A decision-oriented approach to system design and development

Describes a two-phase, decision-oriented process that overcomes many of the system usability problems and unfavorable cost/effectiveness consequences resulting from current design and development processes. The system design and development approach presented combines the use of a unique version of prototyping, a decision-oriented prototype, detailed requirements analysis, strong user involvement and extensive user operational testing throughout design and development. The first phase ends with a user-tested and user-endorsed prototype. This prototype becomes the source of a preliminary system specification that launches the second phase, which includes formal specification development, hardware and software implementation, and predeployment formal usability testing. The intent of this approach is to provide a seamless match between user-centered design and overall system design