=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2945/51-ICG-ConfWS21_paper_1
|storemode=property
|title=Integrating User-Centered Practices in Configuration Systems Development: Framework and Conceptual Modelling
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2945/51-ICG-ConfWS21_paper_1.pdf
|volume=Vol-2945
|authors=Campo Gay,Lars Hvam
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/confws/GayH21
}}
==Integrating User-Centered Practices in Configuration Systems Development: Framework and Conceptual Modelling==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2945/51-ICG-ConfWS21_paper_1.pdf
Integrating User-Centered practices in Configuration
Systems development: Framework and Conceptual
Modelling
Irene Campo Gay1 and Lars Hvam2
Abstract.1 Developing configuration systems to support complex On this basis, the focus has been on what characteristics sales
and highly engineered products can be a tedious task. Given the configurators should have to increase such benefits [33].
complicated nature of the process, both researchers and companies First, this paper aims to turn attention to User eXperience (UX)
tend to overlook user interaction until later stages of the rather than customer experience alone and distinguish between the
configuration process. This paper adopts a user-centered design
configurator user and the configurator end-customer. A case in
process to develop configuration systems, emphasizing the
difference between the customer and the configurator user. point is a sales configurator, in which the user is not always the
Moreover, we discuss the importance of making a clear distinction customer but a qualified salesperson. A more evident example is a
between the product, service, or process configured and the B2B configurator, where users are generally specialized
configuration system to be developed. In line with this, we propose technicians. Secondly, the project intends to prioritize the
a framework to empathize with the user in configuration system configurator as the central artifact of the project development
projects. Besides, we suggest a new user-experience tool to reflect since, during configuration system projects, the product to be
user-centered outcomes in the conceptual modeling phase of configured is usually the focal point.
configuration systems. We integrate the method into a consolidated The purpose is to empathize and understand the user in
conceptual model, the so-called product variant master. Finally, we configuration system projects. Citing a quote from Henry Ford, “If
test the procedure in a building construction configurator project
there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the
which must deal with very versatile products. As a result, the
configurator’s profitability is enhanced by easing and promoting its other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s
use, optimizing the time spent on the configuration, and increasing angle as well as from your own.”
efficiency by minimizing potential wrong choices. This aim appeals directly to the User-Centered Design (UCD)
approach, which solves a problem by understanding the users and
their needs. The project’s ultimate objective is to:
1 INTRODUCTION
(i) portray the features for the configurator user in the
The use of configuration systems has been boosted by the benefits configurator model,
achieved through mass customization practices. Today’s business
(ii) develop a framework for generating User Interface (UI)
environment is changing rapidly, and success requires the ability to
based on user features,
meet the growing customer demand on customized products with
short delivery times and at the same prices as mass-produced (iii) improve the configurator in terms of increasing
products [24]. In essence, configurators are expert systems that profitability, facilitating and promoting its use, optimizing
assist companies in both sales and engineering processes by the process, reducing time spent to configure a product, and
automating and digitalizing the decision-making journey [12]. raising accuracy by reducing potential wrong choices
In these terms, configurators support different specification during the configuration journey.
processes such as design, production, or sales [7]. Their use brings In line with this scenario, the following two research questions
substantial benefits, including shorter lead times to generate (RQ) have been formulated:
specifications, fewer errors, and enhanced product design, among
others [9; 11; 31; 32]. RQ 1: How can UCD be consolidated in the configuration
system design and development?
RQ 2: How can UCD be integrated during the knowledge
1.1 Motivation and aim modeling phase of Configuration Systems and represented in a
Within this framework, customer experience has recently caught conceptual model?
the attention of researchers motivated by the potential increase in
the customer’s willingness to purchase mass-customized products.
1.2 UCD concepts
Over the last decades, UX has become a buzzword in the human-
1
Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of computer interaction research area [8]. To promote UCD in
Denmark, Denmark, email: ircag@dtu.dk configuration system projects, it is worth clarifying some concepts
2
Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of
Denmark, Denmark, email: lahv@dtu.dk
Copyright 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
since some are often used interchangeably, but they have different UX and an increased customer willingness to purchase the product
meanings. The most recognized definitions are described hereafter. [23]. To a lesser extent, some studies have identified and analyzed
Usability determines how easy the user interface is to use [22] configurators’ characteristics with an enhanced UX to procure such
and refers not to the product attributes alone but to the interaction benefits. Trentin et al. and Sandrin et al. argue how diverse
attribute with the product in a use context [14]. Thus, the core of attributes on the UI do increase the hedonic and creative aspects of
usability—the ability to use the product—is the utility—the such configurators to achieve a better UX [26; 33].
product usefulness. The usability term has also been defined as per However, these studies do not cover the use of UX practices within
the ISO Standard 9241-11 [29]. UCD in configuration systems’ projects. In this regard, we aim at
On the other hand, UX entails a broader concept—how a user framing a more holistic picture, i.e., beyond the UI and Graphic
interacts and experiences an artifact—encompassing usability. User Interface (GUI) development.
