Evaluation the Usability of Hamava System Using Heuristic Evaluation

As university systems are dealing with a wide range of users, including students, managers, and university employees, these systems can likely satisfy the needs and activities of various users with maximum quality in the shortest possible time. Consequently, it is very essential to observe usability features in the design of such systems. The current study aimed to evaluate the usability of the Hamava system to recognize and resolve its problems and weaknesses.

The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was done in the second half of 2022 on the Hamava system of students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. Nielsen's Heuristics (ten principles) were used to check the compliance of this system with the usability principles. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the overall severity of the identified usability factors collected using the checklist.

In the present evaluation, 176 problems were recognized, with the highest number of problems related to the violation of the two principles of aesthetic and minimalist design (n=58), user control and freedom (n=31), and the least problem related to the recognition rather than recall principle (n=4).

The results of the current study revealed that though a large number of users of the Hamava system are students and it is expected that this system will be designed based on the latest standards and the needs of its users, this system also faces usability problems that if not resolved, it can cause an increase in errors, dissatisfaction of users, decrease in the quality of information, waste of users' time, and lack of effective user interaction with the educational system.