PiMS Interaction Design Ed Daniel & Susy Griffiths 18 th June 2008

PiMS Interaction Design

Ed Daniel & Susy Griffiths

18th June 2008

What is the problem with PiMS ?

• PiMS is too cumbersome for most people– too many clicks to get to relevant information– cluttered with other peoples’ information– cluttered with irrelevant information– takes too long to enter data

• Much easier to use a lab book – or spreadsheets/ word documents

• Can we make PiMS more attractive to use?

The Plan

• Use a cast of characters ‘personas’ – not real people, models representing who we

are designing for

• List their goals– including what they don’t want

• Design the interactions to achieve these goals– avoiding the ‘unwanted side-effects’

• Implement the solution(s)

Dr Mary Jones -senior postdoc

• Responsible for day-to-day running of ≥ 1 project– planning and doing experiments

• Introduces /develops new technologies for lab• Supervises PhD student(s)’ projects• Reports to Fiona Brownlee (PI)• Usually has up-to-date software on computer

with customization/ plugins etc.• Collaborates with people outside group


Goals 1:

• Easy Access to ≥ 1 project :– Doesn’t want to use separate logins for each project.

• wants a single username and password

– Wants to choose Project to use for current work.• for recording new data, generating reports

– Sometimes wants to see the information recorded for all Projects simultaneously.

• to compare progress in all• generate reports –custom overview /scoreboard (ish)

– Needs access to PhD student’s (Julia) PiMS


Goals 2:

• Wants easy recording of lab data:– Targets /Constructs /Experiments– no more time-consuming than using a lab-book– customisable

• Wants to record project background data – grant proposals, references

• Needs to record new methods and Technologies– updatable flexible templates

• Would like to define workflows– for use by other lab members– transferable to other PiMS /accessible by others using same

PiMS• Likes to customise her ‘environment’

Mr Gunther Spiegelmann-lab technician

• Responsible for the day-to-day running of the labor just a particular process – e.g. fermentation /purification

• Reports to and is directed by Fiona Brownlee (PI) and /or Mary Jones (Postdoc )

• Maintains lab resources /inventories– e.g. reagent stocks and ordering

• Maintains communal records– strains, clones, COSHH etc.

Mr Gunther Spiegelmann-lab technician

Goals:

• To be able to import existing lab data:– pre-formatted spreadsheets for ‘bulk’ uploads– custom forms for stock records

• To have a clear plan of work to do:– instructions /TODO list updated by Fiona and Mary

• To be able to monitor levels of lab reagents etc.:

• To be able to track locations of stocks and lab samples:– use of barcoding

Professor Fiona Brownlee-head of lab

• Responsible for securing funding• Expects weekly/monthly reports from lab

members – with graphs /figures etc.

• Needs to see an overview of the lab activities• Travels a lot so needs remote access to lab data

Professor Fiona Brownlee-head of lab

Goals:• To receive Lab reports:

– from post-docs, PhD students, technician

• Needs up-to-date overview:– progress from all projects and individual ones– information about trends, timelines, successes &

failures

• Ability to assign work:– especially to Gunther (technician) and Julia (PhD

student)

Ms Julia Williams-PhD student

• Supervised day-to-day by Mary Jones

• Reports to Mary (post-doc) and Fiona (PI)

• Encouraged to use PiMS from day 1– little previous experience of lab work /recording data

• Julia’s PiMS should be accessible by Mary & Fiona

Ms Julia Williams-PhD student

Goals:

• To have simple data input procedures:– expects to use pre-defined protocols /workflows developed by

Mary– printed versions for use at the bench– ‘progressive disclosure’ record minimal data with options for

extra details

• To be able to produce reports easily:– should be able to produce progress reports for lab meetings– including simple graphs, gel images etc.

Dr Harry Lyons-Independent Research Fellow

• Independently funded post-doc– runs own lab & research project(s)– doesn’t report to a PI but has joint lab-meetings with

the Brownlee lab

• Collaborates with Fiona Brownlee / Mary Jones• Does not like installing software

– but is a competent user of ‘familiar’ applications (MS)– also uses some specialized software– irritated when the UI changes

Dr Harry Lyons-Independent Research Fellow

Goals:• Restricted Access:

– only Harry should have access to Harry’s data

• Bookmarking:– on Monday morning, Harry doesn’t want to have to search for

what he was recording on Friday

• Consistent formats:– likes to know at a glance what he is looking at– wants to see a specific ‘view’ when he logs in

• To have ‘useful’ relevant information to hand– summary tables of selected ‘Target’ information

Mr Jim Smith-sys admin / site administrator

• Looks after PiMS installation(s)– installation, updates, back-up, support– may need to merge data between PiMS installations

• Not at all PiMS locations– roles may need to be performed by non-IT specialist

• Biol/Chem background but not essential

• Compiles usage statistics

Mr Jim Smith-sys admin / site administrator

Goals:

• Wants easy installation procedure:– shouldn’t have to think about installing a web server, a database

etc.

