1. Assignment# 3 : User Interface Evaluation of ‘WhenIwork’ App – A HEURISTIC EVALUATION
Submitted to Mr. Mike Besharah
When I Work (www.wheniwork.com) An Employee
Scheduling Software that has 10000 Happy
Customers Worldwide
When-I-work: You’re in good company!
Guarantees24/7 Access
Has very minimal dataentry required
No complicatedinstallationsneeded

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology wasdividedinto4phases.First,all the genericheuristicsbyJakobNielsenwas
beingobserved.Thisservedasa good baseline andbenchmarkingforWhen-I-Work.com.It alsohelped
in pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the system. The second phase deals with the domain
specific details of the system. As far as this scheduling app is concerned, it was also taken into
consideration the types of users. The typical users of the app wouldbe : project managers, supervisors,
HR Personnel andITManagers. The thirdphase dealswithcreatingnew heuristicsthatare highlyspecific
to When-I-Work.com .
Below is a tabular form of Jakob Nielsen’s Heuristics and how it applies to the system/app.
HEURISTIC EVALUATIONS TABLE : When-I-Work Scheduling App
HEURISTICS by JAKOB NIELSEN PROPOSED HEURISTICS for WHENIWORK.COM
1. VISIBILITY OF SYSTEM’S STATUS
The Mobile /Site app should always have
the capability to update the users of the
system’s status. This means having
appropriate feedbackwithinareasonable
time frame.
1. SCHEDULING UPDATES & ACTIVITIES
SHOULD BE VISIBILE ALWAYS
This scheduling app should always have
the users see whether or not the
necessary changes have been done. It
should also inform them of any errors.
There shouldbe appropriate feedbackina
reasonable time.
2. MATCH BETWEEN THE SYSTEM & THE
REAL WORLD
Thisappshould,and mustspeakthe daily
language of the users.Whoare the users?
Managers, supervisors, IT Specialists,
Finance Admins,etc. There should be NO
specific jargon that is specialized to any
one particular domain. REAL-WORLD
Conventions,notjustinterminologiesbut
also logical order.
2.A GOOD MATCHING BETWEEN THE APP
AND THE PHYSICAL
ATMOSPHERE/ENVIRONMENT OFTHE USERS
The app should show the user’s current
activities. All the schedule made and updates
should be easily accessible to the user. No
“out of this world” terms nor tabs should be
presentonthe app.The updatingof employee
statuses and ranks should also be easily
accessible.
3. ERROR PREVENTION.
There should be steps that promotes
cautious and detailed design that best
avoids mistakes. It is very imperative to
give users some form of warning before
proceeding to further actions.
3.ERROR PREVENTION
This scheduling app has a thorough and detailed
design. There are warnings regarding wrong data
entries and elimination of redundancies.
WhenIwork.comdoesobservegooddataintegrity
as far database functionalities are concerned.
4. CONSISTENCY & STANDARDS
There should be no room for users to
waste time andenergyin‘learning’howto
navigate the site and app. As constantly
mentioned , the terms should be
4.CONSITENCY & STANDARDS
There Shouldbe consistencyor ‘universality’.The
tabs and navigational proceduresshouldbe easily
understood.

