Module 8: User Interface Design

Audit Trails

A record of the source of each data item and when it entered a system. In addition to recording the original source, an _____ must show how and when data is accessed or changed, and by whom. All these actions must be logged in an ____ file and monitored carefully.

Authorization Zone

Part of a form that contains any required signatures.

Automated Fax / Faxback

A system that allows a customer to request a fax using email, the company website, or a telephone. The response is transmitted in a matter of seconds back to the user’s fax machine.

Batch

A group of data, usually inputted into an information system at the same time.

Batch Controls

A total used to verify batch input. _____ might check data items such as record counts and numeric field totals. For example, before entering a batch of orders, a user might calculate the total number of orders and the sum of all the order quantities. When the batch of orders is entered, the order system also calculates the same two totals. If the system totals do not match the input totals, then a data entry error has occurred.

Batch Input

A process where data entry is performed on a specified time schedule, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or longer. For example, ______ occurs when a payroll department collects time cards at the end of the week and enters the data as a batch.

Blogs

An online journal. The term is a contraction of “web log.”

Calendar Control

Allows the user to select a date that the system will display and store as a field value.

Character-Based Reports

A report created using a single mono-spaced character set.

Check Boxes

Used to select one or more choices from a group. A check mark, or an X, represents selected options.

Combination Check

A type of data validation check that is performed on two or more fields to ensure that they are consistent or reasonable when considered together. Even though all the fields involved in a _________ might pass their individual validation checks, the combination of the field values might be inconsistent or unreasonable.

Command Button

Onscreen button that initiates an action such as printing a form or requesting Help.

Context-Sensitive

A feature that is sensitive to the current conditions when it is invoked. For example, _________ help offers assistance for a task in progress.

Control Break

A _________ usually causes specific actions to occur, such as printing subtotals for a group of records.

Control Break Report

A detail report that focuses on control breaks.

Control Field Order

In a control break report, the records are arranged or sorted in the same order as the control fields.

Data Security

Protection of data from loss or damage and recovers data when it is lost or damaged.

Data Type Check

A type of data validation check that is used to ensure that a data item fits the required data type. For example, a numeric field must have only numbers or numeric symbols, and an alphabetic field can contain only the characters A through Z or the characters a through z.

Data Validation Rule

A mechanism to improve input quality by testing the data and rejecting any entry that fails to meet specified conditions.

Default Value

A value that a system displays automatically.

Design Prototyping

Creating a prototype of user requirements, after which the prototype is discarded and implementation continues.

Detail Report

A _______ produces one or more lines of output for each record processed.

Dialog Box

Allows a user to enter information about a task that a system will perform.

Diskless Workstation

A network terminal that supports a full-featured user interface but limits the printing or copying of data, except to certain network resources that can be monitored and controlled more easily.

Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

An electronic record of a patient’s health information generated as the patient encounters various health-care providers and shared among multiple facilities and agencies.

Encryption

Sensitive data can be coded in a process called ______, so only users with decoding software can read it.

Exception Report

A document displaying only those records that meet a specific condition or conditions. _______ are useful when the user wants information only on records that might require action but does not need to know the details.

Existence Check

A type of data validation check that is used for mandatory data items. For example, if an employee record requires a Social Security number, an _________ would not allow the user to save the record until he or she enters a suitable value in the SSN field.

Form Filing

A very effective method of online data entry where a blank form that duplicates or resembles the source document is completed on the screen. The user enters the data and then moves to the next field.

Form Layout

The physical appearance and placement of data on a form. _______ makes the form easy to complete and provides enough space, both vertically and horizontally, for users to enter the data.

Garbage in, Garbage Out (GIGO)

The concept that the quality of the output is only as good as the quality of the input.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

The use of graphical objects and techniques allowing users to communicate with a system. A well-designed ______ can help users learn a new system rapidly and work with the system effectively.

Batch Control / Hash Totals

Not meaningful numbers themselves but are useful for comparison purposes.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

A description of the relationship between computers and the people who use them to perform business-related tasks. _______ concepts apply to everything from a PC desktop to the main menu for a global network.

Input Control

The necessary measures to ensure that input data is correct, complete, and secure. A systems analyst must focus on_________ during every phase of input design, starting with source documents that promote data accuracy and quality.

Input Mask

Template or pattern that makes it easier for users to enter data. Often used in automated forms to guide an unfamiliar user.

Limit Check

Occurs when a validation check involves a minimum or a maximum value, but not both. Checking that a payment amount is greater than zero, but not specifying a maximum value, is an example of a _________.

List Boxes

An output mechanism that displays a list of choices that the user can select.

