Usability evaluation of a structured document archive

The paper describes usability evaluation of a prototype archive in a project where SGML-based solutions for the Finnish Parliament and ministries have been developed and studied. The archive consisted of three types of parliamentary documents in SGML format. A usability inspection was preceded by an extensive analysis of the document management in the Finnish legislative and budgetary work. The analysis covered the documents, their use, user roles, tasks, and needs. The inspection method was tailored from an earlier design-oriented evaluation method to be used especially for the evaluation of structured document archives. A grammar-based layered model was used to facilitate the detailed analysis of the application. In the paper we discuss implications of the study to the future design, implementation and evaluation of structured document archive application.