Designing and testing the usability of a relational data base system with end-user oriented benchmark tasks

The results of a survey among a group of users of a Data-Base-Management-System (DBMS) that runs on personal computers and the results of several experimental studies indicate that specific support is necessary for this group of users in the form of the interface concept of active joins. An active join, presented in a list on the interface, enables end-users to manipulate data records by direct manipulation. The definition of an active join, the generation of active joins by direct manipulation, and the usage of active joins are introduced herein. An experimental comparison between the desktop interface with and without active joins demonstrates the superiority of the concept of active joins.