Basis For Redesign Research Articles

Redesigning business processes: a methodology based on simulation and process mining techniques

Nowadays, organizations have to adjust their business processes along with the changing environment in order to maintain a competitive advantage. Changing a part of the system to support the business process implies changing the entire system, which leads to complex redesign activities. In this paper, a bottom-up process mining and simulation-based methodology is proposed to be employed in redesign activities. The methodology starts with identifying relevant performance issues, which are used as basis for redesign. A process model is “mined” and simulated as a representation of the existing situation, followed by the simulation of the redesigned process model as prediction of the future scenario. Finally, the performance criteria of the current business process model and the redesigned business process model are compared such that the potential performance gains of the redesign can be predicted. We illustrate the methodology with three case studies from three different domains: gas industry, government institution and agriculture.

Arguing for the need of triangulation and iteration when designing medical equipment.

There is a need to develop adequate methods for use by the manufacturers of medical equipment when specifying requirements for their development and in order for hospitals to critically assess their usability qualities before purchase. A Human Factors approach was used to determine requirements for the redesign of an existing volumetric infusion pump. With these requirements as a starting point, a new user interface for an infusion pump was designed. Usability tests were carried out to verify whether the new interface had better usability than the existing interface or whether further improvements were needed. This paper has two aims: 1) to compare the nature of the requirements derived from a Human Factors approach and from usability tests and 2) to evaluate the use of usability tests on existing medical equipment as a basis for redesign and for evaluating the redesign. The user requirements derived from the Human Factors approach were compared with the user requirements derived from the usability tests. The results show that the requirements derived from the Human Factors approach adequately covered contextual aspects of use. However, to derive requirements for a specific and operational level, usability tests must be conducted on existing equipment and prototypes. This study indicates that usability tests on existing medical equipment as a basis for redesign give a better understanding of problems with existing equipment. Moreover it is important to carry out usability tests to evaluate a redesign and find a satisfying solution. Expert users of the equipment had the experience, competence and confidence to be critical and suggest improvements based on their practical knowledge. The novice users on the other hand were important test users as they uncovered most of the serious handling problems and also committed most errors. The requirements derived from the Human Factors approach and the usability tests are important for the development of a new and improved user interface. The requirements derived from the Human Factors approach can be attributed to contextual requirements. The requirements derived from the usability tests have a higher degree of concreteness, are more specific and focus more on design solutions compared to the requirements derived from the Human Factors approach. It is important to consider intended user groups when carrying out usability tests, as the nature of the information from the different groups can be different.

Stress and strain of short haul bus drivers: psychophysiology as a design oriented method for analysis

Psychophysiological measures offer objective information for workplace design according to user requirements. They are, however, rarely applied in industrial practice due to weak points from the designer's point of view, such as the differentiation of various superimposed stressors, inter-individual differences, and the effort required for data aquisition and handling. In this study a set of psychophysiological methods was used to analyse bus driver workplaces as a basis for redesign, and afterwards to evaluate design improvements. During inner-city operation bus drivers are exposed to a particular workload situation, especially due to the high density of traffic and bus stops. Their job is characterized by highly frequent and often simultaneous task execution, performed with a compulsory body posture and under exposure to vibration and noise. To reduce the workload related to the equipment and tasks of bus driving, a research project was initiated to design a new driver workplace that meets the specific ergonomic requirements of the drivers. A detailed workload analysis, consisting of a task analysis, a strain analysis derived from ECG measures and an eye movement analysis was performed during public bus driving in different cities and with different drivers and bus types. Although the results have to be considered as somewhat limited owing to the methodological restraints and conditions of a field study, they provided valuable guidance for design. A new concept for the driver cabin was created based on this database. After installation, this design was evaluated by similar psychophysiological measures. Comparison of the pre- and post results indicates that the redesigned work station reduced workload levels.

The state sensitivity analysis of the front wheel steering vehicle: In the time domain

In this paper, a sensitivity analysis of a front wheel steering vehicle in the time domain is considered. For this study, a two degree-of-freedom bicycle model is used. This model displays the simplest lateral dynamic effect and is useful for understanding of the dynamic characteristics and control aspects of the target system. The side slip angle and yaw rate are selected as the system state variables. Vehicle mass, inertia, cornering stiffness, and wheel base are taken as design variables. Sensitivity analyses are performed by the direct differentiation method, which is an efficient tool for error control in numerical integration. This research proposes a basis for re-design and new-design of a vehicle by checking variations in the state variable with respect to changes in the design variable. Finally, dominant design variables are suggested through simulations.

A Participative Design for Dispersed Employees in Turbulent Environments

Approaches to sociotechnical redesign of work organization have concentrated on developing self-managing teams, using direct task interdependences as the basis for redesign. However, situations exist where it is extremely difficult to redesign work organization in this way. They arise when individuals are linked only indirectly through their separate contributions to organizational performance. Hence, in order to increase organizational effectiveness and employee satisfaction in turbulent environments, new designs for participation and collaboration must be found which do not depend on creating self-managing work teams. The experience reported here suggests that the "core management group" concept is an effective mechanism not only for employee participation in management decision-making, but also for increasing their ability to respond to change and uncertainly affecting their immediate work situations.