Systems

Engineering
 Design
for
Operational
Feasibility
 DESIGN FOR OPERATIONAL
FEASIBILITY

1. Design for Reliability

2. Design for Maintainability
3. Design for Usability (Human Factors)
4. Design for Producibility, Disposability and
Sustainability
5. Design for Logistics & Supportability
6. Design for Affordability (Life Cycle Costing)
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Understand human factors and its importance in
the system design process by:
● defining and explaining human factors
and human systems integration
● understanding the common measures in
human factors
● understanding its importance in the system
life cycle
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
● understanding human factors analysis
methods
 OTA (Operators Task Analysis)
 OSDs – Operator Sequence
Diagrams
 Error analysis
 Safety hazards analysis
● understanding personnel training
requirements
● understanding personnel test &
evaluation
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Factors:
- requirements for the human, as part of a system
design, are derived through the definition of system
operational requirements, the maintenance concept
and the accomplishment of a top-level functional
analysis.
- a description of the mission to be performed is the
first step in the requirements definition process,
and from the functional analysis, operational and
maintenance functions are identified, indicating
“what the system must do”.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Factors:
- through the subsequent process of analysis,
synthesis & evaluation, a specific design approach
is selected for determining the “how, or the manner
by which the functions will be accomplished”,
which leads to the identification of “human
requirements” for the system.
- this is illustrated on the figure following this page.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Factors Requirements:
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Hierarchy of Human Activity:
● Job operation – completion of a function that
normally includes the combination of duties and tasks.
● Duty – set of related tasks within a given job
operation.
● Tasks – constitutes a composite of related activities
performed by an individual in accomplishing a
prescribed amount of work in a specified environment.
● Sub-tasks – depending on the complexity of a
task, it maybe broken down into sub- tasks.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Hierarchy of Human Activity:
● Task element – may be categorized as per smallest
definable facet of activity that requires individual
behavioral responses in completing a task or
subtask.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)

Personnel Factors:
● Anthropometric factors
● Human sensory factors
● Physiological factors
● Psychological factors
● Other factors
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)

Anthropometric Factors:
● Physical dimensions of
the human body
● Weight, height,
arm reach, hand
size, etc.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Sensory Factors:
● Vision - The designer should consider
the specified degrees of the eye &
head rotation as the maximum
allowable values in the design of
operator consoles and control
panels.
● Hearing - focuses on the noise. If noise
level is too high, the individual
will probably experience permanent injury through
loss of hearing. Conversely, if noise is
intermittent, the individual is
usually distracted.
● Other senses - such as smell,
feeling/touch, balance (vestibular senses)
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Physiological Factors:
● In system design, the designer must consider the effects of
environmental stress on
the human body while performing
system tasks.
● Stress - refers to any aspect of
external activity or the environment
acting on the individual performing a
system task, to cause a degrading effect.
● Sources of Stress:
 Temperature extremes
 Humidity
 Vibration
 Noise
 Other factors
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Psychological Factors:
● Psychological factors - pertain to the human mind and the
aggregate of emotions, traits,
behavioral patterns as they relate to
job performance.
● Designer must be mindful of the
requirements for the system
& must understand the human’s capacities
and abilities relative to the
information processing
requirements.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Measures in Human Factors:
● Effectiveness – in system design, refers to the
accomplishment of system operational and
maintenance functions, in a specified manner, within
the desired time frame and without inducing errors in
the process.
● Efficiency – means that the functions must be
accomplished at minimum total life cycle cost.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Factors in the System Life Cycle:
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Human Factors Analysis Methods:
a. Operator task analysis (OTA) – involves a
systematic study of the human behavior
characteristics associated with the completion of
system tasks.
b. Operational sequence diagram (OSD) – can be
used to aid in evaluating the flow of information
from the point when the operator first becomes
involved with the system to the completion of the
mission.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
c. Error analysis - an error occurs when a human
action exceeds some limit of acceptability, where
the limits of acceptable performance had been
defined.
● errors of omission – when a human fails to
perform a necessary tasks
● errors of commission - when a task is
performed incorrectly.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
- Possible causes of errors:
● inadequate work space & work layout
● inadequate design of facilities, equipment &
control panels for human factors
● poor environmental condition -
inadequate lighting, high or low temperature,
high noise level
● inadequate training, job aids & procedures
● poor supervision – lack of communications,
no feedback, lack of good planning
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
d. Safety/hazard analysis - safety pertains to both
personnel & other elements of the system.
- Hazard can be classified as:
● Negligible hazard – condition that will not result in
significant personnel injury or equipment damage.
● Marginal hazard - conditions that can be controlled
without personnel injury or major system damage.
● Critical hazard – conditions that will cause personnel
injury or major system damage and will require immediate
corrective action for personnel or system survival.
● Catastrophic hazard – conditions that will cause death or
severe injury or complete system loss.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
Personnel & Training Requirements:
- Skill level classifications:
● Basic skill level – assumed to acquire an individual
between 18 and 21 years of age, a high school
graduate with a ninth grade general reading and
writing level, with no regular work experience.
● Intermediate skill level – over 21 years old,
with 2 years of college or equivalent course work, with
2-5 years of experience, can perform relatively
complex tasks, where the interpretation of data site on-
site preventive maintenance tasks.
 DESIGN FOR USABILITY
(HUMAN FACTORS)
- Skill level classifications:
● High skill level – with 2 to 4 years of formal
college, or equivalent course work in a technical institute,
has taken several specialized trainings in various
related fields, with at least 10 years of related on-
the-job experience. He can be assigned to train and
supervise basic and intermediate skill level personnel
and can interpret procedures, accomplish
complex tasks and make major decisions affecting
system operating policies.