Given what has been said, UCD concerns the process of Schäffer et al. introduced for the first time the user-centered
engineering a particular experience—research and design. concept in configuration systems in their work to enhance
Moreover, UCD can be regarded as human-centered design configurators’ front ends [27]. They propose a user-centered front-
formalized in the ISO standard 9241-210 [6]. end approach parallel to the configuration system development.
In our work, we take a more holistic perspective beyond the
configurator’s interface. The focal point is both (i) to empathize
1.3 Structure of the paper with the end-user and (ii) to reflect the knowledge in a conceptual
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 model.
presents the theoretical background on UX practices in both IT
software in general and configuration systems in particular.
2.3 UX in configuration systems’ conceptual
Moreover, this section also provides an overview of UX
representation on configuration conceptual modeling and presents
modeling
the design thinking ideology to develop user-centered solutions. A crucial step in configurator development entails scoping and
Section 3 explains the research method, presenting a novel representing the project knowledge in a model. Such a model
theoretical framework and user-centered conceptual model. Section evolves along with the design iterations. Hence, in the early project
4 presents the case study. Section 5 describes the research results stages, conceptual models are used to organize the knowledge at a
achieved by implementing the new research approach described in higher abstract level. This model corresponds to the phenomenon
section 3. Finally, section 6 discusses the results, answers the model stage in the knowledge progress process presented by Duffy
research questions, and presents the conclusions and directions for et al. from the real world to an IT system. On more mature stages,
further work. knowledge representation is presented in information models,
which entails a detailed structure of components, assemblies, and
the relationships among them (see Figure 5).
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This section presents the theoretical background divided into four
subthemes. First, an overview of UX practices over the IT software
field and the configuration system field are presented. Then, the
current practices on UX representation on configurators’
conceptual modeling are introduced. Finally, the design thinking
ideology is presented as the approach to developing user-centered
solutions. Figure 1. Knowledge model development from the real world to an IT
system. Adapted from [5]
2.1 UX in IT software systems In the literature, we can find diverse models and methods to
approach this task. These models portray the information
UX is recognized as one of the fundamental aspects of software
concerning the configured artifact from different perspectives such
systems’ success as it can highly determine users’ engagement. For
as manufacturing, engineering, or customer-centric view.
that reason, research has focused mainly on the relationship
For instance, we can find diverse conceptual models that
between human-computer interaction and software engineering
address customer knowledge. Mortensen, Hvam, and Haug present
through UX practices. Nevertheless, the industry struggles to adopt
in the so-called Product Variant Master (PVM) a customer view
a UX and even usability approach in their projects [2]. The reasons
approach to depict the customer requirements [21]. Similarly,
are the critical challenges that software companies face in their
Hong et al. also suggest a customer-centered product modeling
work with UX [16]. Consequently, diverse methods and standard
technique based on AND-OR trees [10]. Zhang also captures the
procedures have been proposed over the last years, mainly aligned
customer requirements and integrates them in a configuration-
to the promising agile methodology, particularly scrum [1; 15; 25].
oriented product model consisting of several sub-models [35].
However, no specific practices have been defined for sales
However, no model considers a user-oriented description of the
configurators [17] or configuration systems in general.
attributes [36]. In many cases, both individuals are the same
person, particularly in the case of sales configurators. Still, there
2.2 UX in configuration systems might be an intermediate, for example, a salesperson using the
configurator in line with the customer specifications or a technical
Previous studies have researched UX on configuration systems. person in the case of product configurators. Therefore, there is a
Mainly, efforts have focused on the correlation between a positive
clear need to distinguish between customer knowledge and user The project has been developed under a novel suggested
knowledge and, also, to portray the user knowledge in the framework described in section 3.1. Furthermore, a new modeling
configurator’s conceptual model. technique has been applied in order to capture the user features in
the configuration model—the tool is described in section 3.2.
Additionally, the case study method has been chosen to analyze
2.4 Design thinking the proposed methods [20]. This is one of the most compelling
We develop a solution based on a user-centered problem-solving operation management and information systems research methods
method, design thinking. This method seeks to understand the user [3; 34].
through an iterative method under a problem-driven and solution- Moreover, structured interviews have been carried out with the
based approach. There are few different design process models, relevant stakeholders to define the requirements. Subsequently, the
though the most prominent are the one from Stanford d.school configurator porotype has been tested on a continuous basis
[30], the IDEO design thinking approach [13] and, the designs through workshops with the user. Hence, the model has been
council’s double diamond [4] (Fig.1). gradually updated from low-fidelity to high-fidelity prototypes.
