Context. User Experience has become key to product development in recent years, as manyorganizations have realized its role in maintaining high user acceptance ratings. User ExperienceDevelopment and Agile Software Development are two highly iterative processes and user-centricprocesses. While both methods stack up well theoretically, there are many challenges encountered whenthey are integrated together in real-world development scenarios. Similar to Agile development, UserExperience Development, has many phases: performing user research, gathering UCD (User-CenteredDesign) requirements, iterating design activities, and performing usability evaluation through user tests.Executing both processes in parallel and mapping their corresponding phases is a major issue andapplying these principles in development environment is even more challenging. This integration bearseven more significance in the field of healthcare technology, where user-centered requirements ofpatients and medical practitioners need to handled systematically, as there are a wide range ofspecifications that cater to unique individuals. Hence, a case study was conducted in two majororganizations involved in the development of Interactive Healthcare Technology (IHT) applications. Objectives. Through a case study, the author attempts to investigate the factors that influence theintegration between UX development and Agile methodologies. These factors include the contemporarytools, processes and methods (TPMs) that are being used integration and the challenges that persistwhen it is applied in industry. The study aims to analyze the Agile-UX development approaches of twodistinct organizations, involved in the same domain, to get an understanding of the mentioned factors. Methods. The multiple case study was conducted through interviews, surveys and direct observation.The qualitative data analysis of the surveys was done through thematic analysis. Quantitative dataanalysis was performed on the data gathered from the surveys. A literature review was conducted priorto the case study to gain knowledge on this issue, which also partially answers the research questions.The case study design was kept consistent across both organizations. Results. Through the results of the case study and a literature review, current UX development practicesin the industry have been identified. The challenges encountered at both case organizations have been studied. These results are further validated and contrasted with the results of the literature review.Following, a retrospection of the methods employed at the case environments, a set of recommendationsfor better integration was generated. A detailed comparative analysis of Agile-UX integration at twoorganizations has been documented. At the end a generic framework has been proposed based on theanalysis of results acquired. Conclusions. Numerous conclusions were drawn from the results and data analysis. Several challengeswere identified through the study, in addition to those suggested by relevant literature. Some of thesewere uniquely prevalent in the field of IHT development. It was found that dynamically changing usercenteredrequirements and late integration of usability and UX development with Agile practices werethe most profound challenges. Adoption of UCD techniques such as Design Studio played a positiverole in easing integration. Usability evaluation and user research are also major factors in the integrationprocess. Lack of time to iterate design and issues in scheduling and performing usability testing had abig impact. Involving users in the design and development process from an early stage is essential toensure high usability and good user experience of the product. The framework designed to counter thesechallenges, takes into account, all these aspects to provide a meticulous Agile-UX integrationframework. Some key conclusion drawn from this framework, are that the application of the “One SprintAhead” approach diminishes many challenges, while performing usability testing in parallel withsystem testing can support integration.

Essa dissertação está fundamentada em experiência de atuação no mercado da moda e em elementos históricos sobre a indústria têxtil e de confecção, nas duas últimas décadas do século XX e nas primeiras décadas do século XXI. Ela pretende contextualizar a questão do design de moda neste tempo globalizado sob o ponto de vista do olhar interdisciplinar de uma engenheira têxtil e designer de moda. Questiona-se aqui o dilema vivido pelos jovens designers, seus pares dentro das organizações em que atuam e alguns pontos da realidade da prática do design dentro das empresas de vestuário no Brasil. Nesse contexto, se discute a importância de redefinir o processo de desenvolvimento das coleções, o papel do designer de moda e de viabilizar o diálogo entre os diferentes sujeitos do processo de criação, durante o ciclo de vida de desenvolvimento do produto, a partir da sua conceituação a sua execução. Por fim, o estudo apresenta uma proposta de design integrado e interdisciplinar para a indústria da moda por meio de plataformas colaborativas, utilizando como referencial as teorias de design centrado no usuário e a participação em projetos de transformação por meio de Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) em empresas de confecção no Brasil / This study is based in the actual experience of the author in the fashion market and refers to historical elements of the Brazilian Textile and Clothing industry. The impact of the globalized moment on the intricated context of Brazils contemporary fashion is approached in an exploratory manner through the point of view of a textile engineer and fashion designer. The dilemma faced by young designers when practicing design and their relationships with peers is discussed with the aim of introducing best practices inside the Apparel Industry of Brazil. It is relevant to discuss the role of the fashion designer as well as to investigate the product development processes in the Brazilian companies to stimulate dialogues between the different actors involved in the product development cycle, from concept to execution. The study proposes an integrated and interdisciplinary method of user centered design by means of collaborative platforms of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in Change Management Projects for Brazilian Apparel Industries

