e-bus iness
tas k analysis
ac ourse prepared
r
by yves pigneu

e-business
se rvice design
scenario & storytelling
!task analysis
p rototyping
ervice qualit y & usability
s
busi ness process ation
bluepr int & visualiz
service pr oductivity
servic e compliance
bu siness model
value cha in & network l innovation
service & b usiness mode

service concept
consult document
customer role:
order taking
performance:
imitative
Provide an easy way to borrow a cost:
document from the library reduce effort for the librarian

scenario
consult document scenario 1
Cécile comes at Céline’s desk and
ask her to consult a confidential
document
Céline notices that Cécile is
employed by CRI and is
accredited, that the document
corresponds to an archive
reference, and that is available.
Céline records the consultation.
On base of the document’s
location supplied by the system,
Provide an easy way to borrow a she pick up the document and give
document from the library it to Cécile .

service (work) system
customers:
consult document librarian
information:
analysts
documents
consultations
technologies:
web browser
work practices:
!check analyst
!check document
!record ...
Provide an easy way to borrow a participants:
analyst
document from the library

task analysis
^
& u se c ase

task
alysis user
an
obser vation

OBSERVATION

the desig ner’s
toolk it ...

ob servi ng ...

^

Direct observation
Indirect observation
Oral interview
Written questionnaire
Concurrent protocol
Retrospective protocol
Use case

Observe and
define cash w
in a teller ma ithdrawal
chine ...
rf.snoitartsulli

insert the card

key in the password

select withdrawn

key in the amount

take cash

remove the card

take receipt

TASK MODEL

?
What’s a task model
illustrations.fr

A task model ...
represents logical activities for users or
customers to reach their goals

Task model
goal
action
user

goals
www.sxc.hu

goal
^ according
to Lorin
Hochste
in
goals are what the user is trying to
accomplish
these can be defined at various levels of
abstraction
higher-level goals are decomposable into
sub-goals, and are arranged hierarchically

Do you reme
mber the lib
rary’s scenar
ios ?
rf.snoitartsulli

GOALS
case
authorize
authorize Check and authorize
consultation
consultation
the consultation of a
document required by
an analyst, ...

goal
^
Conditions
according
to
Alistair
Cockbur
n
Precondition ...
state what must always be true before beginning the
execution of a task (use case)
Post-condition or success guarantees ...
state what must be true on completion of the task
(success end and/or failure end condition)

CONDITIONS
case
\" Pre-condition:
the information officer is identified and authorized
\" Post-condition
the consultation of the document by the analyst is
recorded in the base

Task model
goal
action
user

users
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23/730371240/

users
or customers
using the online service by performing a
sequence of operations
to reach their goals

ACTORS
case
\" Primary actor: an information officer of the research and
information center (CRI); in charge of the library of
confidential documents
\" other stakeholders: the senior or junior analysts
accredited by the Center, who prepare synthesis and
study reports based on documents available in the library

Task model
goal
action
user

actions
www.sxc.hu

actions
describe the sequence of operations
performed by the users necessary to
achieve the desired goals

SCENARIO (1)
case
\" Cécile comes at Céline’s desk and ask her to consult
a confidential document
\" By means of her terminal, Céline notices that Cécile
is employed by CRI and is accredited, that the document
corresponds to an archive reference, and that is available.
\" Céline records the consultation.
\" On base of the document’s location supplied by the
system, she pick up the document and give it to Cécile .

SCENARIO (2)
case
\" Benoît comes at Céline’s desk and ask her to consult
a confidential document
\" By means of her terminal, Céline notices that Benoît
is employed by CRI but he is not accredited for
consulting the confidential document.
\" Céline records the reject and records the tentative of
non authorized consultation.

SCENARIO (3)
case
\" Cécile comes at Céline’s desk and ask her to consult
a confidential document
\" By means of her terminal, Céline notices that Cécile
is employed by CRI and is accredited, that the document
corresponds to an archive reference, but that is already
borrowed from.
\" Céline tells Cécile that the document is not available.

Is a task mo
del different
from a scena
rio ?
?
How to des cribe a task
How to deco
mpose a task
?
rf.snoitartsulli

task sce nario
m odel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barretthall/331459910/

sc hema
text
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barretthall/331459910/

hierarchy
www.sxc.hu

^
Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)
an
net t & Dunc
accordi ng to An
Breaking down the steps of a task performed by
a user, viewed at different levels of detail
Each step can be decomposed into lower-level
sub-steps, thus forming a hierarchy of sub-tasks

GOALS
case
authorize
authorize Check and authorize
consultation
consultation
the consultation of a
document required by
an analyst, ...

