Web Engineering for Workflow-based Applications: Models, Systems and Methodologies

This dissertation presents novel solutions for the construction of Workflow-based Web applications: The Web Engineering DSL Framework, a stakeholder-oriented Web Engineering methodology based on Domain-Specific Languages; the Workflow DSL for the efficient engineering of Web-based Workflows with strong stakeholder involvement; the Dialog DSL for the usability-oriented development of advanced Web-based dialogs; the Web Engineering Reuse Sphere enabling holistic, stakeholder-oriented reuse

MEMS 411: The Adjustable Bit Brace

This group set out to create an open-source adjustable bit brace as a tool to lower the barrier to entry for smaller individuals looking to pick up tools and work on DIY projects. The brace is designed to highlight 3D printed parts, as well as components that can be fabricated at home by an experienced maker. The design uses standard adjustment mechanisms such as button clips and bolts to bring the bit brace from full size down to 2/3 scale in seconds. The device is advised by engineering models, FEA analysis, stiffness/strength targets, and destructive testing protocols to create a brace that satisfies user needs and predefined performance goals. Several parts were created in an iterative process to determine the best 3D printed design, material, and integration method. The final brace underwent validation proof load testing to ensure that assembly-level analysis was correct and that the brace was safe for operation. With the final addition of steel gussets to the 3D printed components, the brace now exceeds the predetermined strength requirements for functionality. Finally, the brace was used to drill holes into wood beams at several size configurations including the largest and smallest to ensure that functionality and tactile feedback were preserved

Design systems at work: Optimizing design processes and aligning design work to company identity

User experience design in a company setting typically involves teams comprised of individuals with diverse roles, who need to collaborate when creating products and services. Resources exist to set standards for design within such a company, guiding teams of designers and developers to create products and services with a consistent look and feel that are also in line with the company’s branding. These resources include UX guidelines, UI style guides, design patterns, and design languages. The latest such resource is the design system. This thesis explores the term design system in terms of its definition and how it is applied by design professionals within companies. It seeks to understand how to define the term and how to create a design system to support the needs of a company’s design teams, and ultimately, provide a pleasant and consistent experience for end users. Following this focus on design in practice, the literature review has a heavy emphasis on articles and blog entries by working designers explaining what design systems are to them, how they have built them, and how they use them. This is complemented by academic literature on topics related to collaborative work in digital product teams, design management, and storytelling methods to drive adoption within companies. Expert interviews were also conducted with design professionals who have led design system teams in organizations. The literature review and expert interviews revealed a definition for design system that is not standardized, yet fairly consistent from speaker to speaker. Design systems broadly encompass the early types of standardizations for design. They include design languages, guidelines, and style guides. They go even further by not only establishing standards for how designs should look and lead to interactions. Design systems also provide the philosophy behind the design decisions that were made, relating them to the company’s mission and branding. This thesis also contains a case study with the global engineering company ABB, tracing the beginning of its central design team and transition from a UI style guide to a design system. Designers and developers throughout the company were surveyed and interviewed to hear their needs and expectations. Service design approaches were used to conduct participatory research with stakeholders within the company, with the aim of engaging them in the process of creating a design system. Implications on a company level, industry level, and academic level are discussed. This thesis on design systems supports the case company ABB in creating its design system, and on a broader scale, connects academic and industry discussions on collaborative work in design teams to explain how design systems can be built and used

Towards harmonious experiences – A service design approach to evaluating and optimizing multi-touchpoint user experience