3. ‘universally understandable’. No
domain/industryspecificjargonsneeded.
A Scheduling app does NOT require rocket
surgery!
5. AESTHETHIC & MINIMALIST DESIGN
All the presented information should be
minimal. There is no room for
unnecessary clutter. This applies not just
to the textdata but to all otheraspectsof
the app/site’s design and appearance.
5.AESTHETHIC DESIGN &MINIMALIST DESIGN
A very balanced and simple design. A user who
wants to schedule his/her employees and team
mates does not need any form of clutter. Speed,
ease of use andefficiencyare the keyfactorstobe
observed.
6. RECOGNITION RATHER THAN RECALL
There shouldbe an effortto minimizethe
extra efforts needed by the users. This
means memory load is minimal.
Instructions for the use of said system is
easily accessible by the users. An option
shouldbe an easilyretrievable instruction
list.
6.RECOGNITION OF ACTIONS IS PREFERABLE
THAN RECALLING /TRACING
Ensure that all the main functions of the
schedulingiseasilytraceable. The App/siteshould
have easily traceable paths to the latest updates
of schedules, employee statuses and ranks,
additional info,etc.The database of When-I-Work
should have steady updates and observe data
integrity and referential integrity.
7. FLEXIBILITY & EASE OF USE
The ease of Use can be accelerated. Such
is called ‘accelerators’. A seasoneduser/s
can rapidly learn the system and the
interaction can be hastened. This saves a
lotof time andenergiesonthe partof the
user(s).
7.FLEXIBLE SYSTEM & EASY TO NAVIGATE
The usual users would be supervisors, managers,
HR Staff and people who have a lot of
responsibilities. The system should alsoallow the
main usersto easilynavigate backand forthfrom
scheduling to changing ranks, adding or deleting
staff, changing dates, adding overtime, etc. Time
and energysavedmeansalotfor the users. There
should also be easy access to additional
information ( metadata, added links, user
generated content).
8. HELP USERS RECOGNIZE, DIAGNOSE &
RECOVER FROM ERRORS
SIMPLICITY. All the possible error
messagesshouldbe inPLAIN ENGLISH.No
special types of codes that needs a
cryptographer to decipher. It should
clearly indicate the problem or error. On
top of this, the solution given should be
straight forward. There should be a given
solution, whether it is a simple click of
another tab or contacting technical
support.
8.AVAILABILITY OF HELP & RESOURCES FOR THE
USER(S). RECOVERY FROM ERRORS
Anyuser neednotresolve to‘furtherresearch’ as
far as error codes are concerned. A very easy
solution should be at hand for the schedulers.An
easy solution would save a lot of time. The time
being saved would mean more users would
acknowledge the simplicity yet effectiveness of
this app. Scheduling itself and the constant
updatesof staff isa huge tasksfor the users.They
need a simply fix and a technical support and
customer service that is reliable.
9. USER CONTROL & FREEDOM
There is ALWAYS the possibility of users
making a mistake. They would create,
update, delete and all other possible
errors.Users shouldbe providedan“easy
exit”, or simply put, an “emergency exit”
9.USERS HAVE CONSTANT CONTROL OF
UPDATES
The typical users of this system are people
withhuge responsibilities. Itfollowsthattheir
schedules are usually tight. There is also
possibilitiesof constant changes of schedules

4. should they wish to discontinue the
activity.Shouldthe userswanttoleave an
unwanted or undone stage, the system
should allow it. The freedom also
coincides with the ease of use of the
system.
and statuses of employees. The shifting from
creating one template to another monthlyor
weekly timeframe is vital. Also the added
overtimes and change of employee ranks,
codenames / titles, etc. Without this specific
freedom and total control of the users, this
app may not survive for long.
10. HELP & DOCUMENTATION
It is always imperative for the system to
have updated and ‘on standby’ system
documentation.Any such documentation
should be easily accessible to the user.
This could come in a form of a tab or
clicking on a certain link. The
documentationitself shouldbe veryclear,
concise and the language usedshouldbe:
PLAIN ENGLISH.Nohighlytechnical jargon
nor domain specific terminologies.
11. SYSTEM HELP & DOCUMENATIONS
It is obvious that a system that needs no
documentations is much more favourable.
This means that the system is highly easy to
use and efficient. But in the real world,
especially in the case of users who are
extremely on the go, an on line
documentation should be readily available.
Thiswouldmake iteasy forthe userto simply
browse thru and read the necessary details
that he / she needs. It is common knowledge
that the document should be simple, straight
and up to date with regards to any system
changes .
RESULTS :
The testingof the proposedheuristicsisbeingcomparedtothe popularHeuristics,asproposedbyJakob
Nielsen.
Below are the Violated Heuristics by When-I-Work.com . These violations were a result of the heuristic
evaluationthatwasbeingdone.These are presentedontabularform.Sofar,outof the 10possible marks,
there were only 3 violations being derived from the heuristic evaluation.
JAKOB NIELSEN’S HEURISTICS VIOLATED HEURISTICS by WHENIWORK.COM
1. ERROR PREVENTION
This states that the possibility of errors
should be ; at worst ; extremely
minimized. At best, all possible errors
should be avoided at all cost.
1. ERROR PREVENTION
Testing the app has yielded that the
possibility of errors would be quite
common. This is due to the fact that the
tablesinvolvedincreatingthe schedule is
confusingforthe users.Theyalsoneedto
findthe specifictabstoupdate changesin
employeestatus,rankingsandovertimes,
sick leaves. These factors leaves a
loophole in Error Prevention, and does
violate such heuristic.