When needing software, using the services of an IT consulting rm is todaya common solution for companies nowadays. To make a system suited forthe intended users it is important to focus on usability.There are many dierent approaches possible to use when developinga usable system. The purpose of this study was to study if any of theapproaches, goal-directed design, could be used when a customer orders asolution from a consulting rm. This was to be studied through a case studywhich was conducted at the IT consulting rm Sigma. One of Sigma's customersis Toyota Material Handling Group which is a supplier of forkliftsand additional services like the online eet management platform ToyotaISite. The platform is about to be further developed by connecting it to amobile application with the purpose of making the platform more accessibleand ecient. The assignment in the case study was to develop a prototypefor this mobile application. This was done using the goal-centered design approach.Further, in order to understand the work at Sigma today, interviewswere conducted with developers at the company.The data collected led to an analysis about how Sigma and other similarIT consulting rms could use the goal-centered design approach when developingsoftware. The conclusion drawn was that parts of the method couldbe motivated to the customer and thereby be used in future projects, whilesome parts would be harder to motivate for the customer. The includedsteps were user research, context scenarios, requirements and high-delityprototyping. These conclusions can be used to integrate usability work inthe development process in the context of an IT consulting rm deliveringa system to a customer.

Uppsatsen har som syfte att identifiera utmaningar som medborgarmedverkan medför inom en offentlig verksamhet vid utveckling av offentliga digitala tjänster. Utifrån dessa utmaningar diskuteras potentiella möjligheter som uppstår när utmaningarna klaras av samt vilken roll IKT och Government 2.0 har i dessa utmaningar och möjligheter. Vidare diskuteras även Participatory Design som tjänstedesignansats utifrån identifierade utmaningar och potentiella möjligheter vid utveckling av offentliga digitala tjänster. Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram redogör främst för forskningsämnena e-Government och Government 2.0 samt tjänstedesignansatser så som Participatory Design och User-Centered Design, samskapande och vikten av att involvera användare. En fallstudie har genomförts i en svensk kommun för att öka förståelsen om medborgarmedverkan vid utveckling av offentliga digitala tjänster. Genom förståelsen av kommunens kontext identifieras nio olika utmaningar: Utmaningar: Arbete för öppenhet och transparens mot medborgare Skapa mångfald i utvecklingsprojekt Identifiera fler faktorer, utöver mångfald, för en lyckad medborgarmedverkan Sprida kunskapen om vilka faktorer som är viktiga för lyckad medborgarmedverkan Tillfoga sig kunskapen om hur man når ut till medborgare på bästa sätt Motivera medborgare till att medverka (kommunicera vilket värde medverkan ger för varje enskild medborgare – dvs. kunna svara på frågan ”Varför ska just jag medverka i detta projekt?”) Bibehålla medverkande medborgare Öka datakunnigheten hos medborgare och andra aktörer Använda IKT och Webb 2.0 till dess fulla potential Dessa utmaningar ligger sedan till grund för potentiella möjligheter. Möjligheter som innebär öppenhet och transparens där offentliga digitala tjänster kan utvecklas utifrån medborgares och användes behov. Detta genom att använda sig av PD som tjänstedesignansats, IKT och Webb 2.0 – plattformar för samskapande, nätverkande, dialog och kunskapsspridning.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how a procuring organization can use personas and scenarios to gather user-requirements in the procurement of software. To reach this understanding a case study is carried out to answer the questions of research; which is a definition that suits IKEA Components, which tools and how to use them; and what are the obstacles and enablers for working with personas and scenarios in procurement of software. The thesis consists of a theoretical study in the usability area followed by an empirical investigation with semi-structured interviews and observations. The study resulted in 4 personas and 8 connected scenarios that are based on user requirements. The first finding due to the question of research includes a usability definition applied to a real context. The second reveals examples of how personas and scenarios can make the development team understand the user requirements and thus contribute to procurement. The last finding is that the main obstacles and enablers for IKEA Components is the complexity of the main system, lack of resources and the management support.

