I) Picture check-It detects entry of incorrect characters in the field.

II) Valid code check-It is used to validate input against predefined transaction code.

2. Transaction checks:

I) Sequence check-It is used to detect missing transaction.

II)Combination check-Can be applied to various fields of a file especially to cross check the values.

III) Password check- To detect unauthorized entry of data. or In input design screens and forms are the main aspects of focus. Forms are the source documents to collect the data and data entry screens are used to enter the data into computer files.

Format of data entry screen is as follows.

Guidelines for designing input for the system:

Due consideration should be given to following features of input design.

Input specifications describe the manner in which the data enters the system. So proper selection method for inputting input into a form that the system can process should be done.
Input design also determines whether the user can interact efficiently with the system.
The design of documents and forms for the collection of data prior to submission for processing is properly discussed.

The objectives guiding design of input focuses on

I. Controlling the amount of input required since the cost of preparing and entering the data is directly proportional to the human ware factor of system reducing the amount of data means reducing lobour cost.

II. Avoiding delays: By using turnaround type of documents can avoid bottlenecking situations means in tern avoiding delays which directly affects the profit in tern.

III. Avoiding errors in data: This can be achieved

i) by reducing volume of data

ii) Checking and detecting errors as they do occur.

iii) By input validation technique

iv) Taking efforts and effectively on way (manner) the data is entered.

4. What not to enter is equally important .Input produced should not require entry of the following type of data such as constant dater means the data that are same for every entry.{ since the date of the transaction is identical for every transaction, one can use clock/calendar from computer or it can be system generated data element.

OUTPUT DESIGN

Output design principles:

1. Principle of simplicity: Format of the output should be self explanatory & should be as simple as possible.

2. Principle of acceptability: End-user’s participation should be there in output design phase to get greater response of acceptability to the reports.

3. Principle of timeliness: An output in time leads to the success of the overall system.

4. Principle of promoting the decision making process: Output should be designed in such a manner that it should help in decision making and accelerate the process of decision making.

5. Principle of economy: Reports should be precise, should avoid redundancy of information which in tern reduces cost of processing and achieves the principle of economy.

Output Design Objectives:

1. An output must convey information about past activities, current status as well as future projections.

2. An output can be designed to confirm an action.

3. An output should be used to trigger an alarm(to remind an immediate activity to be used)

4. It may be utilized to signal events (such as to focus on variance between the planed & expected result and actually experienced output)

Types Of Output:

System requires following types of output.

Operational outputs: These are the normal routine reports based on day to day functions or activities.
External outputs: Such reports or documents are to be submitted to the authorities outside the organization.
Internal outputs: These are to be carefully designed as they act as main interface within the organization.
Periodic outputs: Such type of reports are required to be generated timely such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.
Turnaround outputs: For these reports data is added to the document before it is returned for further processing.

Guidelines For Output Design:

Due consideration should be given to the following features before designing the output.

Objective of the output {that has been already discussed.
Type of the output {according to the need of the system.}
Contents :{ data fields, heading, data types etc.}
Format of the output {arrangement of the information, its presentation in vertical or horizontal form etc.}
Frequency: It focuses on the fact that how many times it is required to be generated, within a particular span.
Volume: It considers number of documents required to be generated within a particular span.
Medium of output: It determines whether the output is in form of hard copy, audio, audiovisual, interactive screen or microfilm.
Location of output: Whether it is to be processed, transported, local, transmitted, or stored.

FORM DESIGN

OBJECTIVE : Form is important mean of communication. The basic purpose of form is to collect and convey the information quickly and completely to the respected authority.

Forms are used for both input and output purpose.

1. Principles of form design:

Simplicity: Form should be simple to understand.
Logical sequence of the entries should be maintained.
Usability: ease of use should always be there to fill the form quickly and correctly.
Data redundancy should be avoided wherever possible.

2. Guidelines for form design:

Objective of the form should be well defined.
Specification of data contents helps the design process.
Format and layout of the form are determined.
Due consideration should be given to participation of user for quantifying the data and submission for approval.

Illustrative example: Design a form of common entrance test conducted by XYZ University for admission to various management courses.

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