5. 2. Flexibility, Scalability and Efficiency of
use.
This heuristicstatesthatthe usersshould
have a complete control of the system.
Loggingoutanytime ;despitenotfinishing
a task should be an option for the user.
2. Flexibility , Scalability and Efficiency of use.
While the appallowsthe usertologinandlogout
with ease, the navigation was somewhat
confusing for some of the users tested. This also
gave rise to violation of #1 . Also, the on line
presence of metadataandusergeneratedcontent
was sometimes hard to produce.
The test alsoyieldedthatthe app is“sluggish”on
tablets,butveryefficientonlaptops/workstations
and even on smartphones.
3. Offering of help
This heuristic states that on line
documentation of the system should be
easily within reach. On top of the
documentation of the system, there
should be an easy to reach technical
support / customer service hotline.
3.Offeringof help/ on line helpand tech support
hotline
The users had no issues regarding the on line
documentations.The issue theyhadwas the long
wait for the tech support and customer service
line. Majority of the calls made were longer in
resolution.Andthe mere factthat the resolutions
were long despite still being on test mode, the
technical support staff issues are another “dish”
on its own.
RECOMMENDATIONS & SOLUTIONS :
1. The First violationwasErrorPrevention.The appisbasedsolelyoninputof employee schedules.
Althoughthe usersreportedthe systemtobe easytouse,the developmentteamshouldwork on
the errors by having an interface ( front end) that easilytalks to the databases and applications
behind the scenes ( back end). Thisis the main issue why there were constant errors during the
evaluation done.
2. The second violation was Flexibility, Scalability and Ease of use. The main issue here is the
compatibilitywithall tablets.The usershave all concludedthat usingit on laptops/workstations
andmobile phonesweresomewhatsmoothsailing.Whenusing itontablets,there were constant
freezes and the changes weren’t updated automatically. The development and design team
should work on the compatibility with all tablets.
3. The thirdand lastviolationwasOfferingof Help.Althoughthe online documentationwasreadily
available andeasytouse,the trial testinvolvingthe ‘contactcentre’teamdidnotyieldthatmuch
positivity.Duringsuchtestingthat involveda‘floatingcall centre’,thiswassomewhatexpected.
The recommendedsolutionhere istwostep:First,boththe frontendandbackendteamsshould
ensure on going communications. Their end products should be ‘talking’ to each other, so as to
prevent the 1st
and 2nd
errors. Then lastly, the call centre team, which is composed of customer
service and technical support specialists should be well trained on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the
When-I-Work.com applications system.

6. CONCLUSION :
The app was compared to Nielsen’s 10 Heuristics. They were compared side by side and what
was expected of the system’s functionalities. The results yielded that only 3 heuristics were
violated. Theseviolations were not amajor problem due to the factthat ittakes aminimal ‘tweak’
from both the front end and back end development teams. But this does not mean that such
issues should be held at backseat. These issues should be resolved ASAP. On top of this, once the
system has zero violations, the call center team should be properly debriefed, and eventually
trained. A Back log in calls would create a negative impact on the product.
It should be highly noted that majority of the users are managers and supervisors, some are
financialand IT Analysts who are extremely pressed for time. The lastthing that users would want
is a sluggish system or constant errors.
SOURCES :
ConductingWalkthroughs
http://infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/conductingwalkthroughs/
User Knowledge–Cognitive Walkthroughs
http://www.usabilitybok.org/cognitive-walkthrough
Difference betweenaHeuristicEvaluationandaCognitive Walkthrough
http://www.measuringu.com/blog/he-cw.php
ConductingUsabilityReviews
http://infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/conductingusabilityreviews/
10 UsabilityHeuristicsforUserInterface Designs
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
Mobile HeuristicEvaluations
http://icaci.org/files/documents/ICC_proceedings/