Web Accessibility emerged as problem when disabled and elder people started interaction with web contents soon after the inception of World Wide Web. When web based GIS applications appeared on the scene of web and users of these kinds of applications increased, these applications faced the similar problem of accessibility. The intensity of web accessibility problems in GIS based applications has increased rapidly during recent years due to extensive interaction of user with maps. Web Accessibility problems faced by users of GIS applications are identified by content evaluation and user interaction. Users are involved in identification of accessibility problems because guidelines and automated tools are not sufficient for that purpose. User Centered Approach is used to include users in the development process and this has also helped in identification of accessibility problems of the users at early stages. The thesis report identify the accessibility issues in Web based GIS application by content evaluation and user interaction evaluation. MapQuest, a web based GIS application, is taken as a case study to identify the web accessibility problems in GIS applications. This thesis report has also studied that how accessibility of the web based GIS applications can be enhanced by using UCD approach in development process of GIS applications. / Webbtillgänglighet fram som problem när funktionshindrade och äldre människor började interaktion med webb-innehåll strax efter starten av World Wide Web. När webbaserade GIS-applikationer på scenen av webb och användare av dessa typer av tillämpningar ökat, dessa tillämpningar mötte liknande problem med tillgängligheten. Intensiteten av problem webbtillgänglighet i GIS-baserade applikationer har ökat snabbt under senare år på grund av omfattande interaktion med användaren med kartor. Webbtillgänglighet problem som användare av GIS-applikationer är identifierade med innehåll utvärdering och interaktion med användaren. Användare delta i identifieringen av tillgänglighetsproblem eftersom riktlinjer och automatiserade verktyg är inte tillräckliga för detta ändamål. Användarcentrerad metoden används för att inkludera användarna i utvecklingsprocessen och detta har också bidragit till en kartläggning av tillgängligheten problem för användarna i ett tidigt skede. Avhandlingen rapport identifiera tillgänglighetsfrågor i Webbaserade GIS-applikation av innehåll utvärdering och användarinteraktion utvärdering. MapQuest, en webbaserad GIS-applikation, tas som en fallstudie för att identifiera problemen webbtillgänglighet i GIS-applikationer. Denna uppsats Rapporten har också studerat hur att tillgängligheten av webbaserade GIS-applikationer kan förbättras med hjälp UCD strategi i processen för utveckling av GIS-applikationer.

User attitude and their perceptions are increasingly being explored by a variation of methods. This thesis addresses the perception that one might have for employing smart glasses as a potential online educational tool. Furthermore, it explores the challenges that are associated with designing educational apps for smart glasses as a medium for e-learning in general. For addressing and identifying these challenges and exploring user attitude, this thesis employs two different approaches. Firstly, by identifying the current challenges associated with e-learning in literature-related studies and secondly, based on the related literature surrounding the topic of e-learning and augmented reality, this thesis conducts a field study using semi-structured interviews. This study proposes the final conclusion based on the field study and by reviewing identified challenges in literature.

