Evaluation is the stage where you judge whether the finished system does what its users needed. You compare it with the original requirements, gather evidence, and say what should improve.
This is the last stage of the ICT applications and system lifecycle module. It reuses the list you built in extracting user requirements.
How do you evaluate properly?
Follow three steps:
- Take each requirement from the original list, one at a time.
- Find evidence: a test result, a screenshot description, a user comment or a measurement.
- Judge: fully met, partly met or not met, with a reason, then suggest one improvement.
Also comment on three common qualities: is it easy to use, is it efficient (saves time or effort), and is it appropriate for the users and the task.
Worked example
Using the invented Sinar Community Library case and a trial week:
| Requirement | Evidence | Judgement |
|---|---|---|
| Scan card and book to record a loan | 60 test loans, all saved correctly | Met |
| List overdue loans | List appeared, but 2 members who returned books were still listed | Partly met |
| Keep records safely | Data still present after laptop restart | Met |
| Usable with little training | Volunteer needed help twice with the return screen | Partly met |
| Runs on one laptop and scanner | Ran normally | Met |
Summarise: three requirements met, two partly met.
Suggest improvements: fix the return step so returned books leave the overdue list, and add a plain-language help line on the return screen.
Efficiency check: the old card method took about 120 seconds per loan; the trial averaged 30 seconds. That is 90 seconds saved per loan, and across 300 loans a week that is 300 × 90 = 27,000 seconds, or 7.5 hours a week.
(Check: 27,000 ÷ 3,600 = 7.5.)
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken answer: “The system is good because it is modern and everyone liked it.”
There is no link to the requirements and no evidence of testing.
The correction is to name the requirement, give the evidence and make a judgement: “The overdue list was partly met because two returned books still appeared.”
Check yourself
1. Give a piece of evidence you could collect for the requirement “usable with little training”.
Show answer
Watch a new user complete a task without help and note how many times they needed assistance, or ask them to rate how easy it was.
2. A loan took 120 seconds before and 45 seconds after. How many seconds are saved per loan?
Show answer
120 − 45 = 75 seconds.
3. Why should an evaluation include suggestions as well as judgements?
Show answer
Because evaluation feeds back into improving the system. Parts that are only partly met need a next step.
Where this leads next
Practise the whole sequence in the mixed practice set. For how systems stay safe once they are live, see safety, security and effects.
If you want someone to review your evaluation answers, our team’s online one-to-one ICT tuition can do that with you.