Cost Benefit of Usability
Usability
can have a significant impact on your bottom line as more and
more applications are moved from the mainframe and client/server
technology to the intranet. Here are some examples of how human
factors engineering can provide paybacks:
Increased
productivity
250 users
60 screens per day
230 days per year
Task time reduced by 1 second
Hourly rate of $25
250
users x 60 screens x 230 days x 1/3600 hours x $25= $23,958/yr
Decreased
Training
One-week training course reduced by 10% or four
hours.
250 employees
Hourly rate of $25
250 employees x 4 hours x $25 = $25,000
Decreased
Errors
250 users
0.2 errors eliminated per user per day
2 minutes in recovery time per error
230 work days per year
Hourly rate of $25
250 users x 0.2 errors x 230 days x $0.833/error = $9,580/year.
Decreased
Late Design Changes
Changes made early cost
¼
of changes made after implementation
20 changes made early
1 day per change
Hourly rate of $45
Early change cost = 20 changes x 8 hours x $45 = $7,200
Late change cost = 4 x early change cost = $28,800
Savings = Late change cost minus early change = $21, 600
Detail
of Estimated Benefits
Increased
Productivity ($23,958 x 5 yrs) $119,790
Reduced
Training $25,000
Decreased Errors (9,580 x 5 yrs) $47,900
Design Changes $21,600
Total
5 yr Savings $214,290