3.1 UCD Framework
In this section, we present a comprehensive user-centered scheme
to design and model configurators. We aim to give particular
attention to two the following declarations:
(i) Customer ∈ Configurator User
The user of the configurator can be the customer. However,
the configurator user can also be another stakeholder, for
example, a salesperson or a technician.
(ii) (Deliverable = Configurator) ∧ [Deliverable ≠ (product ∨
service ∨ process)]
In Configurators UCD, the user is the configurator user.
Therefore, the ultimate product, service, or process to be
developed is not the configured item but the configurator.
Under these premises, we propose the following framework for
Figure 2. Design council’s double diamond [4] User-Centered design in Configuration systems.
The fundamental steps are essentially the same, coinciding in
that the iterative process must undergo diverging or abstract phases
to later converge in more concrete stages. The key is to
progressively develop more fidelity prototypes while the attention
is centered on empathizing with the user. Hence, initially, simpler
prototypes are modeled, promoting rapid prototyping. Later, the
functionality degree and visual appearance are gradually increased.
The iterative approach of diverging and converging thinking has
been explored within IT software development by Lindberg et al.
[18]. However, in this study, the empathetic perspective of the
design thinking process is set aside. The same approach was later
applied to configuration systems [28]. Similarly, in this research,
the creative aspects of design thinking are studied in terms of the
motivation degree during configurators’ development.
Hence, applying design thinking to develop empathetic and
responsive users’ needs in configuration systems is a novel focus
with the potential to bring UCD and configuration systems
together.
3 RESEARCH METHOD
Figure 3. UCD Framework for developing configuration systems projects.
First, state-of-the-art research on user experience best practices Adapted from [4].
applied to configuration system projects has been carried out.
The project has been executed under the design science The purpose the framework is the development of configurators
methodology usually applied to human-computer interfaces [19] to that are technologically viable and economically feasible while
answer the formulated research questions. It focuses on developing advantageous for the user. It adheres to the design thinking
innovative artifact designs under an iterative design process that ideology which leads to innovation through four distinct stages
supports its improvement through cyclical evaluations. based on the double-diamond design thinking process. We group
the first two stages into, first, a strategy phase representing the approximate price or (ii) in detail and investing more time in order
understanding and definition of the UCD problem and, secondly, a to get a definitive price quote. These different scenarios can be
development phase including creating, designing, and testing the reflected through the presented tool, typifying the attributes
configurator. according to the standard user features.
The first stage comprises a divergent research process in which
the goal is to explore and gather information about the problem.
Besides portraying the product’s portfolio and characterizing the
customer, it is crucial to understand and empathize with the
configurator user. To comprehend the user, we need to observe the
current process and question it, for example, through structured
interviews.
The second stage intends to scope the problem under a
convergent thinking development and represent the knowledge
subset. A conceptual model helps to reflect the outcomes in which,
from the UCD perspective, the most important is to depict the
relationship of the attributes with the user (see section 3.2).
Third, the configurator proposals are represented through
prototypes. The prototype modeling techniques vary depending on
the maturity of the project development. Hence, in the early project Figure 4. Adjustment of the PVM model to reflect user features. Adapted
phases, low fidelity models are developed through rapid from [12].
prototyping tools such as sketches and wireframe layout
representations. This will enable us to receive the user comments
quickly and perform faster feedback loops. Later, high-fidelity 4 CASE STUDY
prototypes presenting the final configurator layout can be used to The company is an Engineer-To-Order construction business that
test with the user mockups resembling the final configurator. provides customized house solutions based on standard
Finally, the mentioned prototypes need to be tested to determine construction products and processes. The company has broad
what succeeds and what needs to be reconsidered. It is critical to experience working with configuration systems, particularly sales
test the configurator with the user and get feedback, e.g., through configurators. It has a consolidated online web-based configurator
planned workshops. that provides users with a customizable 3D model of the house they
It is worth mentioning that this is not a linear process but are designing. In the end, the user—in this case, the potential
essentially an iterative process that intends to consider the customer —is given a choices summary and a price estimation.
configurator user during the configuration system development Besides, the company has a primitive product configurator to
actively. generate the final quotation with a fixed price and the BoM with
the list of materials necessary to build the house. The product
3.2 User-centered conceptual model configurator and the sales configurator are not coupled since the
sales configurator’s outputs are redefined by external stakeholders.
