Hi there, today I would like to show you how much efforts we put into making PointCab to be as usable as possible for you.
Results:
Just in case you don't want to read too much. Here are the results:
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first time PointCab users need approximately 7 minutes to craete a layout
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first time PointCab users need approximately 7 minutes to create a sectional drwaing
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we decreased our total problem count by approximately 75%
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PointCab provides high usability (going by DIN EN ISO 9241 metrics)
Go ahead and try for yourself: Get Free PointCab Trial
PointCab Usability Evaluations
In march we did some usability evaluations on PointCab. We invited several people (men and women, old and young, experienced and inexperienced)of which noone ever used PointCab before and gave them two 'simple' tasks:
- Create a layout with the provided laser scanning data using PointCab
- Create a facade sectional drawing from the given laser scanning data
We did two test iterations. After each iteration we analysed and identified the problems and fixed the most prominent ones immediately.
From customer responses we knew that PointCab had a high usability befor we even ran the test. So we were pretty calm upfront and thought to know what the results will be...
To understand the following it is important to know a little bit about software usability.
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There is no perfectly usable software and there never will be! So every software has room for improvemnets.
And it was the same with laser scanning software...
Problem Count
We identified more than 40 problems in the first usability test iteration of which we tackled about 20 right after. We applied metrics of the DIN EN ISO 9241; effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction to rate usability of PointCab befor and after each iteration.
The second test showed that the nuber of problems decreased by 30(!). Due to the interconnectedness of some problems certain measures can generate synergies and increase the overall usability. So that's why our 20 measures generated 30 less problems.
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We decreased our total error count from 40 to 10 problems!
Usability Evaluation by Metrics
- Satisfaction scales the rate between successfull and unsuccessfull interactions with the software.
- Effectiveness scales the rate of successfull to the number of all interactions with the software.
- Efficiency scales the effectiveness in relationship to the time needed.
As we didn't know how much time should account for 100% we made this dinamically dependent on the test iteration. We took the average time of all testers and put the individual time in proportion to the average time. Thus we could see what is a good time to complete the task without us 'fixing' the numbers.
Task 1:
For 'Create a layout with the provided laser scanning data using PointCab' PointCab scored as follows:
| TASK 1 | Iteration 1 | Iteration 2 | Delta |
| successfull interactions | 5 | 5,7 | +13% |
| un-successfull interactions | 12 | 5 | -58% |
| time needed for task (min) | 9,3 | 6,7 | -29% |
| satisfaction | 46% | 129% | +178% |
| effectiveness | 31% | 54% | +75% |
| efficiency | 8% | 20% | +155% |
The results of our work were awesome!
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we decreased the error rate by approximately 60%
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we decreased the time needed to successfully create a layout out of laser scanning data by approximately 30%
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creating a layout took no more than 7 minutes(!); remeber: no tester has ever worked with PointCab before
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as for international standard metrics PointCab provides a very high usability for creating layouts out of laser scanning data; but we still got room left for improvements...
Mayor changes included:
- chosing more plausible names
- being consistent with names
- hiding the advanced feature set
- labeling buttons more plausbile
- highlighting the steps need to fullfill the task
- changing orientation from up to down to left to right
- ...
Task 2:
For 'Create a facade sectional drawing from the given laser scanning data' PointCab scored as follows:
| TASK 2 | Iteration 1 | Iteration 2 | Delta |
| successfull interactions | 5,5 | 14,7 | +167% |
| un-successfull interactions | 5 | 4 | -20% |
| time needed for task (min) | 9,8 | 6,8 | -30% |
| satisfaction | 100% | 387% | +287% |
| effectiveness | 47% | 78% | +66% |
| efficiency | 22% | 56% | +159% |
Again the results of our work were awesome! It is worth to point out that even though we dramatically increased the steps needed to complete the task the time needed to do so decreased alot. As we made things clearer to the users, they had less problem finding their way around and thus completing the task quicker.
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we decreased the error rate by approximately 20%
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we decreased the time needed to successfully create a sectional drawing (such as a facade) by 30%
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creating a sectional drawing took no more than 7 minutes(!); remember: no tester has ever worked with PointCab before
-
as for international standard metrics PointCab provides a very high usability for creating sectional drawing out of laser scanning data; but we still got room left for improvements...
Mayor changes included:
- chosing more plausible names
- being consistent with names
- breaking the task into small steps and providing a step by step workflow
- hiding advanced features
- changing orientation of task steps
- changing sketch tool scheme (the red/blue one) to a more self explaining scheme
Resume:
We are very happy how PointCab scored after the usability evaluation and taking all those measures! Though we know that there is still room left for improvements.
We are sure that our laser scanning software solution has great advantages providing such a high usability:
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you will save a lot of money and time on trainings
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no matter if you or someone else is the recipient of the results; somebody is going to be very happy to get fully usable results within minute
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you are guranteed to get results(!)
Additionally to PointCab's high usability it offers more:
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PointCab handles any laser scanning data; no matter out of which laser scanner it comes
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PointCab is compatible with all common CAD-systems so PointCab fits your needs and not the other way around
Go ahead and try for yourself: Get Free PointCab Trial