Menu Bars

A set of user-selectable software application options, usually located across the top of the screen.

Mock-Up

When designing a report, a sample report is prepared, which is a ______, or prototype, for users to review. The sample should include typical field values and contain enough records to show all the design features.

Modular Design

Individual components, called modules, connect to a higher-level program or process. Designed to perform a single function.

Modules

Consists of related program code organized into small units that are easy to understand and maintain. A complex program could have hundreds or even thousands of ____.

Natural Language

A software feature that allows users to type commands or requests in normal English (or other language) phrases.

Online Data Entry

A data entry method used for most business activity. The online method offers major advantages, including the immediate validation and availability of data.

Option / Radio Button

Buttons that represent groups of options. The user can select only one option at a time; a selected option contains a black dot.

Output Control

Methods to maintain output integrity and security. For example, every report should include an appropriate title, report number or code, printing date, and time period covered. Reports should have pages that are numbered consecutively, identified as Page xx of xx, and the end of the report should be labeled clearly.

Output Security

Protects privacy rights and shields the organization’s proprietary data from theft or unauthorized access.

Page Footer

Appears at the bottom of the page and is used to display the name of the report and the page number.

Page Header

Appears at the top of the page and includes the column headings that identify the data.

Podcast

A web-based broadcast that allows a user to receive audio or multimedia files using music player software such as iTunes, and listen to them on a PC or download them to a portable MP3 player or smart phone.

Prototype

An early, working version of the proposed information system.

Prototyping

The method by which a prototype is developed. It involves a repetitive sequence of analysis, design, modeling, and testing. It is a common technique that can be used to design anything from a new home to a computer network.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags

An input device used in source data automation.

Range Check

A type of data validation check that tests data items to verify that they fall between a specified minimum and maximum value. The daily hours worked by an employee, for example, must fall within the range of 0 to 24.

Reasonableness Check

A type of data validation check that identifies values that are questionable but not necessarily wrong. For example, input payment values of $0.05 and $5,000,000.00 both pass a simple limit check for a payment value greater than zero, and yet both values could be errors.

Records Retention

Rules designed to meet all legal requirements and business needs for keeping records.

Report Footer

Appears at the end of the report, can include grand totals for numeric fields and other end-of-report information.

Report Header

Appears at the beginning of a report and identifies the report as well as the report title, date, and other necessary information.

Scroll Bar

In user interface design, a _____ allows the user to move through the available choices for an input field.

Sequence Check

A type of data validation check that is used when the data must be in some predetermined sequence. If the user must enter work orders in numerical sequence, for example, then an out-of-sequence order number indicates an error. If the user must enter transactions chronologically, then a transaction with an out-of-sequence date indicates an error.

Source Data Automation

A popular online input method that combines online data entry and automated data capture using input devices such as magnetic data strips or swipe scanners.

Source Document

A form used to request and collect input data, trigger or authorize an input action, and provide a record of the original transaction. During the input design stage, you develop _______ that are easy to complete and inexpensive.

Storyboard

Sketch that shows the general screen layout and design. The __________ can be created with software or drawn freehand.

Summary Report

A report used by individuals at higher levels in the organization that includes less detail than reports used by lower-level employees.

Switchboard

The use of command buttons in a user interface to enable users to navigate a system and select from groups of related tasks.

System Prototyping

Producing a full-featured, working model of the information system being developed.

Toggle Button

A GUI element used to represent on or off status. Clicking the _______ switches to the other status.

Toolbar

A GUI element that contains icons or buttons that represent shortcuts for executing common commands.

Totals Zone

If a form has data totals, they will appear in this section of the form.

Transparent Interface

A user interface that users don’t really notice—a user-friendly interface that does not distract the user and calls no attention to itself.

Turnaround Documents

Output document that is later entered back into the same or another information system. A telephone or utility bill, for example, might be a ___________ printed by the company’s billing system. When the bill is returned with payment, it is scanned into the company’s accounts receivable system to record the payment accurately.

Usability

In user interface design, includes user satisfaction, support for business functions, and system effectiveness.

Usability Metrics

Data that interface designers can obtain by using software that can record and measure user interactions with the system.

User-Centered

A term that indicates the primary focus is upon the user. In a ______ system, the distinction blurs between input, output, and the interface itself.

User Interface (UI)

The mechanism through which the user interacts with the system. The interface can be graphical, textual, aural, or a combination of different modes of interaction.

Validity Check

A type of data validation check that is used for data items that must have certain values. For example, if an inventory system has 20 valid item classes, then any input item that does not match one of the valid classes will fail the check.

Webcast

A one-way transmission of information or training materials, such as a Webinar session, available on demand or for a specific period to online participants.