HSI^® Human Factors consultants will determine what users of the system or product being developed or bought must be able to do to perform their task(s) safely and effectively. A good Statement of User Requirements lets developers and providers of products understand what users must be able to achieve.

Evaluation criteria will describe how each requirement will be assessed using measures such as speed and accuracy of performance, safety, error probability. This allows equipment developers and providers to check how well their design or product meets each requirement. Project managers can confirm that contracted development work is meeting milestone targets.

How we do this:
The HSI^® Human Factors team will first familiarize themselves with every aspect of your project: goals, time-frame and budget. Then, we will work to understand the realities of the users' situation, the challenges they will have to face, and the tasks they will have to perform. Depending on the time frame and budget, our consultants may use several methods, alone or in combination, such as:

Document reviews User surveys Task observation/Task Analysis Interviews or focus groups Systems Analysis Technology Search and Review Literature Search and Review Mock-ups and simulation User Case or Scenario Analysis Human Performance software models

Why we do this:
HSI^® consultants apply User Needs Analysis to:

• Help our clients make better procurement choices.
• Provide guidance to product designers and system developers.
• Monitor achievement of user needs during system or product development.
• Compare products for fulfilment of user needs during procurement.
• Communicate user needs clearly to software and hardware developers and in Requests for Proposals.
• Reduce the risk of late breaking and unforeseen user-related challenges.
• Improve Human Systems Integration.
• Reduce the need for life cycle re-work of Human System Integration.