This presentation reports on our findings following a usability evaluation of the United States GOES website.

1. GOES Usability
Testing
Caribbean Connection
Will Pagán
Tasha Pruess

2. Objective
To understand the usability of the Global Online Enrollment System
(GOES) which allows users to enter their own applications for U.S. Customs
and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler Programs.
Based on our findings, we hope to make recommendations that will improve
the interface for users.

3. Administrative Task List
• Before logging in, find information about a Travel Program
• Start an Application
• Find information about a Travel Program during the Application process
• Cancel an Application
• Determine where are you in the Application process
• Add a family member to your travel program application
• Add documents

4. Application Task List
• Before logging in, find information about a Travel Program
• Start an Application
• Find information about a Travel Program during the Application process
• Cancel an Application
• Determine where are you in the Application process
• Add a family member to your travel program application
• Upload documents

5. How Task Success is Measured
Binary Method:
If the Student Participant completes the task, then that completion will be
deemed a success.
If the Student Participant does not complete the task, then the absence of
completion will be deemed a failure.

6. Morae Setup
• Set project to “Software or Web Usability Study”
• Two computers used: 1 for recording, 1 for observation
• Participant mouse clicks and mouse movements tracked and recorded
• Participant voice and face recorded
• Tasks were loaded; surveys were not

7. Participant Demographics
Participant Age Internet
Proficiency
Times per year
Travel outside US
Morgan 21 Very High 3-4
Tammy >30 High >6
Stella 24 High 1-2

9. What We Learned - Morgan
“It’s clear...just ugly.” “Too much text on homepage.”
Failed two tasks:
1. Registering (could not recall place of birth)
2. Find information on adding a family member
a. Solution: Make announcement at start of application
“Help is not helpful.” “Why is help over here?”
Table of Contents: Make items BOLDER, or add color

10. What We Learned - Tammy
• Home Page- too busy, too much content
• Instructions not clear
• Confirmation was not clear- When registration was completed for an
account on GOES, it was not clear to her.
• Information about programs are not very clear- “What are the programs?
What does SENTRI, NEXUS, etc.mean?”
o she happened to stumble upon the section below on the introduction
which describes the programs

11. What We Learned - Tammy
• Progress Panel-Do you know where you are in the process?
• “No, oh wait, yes, here it is. This panel has 16 tasks,steps. OMG, there is
16 tasks. There is too many tasks. It needs to be reduced.”
• It’s helpful to display what step you are on in the process. But display it
horizontally, Step 1, Step 2… etc.
• How to Cancel: “I just log off”
• Messages which are not errors, like informational or warning messages,
are displayed in red text, are misleading: “I thought I did something wrong.”
• Upload Docs: “This button is confusing. I thought I had to upload a
document or something.”

12. What We Learned - Stella
• Typical government website; “I expect it to be difficult”
• “It’s clear; I can do things”
• Would like it linked to Passport or DL# to pre-populate fields
• When asked about what she expected upon arriving at site:
o “I have no idea what this is, but I would have researched prior to
coming to the site”
• Adding Documents: Thought she needed to upload scanned document
• Help was not helpful

13. Summary
This is based on a VERY small sample size:
• All three ranked themselves as having “High - Very High” internet
proficiency
• The young women found the site to be clear and navigated it with relative
ease.
• Conversely, the one participant over 30 experienced difficulty.
Further research must be conducted to examine the role age plays in the
usability of the site.

14. Recommendations
• Change Help Documentation from tabular to text based
• Change layout of homepage (graphics and color scheme)
• Add progress bar for application
• Reduce number of sections in application
• Inform user before beginning application that each family member must
complete a separate application
• Change wording of “add document” to reflect entering document data
• Program Descriptions need to be clear and focal point on homepage