Software Usability and Online Help
An innovative company in the telecommunications industry came to Avalon Group to design a consistent user experience for a major software package and create an electronic Help system. Our designated team assessed the customer needs driving the design and worked with the software development organization to ensure a superior user experience, harmonizing the user interface design and content to ensure the features were intuitive to the end user and integrated seamlessly into the end-user’s workflow. We provided high-resolution mockups for software screens, as well as use cases and user stories to guide the development effort, Later, we performed ad hoc testing of the features that we had specified to ensure compliance with the design.
Once the software design was complete, we developed the electronic help system in parallel with the development of the product. Our usability expertise ensured an easy to understand Help system, geared to reducing customer service calls. Knowing the software would have world-wide distribution, we architected the help system and developed the help content to facilitate translation.
Avalon Group also facilitated the software translation and localization process. We worked with in-country sales personnel to define a master translation glossary. We also evaluated potential translation vendors, selected an appropriate vendor, and worked with this vendor to ensure the translation of the user interface and Help system was accurate, within budget, and on schedule.