Usability study of interactive decision support systems and touch screen technology in control room environments

This master’s thesis attends to the needs in a control room at a subway corporation. The aim is to develop a software prototype to support the operators in their work and thereby enhance the safety at the subway. The aim is followed by two main questions: How can an interactive decision support system be developed to support the operator and enhance the safety? Can a new kind of workplace with a touch screen interface be more efficient than traditional solutions? To investigate these questions deeper research within the fields of decision support system and touch screen technology is made. This project was based on the operators needs and consisted mainly of four parts: a field study containing observations and interviews, a Hierarchical Task Analysis to find out the exact activities in the control room, a paper prototyping session to illustrate the solutions and be able to discuss them with the operators, and finally a software prototype which was the goal of this project and the master’s thesis. The conclusions are that a decision support system can support the user and therefore also enhance the safety at the subway. Further, a touch screen will work as a good means for manoeuvring a decision support system, but to be able to answer if it will work as a new kind of workplace further research is required.