Like many other traditionally product-centric companies, ABB is facing the challenges and opportunities of digitalization. ABB’s contemporary strategy relies more and more on offering digital services alongside their technically advanced products to their customers. Providing consistent experiences has, therefore, become an increasingly important differentiator factor also in the B2B market. Over the years, the ABB Drives business unit has developed its offering of software tools that answer to the ever-evolving technical needs of ABB’s industrial customers, partners, and employees. In the past, the technology-oriented and expert-driven R&D culture has guided the development of these tools, and the emphasis has remained on solving highly specific technical challenges. While successful in meeting these needs, the experience of end-users, as well as alignment with the ABB brand, have remained secondary priorities. As a result, the offering has become inconsistent in terms of logic, look and feel. The recently renewed ABB corporate brand and the ABB UI style guide aim to bring all ABB digital product user interfaces under the same brand visually, and thus ‘harmonize’ the software tool offering as a whole. However, it is stated that improving visual aspects of user interfaces alone does not optimize their user experience and that a more strategic, user-centric approach is needed to create more consistent and holistic user experiences. This thesis documents a case study of how user-centric, service design-based research methods can be utilized to evaluate the user experience of work-related journeys that require interaction with multiple digital systems. The case focuses on ABB field engineers as the users, four case software tools, and drive start-up, registration and start-up reporting in different industrial environments as the case journey. The theoretical background and the definition of user experience position this study in between user experience design and service design. Moreover, due to the multi-touchpoint nature of this study, the thesis connects with the field of multi-touchpoint experience design, a largely unexplored research field. The literature review indicates that there is a lack of user experience evaluation methods suitable for studying multi-touchpoint user experience of user journeys that include user interaction with multiple separate digital systems over time. The case study was carried out in three parts: first, to map and quantify the current state and extent of the software tool offering; second, to understand the drive start-up-registration-reporting –journey and to identify the related user experience related aspects; and third, using a co-constructive “UX timeline” method, to evaluate the journey-specific multi-touchpoint user experience of end-users. Based on the findings of the study, it was found that there are several user experience related points of improvement that affect the user experience. The found issues are predominantly related to work efficiency, user transition between work phases, software tool synergy, and the physical context the tools are used in. Based on these case results, a contextual definition of user experience is de ned, and a user-centric approach is recommended for the Drives business unit to de ne and prioritize needs for future development of their software tool offering. Therefore, the results of this study are important for the organization on its quest to develop a more strategic and user-centric culture that strives for more holistic and consistent user experiences. The recommended approach is not restricted or limited to ABB Drives software tool offering and can be replicated to be utilized by organizations that seek to improve the user experience of offerings that consist of multiple interdependent systems used by several user profiles.Kuten muut alkujaan tuotekeskeiset yritykset, myös ABB on kohdannut digitalisaation tuomat haasteet ja mahdollisuudet. Yrityksen strategia perustuu nykyään yhä vahvemmin digitaalisten palveluiden tarjoamiseen teknologisesti edistyksellisten tuotteiden rinnalla teollisuusasiakkaille. Yhdenmukaisten kokemusten tuomisesta on siten tullut yhä tärkeämpi erottuvuustekijä myös B2B-ympäristössä. Vuosien varrella ABB Drives –liiketoimintayksikkö on kehittänyt ohjelmistotyökaluja vastatakseen asiakkaidensa, kumppaneidensa ja työntekijöidensä alati kehittyviin teknisiin tarpeisiin. ABB:n teknologiaorientoitunut ja asiantuntijavetoinen tuotekehityskulttuuri on ohjannut kehitystä, ja siten myös työkalujen suunnittelua. Kyseiset työkalut vastaavat haasteisiin teknisestä näkökulmasta, mutta sekä työkalujen loppukäyttäjien kokemus, että ABB:n brändin noudattaminen ovat jääneet taka-alalle kehityksessä. Ohjelmistotyökalujen tarjoomasta on siten tullut epäyhtenäinen työkalujen toimintalogiikan, ulkonäön ja tuntuman osalta. ABB:n vastikään uudistettu brändi yhdessä ABB:n käyttöliittymien suunnitteluohjeiston kanssa pyrkivät tuomaan kaikki ABB:n digitaaliset tuotteet saman emobrändin alle, yhtenäistämään käyttöliittymien visuaalista ulkoasua, ja siten ‘harmonisoimaan’ työkalutarjoomaa kokonaisuutena. On esitetty, että käyttöliittymien visuaalinen yhtenäisyys ei yksin riitä optimoimaan käyttäjäkokemusta, ja että yhdenmukaisten ja holististen käyttäjäkokemusten luomiseen tarvitaan strategisempi ja käyttäjäkeskeimpi tulokulma. Tämä opinnäytetyö dokumentoi tapaustutkimuksen, jossa käyttäjäkeskeisiä palvelumuotoilun tutkimusmenetelmiä on käytetty käyttäjäkokemuksen arviointiin työympäristössä, jossa käyttäjän polku vaatii vuorovaikuttamista useamman digitaalisen ohjelman kanssa. Tapaus keskittyy ABB:n kenttäinsinööreihin ohjelmistotyökalujen loppukäyttäjinä, neljään ohjelmistotyökaluun, ja käyttäjän polkuun, joka koostuu taajuusmuuttajien käyttöönotosta, rekisteröinnistä ja käyttöönottoraportoinnista erilaisissa teollisuudelle ominaisissa työskentely-ympäristöissä. Teoreettinen tausta ja käyttäjäkokemuksen määrittely positioivat tutkimuksen käyttäjäkokemussuunnitelun (user experience design) ja palvelumuotoilun (service design) välimaastoon. Lisäksi, johtuen työn monikosketuspisteisestä luonteesta, työ liittyy uuteen, vielä laajalti tutkimattomaan alaan, monikosketuspistekokemussuunnitteluun (multi-touchpoint experience design). Työn kirjallisuuskatsaus osoittaa, että on olemassa selvä puute käyttäjäkokemuksen arviointityökaluista, jotka soveltuvat monikosketuspisteisten käyttäjäpolkujen arviointiin ympäristöissä, jotka edellyttävät käyttäjää vuorovaikuttamaan usean erillisen ohjelmiston välillä, pidemmän ajanjakson aikana. Tapaustutkimus koostuu kolmesta osasta: ensimmäisessä osassa ohjelmistotyökalujen tarjooman nykytila ja laajuus on kartoitettu. Toisessa osassa taajuusmuuttajien käyttöönotto-rekisteröinti-raportointi –polkuun liittyvät kontekstisidonnaiset käyttäjäkokemushaasteet, tarpeet ja ehdotukset on kartoitettu. Kolmas osio keskittyy arvioimaan käyttäjän polkuun sidonnaista loppukäyttäjien monikosketuspistekäyttäjäkokemusta käyttäen yhteis-rakentamiseen (co-constructive) perustuvaa “UX timeline” -tutkimusmetodia. Tutkimuksessa on tunnistettu useita käyttäjäkokemukseen liitännäisiä epäkohtia. Löydetyt epäkohdat ovat enimmäkseen liitännäisiä työtehokkuuteen, käyttäjän siirtymiseen työvaiheiden välillä, ohjelmistotyökalujen väliseen synergiaan, sekä fyysiseen työympäristöön, jossa ohjelmistotyökaluja käytetään. Tuloksiin nojaten kontekstisidonnainen käyttäjäkokemus on määritelty, sekä liiketoimintayksikölle on suositeltu käyttäjäkeskeistä lähestymistapaa ohjelmistotyökalujen kehitykseen tulevaisuudessa, hyödyttäen organisaatiota sen kehityspyrkimyksissä kohti strategisesti käyttäjäkeskeisempää kulttuuria, joka tähtää kokonaisvaltaisempiin ja yhdenmukaisempiin käyttäjäkokemuksiin. Suositeltu lähestymistapa ei ole rajoittunut ainoastaan ABB Drives -liiketoimintayksikön ohjelmistotyökalujen tarjoamaan, vaan se voidaan replikoida ja hyödyntää organisaatioissa, jotka pyrkivät edistämään monisyisten, useita yksittäisiä ohjelmistoja ja niiden erilaisia käyttäjäprofiileja sisältävien tarjoomien käyttäjäkokemusta

