Human Reliability in Computer-Based Business Information Systems

The study of human reliability has traditionally taken an ``error-rate´´ approach, with the emphasis on identifying and reporting supposedly consistent and basic error-rate levels for various manual activities. This paper approaches the study of human reliability by identifying numerous factors that tend to increase the probability that errors will occur in computer-based business information systems. The major causal factor categories are personal, design, documentation, training, source data, man-machine interface, and environment. This causal factor approach suggests that most human-generated errors can be prevented by eliminating the factors that cause errors to occur.