DECOMPOSITION (1)
case
Authorize the
authorize consultation of a
consultation document
SEQ
* check
check record give
give
request
request consultation document
document
Check that the Record the Pick up the document on
analyst may borrow consultation of the the shelves and give it to
the document from document by the the analyst
analyst

DECOMPOSITION (2)
case
check Check that the analyst may
request borrow the document from
SEQ
* check check
check
who & what consultation
consultation
Check if the Check if the
analyst and the consultation is
documents are allowed based on the
known accreditation rules

DECOMPOSITION (3)
case
check Check if the analyst and the
who & what documents are known
PAR
check check
analyst document
Check if the Check if the
analyst exists in document exists in
the database the database

DECOMPOSITION (2)
case
check Check that the analyst may
request borrow the document from
SEQ
check
who & what
check
consultation
*
Check if the Check if the
analyst and the consultation is
documents are allowed based on the
known accreditation rules

DECOMPOSITION (4)
case
Check if the consultation is
check allowed based on the
consultation accreditation rules
PAR
check check
availability accreditation
Check if the Check is the analyst is
document is not accredited for consulting
already borrowed the document
from

TASK DECOMPOSITION
case
check
consultation
SEQ
check record give
request consultation document
SEQ
check check
who & what consultation
PAR PAR
check check check check
analyst document availability accreditation

USE CASE

“ A use case captures a contract between the
stakeholders of a system about its behaviour.
Different sequences of behaviour, or
scenarios, can unfold, depending on the
particular requests made and conditions
surrounding the requests. The use case collects
”
together those different scenarios.
Alistair Cockburn

“ form, although they can be written using flow
Use cases are fundamentally a text
charts, sequence charts, Petri nets, or
programming languages. Under normal
circumstances, they serve to communicate from
one person to another, often to people with no
special training. Simple
text is,
therefore, usually the best choice. ”
Alistair Cockburn

TASK DECOMPOSITION
case
check
consultation
SEQ
check record give
request consultation document
1. SEQ 2. 3.
check check
who & what consultation
1.1. PAR 1.2. PAR
check check check check
analyst document availability accreditation
1.1.1 1.1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2

MAIN SUCCESS (1)
case
1. Check if the analyst can borrow the document from
1.1. check if the analyst and the document exist in the
database
1.1.1. check if the analyst exists in the database
1.1.2. check if the document exists in the database
1.2. ...

MAIN SUCCESS (2)
case
1. Check if the analyst can borrow the document from
1.1. ...
1.2. check if the accreditation rules are enforced
1.2.1. check if the document is not already borrowed from
1.2.2. check if the analyst may borrow the document
from
2. ...

MAIN SUCCESS (3)
case
1. Check if the analyst can borrow the document from
1.1. ...
1.2. ...
2. Record the consultation of the document by the analyst
3. Pick up the document on the shelves and give it to the
analyst...

FAILURES
check
consultation
case
SEQ
check record give
request consultation document
SEQ not found
document
check check
who & what consultation
PAR PAR
check check check check
analyst document availability accreditation
unknown unknown borrowed unaccredited
analyst document document analyst

EXTENSIONS (1)
case
1.1.1a if the analyst does not exist in the files
1. direct the analyst to the person in charge
2. stop the task
1.1.2a if the document does not exist in the files
1. ask the analyst another document reference
2. if necessary, make a new attempt (1.1.2)

EXTENSIONS (2)
case
1.2.1a if the document is already borrowed from
1. inform the analyst
2. stop the task
1.2.2a if the analyst is not allowed to read the document
1. inform the analyst
2. record the attempt of fraud
3. stop the task

EXTENSIONS (3)
case
3a if the document is not on the indicated shelf
1. trigger an alert ...
2. stop the task

^
Task Analysis
according
to Franç
ois Boda
rt
The analyst then suggests ways to make the task
more efficient or suggests new tasks which
more effectively support the goals.
It is important to recognize that the analysis is
done from the perspective of the end-users

Equipment
Context dition Prerequisite
Working con
Productivity
User Environment
profile Task Reproducibil
ity
Motivation parameters Task organization
Experience Importance
Knowledge Complexity
Usability
Learning tim
e criteria
n
Speed of executio Goals
d of persist
ence Task
Perio Sub-goals
Error rate
structure Task
Satisfaction Subtask
er
D egree of cov Procedure

ge t users involved

task
analysis
review \" goal, action & user
\" decomposition
\" task analysis

use case
description
review \" context
\" main success
\" extensions

ractice practice
pr actice p

Define the a
dmission
of a patient
in an hospita
l ...
rf.snoitartsulli
> see document

task to be analyzed...
to be modelled ...
http://legacycreative.gettyimages.com

be rigorous

Observe and
define the ch
at the point eck-out
of sale in a s
upermarket .
..
rf.snoitartsulli
> see document

to be continued ...

Observe and
describe the
on LeShop ... order taking
rf.snoitartsulli

to be continued ...