Trace Clustering for User Behavior Mining

Business information systems support a large variety of business processes and tasks, yet organizations rarely understand how users interact with these systems. User Behavior Mining aims to address this by applying process mining techniques to UI logs, i.e., detailed records of interactions with a system\u27s user interface. Insights gained from this type of data hold great potential for usability engineering and task automation, but the complexity of UI logs can make them challenging to analyze. In this paper, we explore trace clustering as a means to structure UI logs and reduce this complexity. In particular, we apply different trace clustering approaches to a real-life UI log and show that the cluster-level process models reveal useful information about user behavior. At the same time, we find configurations in which trace clustering fails to generate satisfactory partitions. Our results also demonstrate that recently proposed representation learning techniques for process traces can be effectively employed in a realistic setting

UI Construction for a Web-Based IDE on an Industrial IoT System

ABB as one of the leading power and automation company is connecting millions of electrical devices and systems to industrial internet of things called ABB Ability(TM). ABB Ability(TM) is refining the measured real-time data with calculations to additional soft sensors signals and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the various levels from the system edges to central cloud. The engineering of the calculations requires web based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that provides good developer experience for the subject matter experts to be productive in their work. This thesis aims to construct a user interface for ABB calculation engine that will help subject matter expert to work on the calculation engine more efficiently. As the output of this thesis work, a web-based IDE is developed on top of ABB's internal front end dashboard framework. The developed user interface lets user to operate the calculation engine more efficiently and follows their natural work flow