@misc{Hoernschemeyer, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {H{\"o}rnschemeyer, Heike}, title = {Development of a Usability Capability Self-Assessment Tool for Improvement and Monitoring of Human-Centred Design in Small and Medium-Sized Companies}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-2433}, school = {Hochschule Rhein-Waal}, pages = {86}, abstract = {Usability is an important quality aspect of software products. Today, companies need to be capable to develop software with good usability to stay competitive. This can be achieved by practicing human-centred design (HCD) during the development process. However, especially small and medium-sized software enterprises (SMEs) still practice HCD on a low level, if at all. This thesis explores whether and how the approach of process capability assessment can support SMEs with a systematic improvement of HCD. It is shown that a process capability assessment for usability at SMEs can only be successful, when the first steps of initiating HCD are al-ready done. Then, a process assessment approach seems to be useful to systematically improve the usability capability at SMEs. Based on this theoretical background, a usability capability self-assessment tool tailored for SMEs is developed. It has a simplified assessment procedure and uses the DIN EN ISO 9241-220 as reference model. The self-assessment tool was applied at two German software SMEs to test whether the approach is useful for SMEs and whether the reference model is suitable. The results indicate that the usability self-assessment tool is a promising approach for future SMEs as several interesting applications were identified. The chosen reference model seems to be an appropriate choice for a self-assessment; only the complex language used in the standard impedes the assessment. All in all, the thesis lays the foundation for a systematic approach to support SMEs with usability.}, language = {en} }