Business Intelligence (BI) enables organizations to collect and analyze internal and external business data to generate knowledge and business value, and provide decision support at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels. The consolidation of data coming from many sources as a result of managerial and operational business processes, usually referred to as Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) is itself a statically defined process and knowledge workers have little to no control over the characteristics of the presentable data to which they have access. There are two main reasons that dictate the reassessment of this stiff approach in context of modern business environments. The first reason is that the service-oriented nature of today’s business combined with the increasing volume of available data make it impossible for an organization to proactively design efficient data management processes. The second reason is that enterprises can benefit significantly from analyzing the behavior of their business processes fostering their optimization. Hence, we took a first step towards quality-aware ETL process design automation by defining through a systematic literature review a set of ETL process quality characteristics and the relationships between them, as well as by providing quantitative measures for each characteristic. Subsequently, we produced a model that represents ETL process quality characteristics and the dependencies among them and we showcased through the application of a Goal Model with quantitative components (i.e., indicators) how our model can provide the basis for subsequent analysis to reason and make informed ETL design decisions. In addition, we introduced our holistic view for a quality-aware design of ETL processes by presenting a framework for user-centered declarative ETL. This included the definition of an architecture and methodology for the rapid, incremental, qualitative improvement of ETL process models, promoting automation and reducing complexity, as well as a clear separation of business users and IT roles where each user is presented with appropriate views and assigned with fitting tasks. In this direction, we built a tool —POIESIS— which facilitates incremental, quantitative improvement of ETL process models with users being the key participants through well-defined collaborative interfaces. When it comes to evaluating different quality characteristics of the ETL process design, we proposed an automated data generation framework for evaluating ETL processes (i.e., Bijoux). To this end, we classified the operations based on the part of input data they access for processing, which facilitated Bijoux during data generation processes both for identifying the constraints that specific operation semantics imply over input data, as well as for deciding at which level the data should be generated (e.g., single field, single tuple, complete dataset). Bijoux offers data generation capabilities in a modular and configurable manner, which can be used to evaluate the quality of different parts of an ETL process. Moreover, we introduced a methodology that can apply to concrete contexts, building a repository of patterns and rules. This generated knowledge base can be used during the design and maintenance phases of ETL processes, automatically exposing understandable conceptual representations of the processes and providing useful insight for design decisions. Collectively, these contributions have raised the level of abstraction of ETL process components, revealing their quality characteristics in a granular level and allowing for evaluation and automated (re-)design, taking under consideration business users’ quality goals.

User centered design is a process which aims to understand user needs and desires by using different tools and methods. This is challenging in the industry as companies have different goals compared to the academic discipline of user centered design. As companies have different goals, common UCD methods which are used in the academic field are often not used. Therefore, there is a gap in how UCD is done in practice compared to theory. Designers and user experience specialists must use the tools which are available, capitalize on the opportunity to use existing resources in the organization in order to understand users and their needs. Insights explain the why and the motivation of the consumer or user, and they are less apparent and intangible, hidden truths that result from continuous digging. Insights can be draw from several different sources, from data and qualitative sources. This thesis investigates from what available sources in an organization can insights be generated from in order to understand users and design better experiences, specifically from the organizations perspective. The purpose is not only to understand users but to drive the organization’s objectives and goals. This thesis uses an innovative collaborative workshop methodology, working with digital designers, to answer the research questions and as a result presents an insights generation model. The research has been specifically conducted for an organization, and from their available sources, but the methodology and model creation has the potential to be used in similar settings, domains or projects.

Abstract Usability methodology has matured into a well-defined, industrially relevant field with its own findings, theories, and tools, with roots in applying information technology to user interfaces ranging from control rooms to computers, and more recently to mobile communications devices. The purpose is regularly to find out the users’ goals and to test whether a design fulfils the usability criteria. Properly applied, usability methods provide reliable and repeatable results, and are excellent tools in fine-tuning existing solutions The challenges of usability methodologies are in finding new concepts and predicting their characteristics before testing, especially when it comes to the relatively young field of mobile user interfaces. Current usability methods concentrate on utilising available user-interface technologies. They do not provide means to clearly identify, e.g., the potential of auditory or haptic output, or gestural input. Consequently, these new interaction techniques are rarely used, and the long-envisioned useful multimodal user interfaces are yet to appear, despite their assumed and existing potential in mobile devices. Even the most advocated and well-known multimodal interaction concepts, such as combined manual pointing and natural language processing, have not materialised in applications. An apparent problem is the lack of a way to utilise a usage environment analysis in finding out user requirements that could be met with multimodal user interfaces. To harness the full potential of multimodality, tools to identify both little or unused and overloaded modalities in current usage contexts are needed. Such tools would also help in putting possibly existing novel interaction paradigms in context and pointing out possible deficiencies in them. In this thesis, a novel framework for analysing the usage environment from a user-centric perspective is presented. Based on the findings, a designer can decide between offering a set of multiple devices utilising various user-interface modalities, or a single device that offers relevant modalities, perhaps by adapting to the usage environment. Furthermore, new techniques for creating mobile user interfaces utilising various modalities are proposed. The framework has evolved from the experiences gathered from the designs of experimental and actual product-level uni- and multimodal user interface solutions for mobile devices. It has generated novel multimodal interaction and interface techniques that can be used as building blocks in system designs.