• May need to merge data between PiMSs:– export and import data between PiMS installations

• To be able to upload details from spreadsheets:– lab member details with auto-generated passwords

• Wants an ‘admin’ perspective – access to logs of PiMS for setting up accounts, updates, back-up,

statistics etc.– should be usable by non-IT specialist

How to make PiMS better-for all PiMSers

Key concepts:

• Looks and ‘feels’ like a lab book

• Everything is a page in the lab book

• Better than a lab book:– easier to find information– easier to exchange information– security

Relevant to all……..

• Consistent appearance– resembles a page in a lab-book

• PiMS provides some modifiable templates• new templates can be extracted from pages

– Icons & dates• use clear icons wherever it makes sense to do so

e.g. big icon at the top of the page• all pages should display the date –when the page was made

– Use the same UI widgets throughout. • don’t show several different kinds of box, or list

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Seminar on (insert big scary word here)

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Location Savoy, London

Time 7pm

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Description File name

Notes.doc

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Lecture notes

Slides

Group photo

Possibly show images in

separate box

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Relevant to all……..2

• Consistent appearance (cont)– Viewing experiments

• the standard view of an experiment should make sense in all cases.

• but I should also be able to provide a template for displaying certain kinds of experiment

– e.g. “all experiments done using X protocol”.

Scale-up: 22222Basic details

Construct:Date: UM4342.NFeb 23rd, 2007

Protocol: My scale-up protocol

Inputs

Parameters

Outputs

Files

Flow chart

Clear “type” icon in the top right

corner

Diagram inline, in collapsible

box

(Header bar not shown)

Context menus throughout

20th March 2009

Other pages

My notes

Targets and constructs

UM4343

UM4342.N

UM4342

Experiments

PCR_2223

PCR_2222

PCR_2223

Cloning_4423

Calendar icon – take care not to make it look like a “real” calendar

Possibly, way to expand plates and groups,

showing individual expts.


• Configurability– PiMS should let me decide what I see when I log in:

• a page of “bricks” (with the bricks of my choice)• my to-do list• today’s diary page• my targets• the results of a custom search• the page where I left off• my recently done tasks (MRU)

– I should be able to decide what is displayed when I click “Home”


• Finding my data– I shouldn’t have to search for things. The right

information should be available where I need it, without additional clutter

– I should be able to see a list of my most recently viewed or used items, at any point

• ideally, I should be able to perform basic actions on these items.

– I should be able to find some information without leaving the page

• e.g. pop-up searches, auto-complete boxes, mini-views inside context menus

tri

Search:

Tristan Smith

My bottle of tris

View Delete

Edit

Role: Head scientistGroups: Admins Managers

Search box in upper rightUI convention

Auto-complete, after ~3 characters

Order of items needs thought:- Group all of same type?- “begins with”, then “contains”?

Context menus available- Note the basic info


• Finding my data (cont)– When I do want to search for something, I

know what I want to search for• let me define my own search criteria

– I should be able to save the search criteria for future use

– I don’t just want ‘View all’

SearchAdvanced search

Search

Search for

From any date

(anything)

Search terms

Before and

Before days ago

Further narrow search by date –

default to “any date”

Default search – find any record, searching in all

fields


Search

Search for

From any date

Experiments

(any)StatusName

(any)Type (any)Protocol

Before and

Before days ago

If “Experiments” selected, show

experiment-specific search

fields

Similar for target, construct, etc.


Search

Search for

From any date

Experiments

(any)StatusName

PCRType (any)Protocol

Before and

Before days ago

Annealing temperature less than and

If experiment type selected, show fields for

common parameters


Search

Search for

From any date

Experiments

(any)StatusName

PCRType My PCR 2Protocol

Before and

Before days ago

Annealing temperature less than and

Intermediate hold time less than and

If protocol selected, show

fields for protocol-specific

parameters

Search results

SearchBefore days agoOn loading

search results, auto-scroll to results table

PCR2002

Name Date Annealingtemperature

16/4/2008 83

PCR2003 16/4/2008 85

PCR2012 16/4/2008 82

PCR2013 16/4/2008 85

PCR2111 16/4/2008 82

PCR2123 16/4/2008 85

PCR2125 18/4/2008 85

PCR2425 18/4/2008 85

Columns relate to specific

search terms used


• Filtering data– set up one or more filters, to hide irrelevant data

• e.g. show me constructs recorded in the last 3 months• e.g. show only items related to a certain group of targets

– a filter should remain until I choose to remove it• if I log out, or if the server is restarted, my filter should remain

in place

– PiMS should provide some basic default filters

– as I modify a filter, I should be able to see its effect on the number of records returned


• Deletion, mistakes, and recovery– I’m going to make mistakes

• let me recover from them• give me an “undo” wherever possible, especially

when the action is large.

– Don’t “delete” things• put them in the bin so I can get them out later• I’ll empty the bin when I feel like it.

• http://alistapart.com/articles/neveruseawarning

and much much more………..!!

• Workflows– reproducibility– auto-assignment of tasks– automatic notification /scheduling– overview of progress

• TODO lists– scheduling work– time management

Documents

PiMS Interaction Design Ed Daniel & Susy Griffiths 18 th June 2008