It has been stated that the currently available knowledge models do Hence, the final house drawings are generated after the sales
not consider a user-centered description of the configurator configuration and serve as an input for the product configurator
information. To work with the suggested UCD framework, we used by a technician.
have adapted the so-called PVM model to represent the knowledge
from the user perspective. We have chosen the PVM model as it is
an ontological model that, depending on the project maturity, can 4.1 Remodeling the product configurator
be used as a conceptual model or an information model, and hence, As stated previously, the product configurator is elementary and
it can reflect the progress of the UCD development. Besides, the cannot efficiently handle the flexibility of such highly engineered
suggested adoption of a user view could also be applied to other products. The company wants to optimize the benefits of the
models. product configurator by improving different specification
The features are represented on the knowledge model using processes’ performance. In particular, the company is eager to:
characterizing the attributes as positive (+) if there depict attributes
dependent on the user input and as negative (-) if they are hidden (i) reduce the user’s time on creating the BoM and quotation
attributes or “only readable” for the configurator user. specifications by 75%;
Moreover, attributes can have a predefined default value (ii) minimizing the potential errors during the configuration
indicated with a tile grapheme (~). process,
This attribute characterization allows the configurator expert to
keep traceability on the user-oriented knowledge model and (iii) and, enable two different user interfaces: First, an interface
portray and analyze the project prospects. Besides, determining the that enables an agile configuration and can rapidly provide an
default attribute values as the most common choice done by users approximate price, and, secondly, a detailed interface
contributes to a smoother configuration and, on the other hand, can configuration that can generate a precise price quote.
lead to enabling different user interfaces. The points above are strictly related to the configurator user,
For example, in the configuration of a product, we might want which in this case is a technician. In this context, it is essential to
to enable two configuration options: (i) simple and agile to get an state that the user’s expertise level on the house elements is
medium to low. Consequently, the drawings represent the primary 5 RESULTS
source of inputs for the configurator. Such drawings have a high
degree of detail and can provide all the necessary information to set This section introduces and discusses the results of the case study
up the specifications. However, not all the data available is to be concerning the RQs. Within the first section, we focus on
used as an input. This has been identified as one of the biggest answering RQ 1 by analyzing the use of a user-centered framework
detriments in the current configuration due to the unnecessary to develop configuration systems. On the other hand, in section 2,
properties asked to the user. we evaluate capturing that knowledge in the configurator´s
In table 1, we can see the current relation matrix between the conceptual model to address RQ 2.
inputs from the user—measurements from the drawings—to
generates the specifications. This table only represents a small 5.1 UCD in configuration system’ projects
fragment of 3 out of 24 modules that comprise the house: the
external walls, the inner walls, and the slab foundation. To facilitate understanding of the results obtained from using the
suggested UCD, we have presented the advantages achieved in the
Table 1. Relation Matrix: Measurement-Building Part process on each step in table 3 (refer to figure 3).
External Inner Slab
Measurement walls walls foundation Table 3. Benefits of using the suggested UCD framework on the
Building Area x configuration process development
Habitable Area x
Outer Perimeter x x Stage Results and benefits
Inner Perimeter x Step 1 The number of needed iterations due to users’ assessment is
Nr. Inner Corners x reduced as the user is actively considered throughout the
Nr. Outer Corners x process.
Greater insight on the project scope is given by empathizing
On the current configurator, all the measures are defined with the user from the early development stages.
individually directly from information provided from the drawings. A better comprehension of user features due to observation and
A summary of the user performance to computerize the data into interviews with users.
the configurator is presented in Table 2 and illustrated in Figure 4. A better understanding of UI requirements already in the initial
The drawing parameters are highlighted in italics. stages of the project is achieved.
Step 2 User features are captured on the configuration model
Table 2. Manual computation of measurements facilitating the communication with the user, enabling the
Measurement Manual Definition traceability of user features, and facilitating the description of
Building Area Sum of calculated areas through (A) ℕ external different user interfaces.
walls length. The number of necessary inputs from the user can be evaluated
Habitable Area Sum of (B) ℕ room area. more efficiently to reduce the interdependency of attributes. It
Outer Perimeter Sum of (A) ℕ external walls length. makes the model more robust, contributing to simplify rules
Inner Perimeter Sum of (A) ℕ external walls length and constraints, which, in turn, avoids potential errors.
disregarding (C) wall width. Step 3 The time spent on prototyping is reduced, and communication
No. Inner Corners Visual sum of (D) inner corners. improves as models are designed from low fidelity (simpler) to
No. Outer Corners Visual sum of (E) outer corners. high fidelity (detailed) according to the project’s maturity.
Step 4 The recreation of usage scenarios on the workshop allows
identifying missing design specifications that could be
neglected.
Moreover, we also evaluated the configurator enhancement in
connection to the project goals. The most significant results are:
(i) A wider configurator acceptance and its use promotion
are achieved due to the user’s involvement during the
development process. Hence, we can prevent potential
reluctant users through the adoption of a UCD
development.
(ii) The time spent configuring a product and generating a
quote and BoM document is reduced from 4 hours to 1
Figure 5. Floorplan example reflecting the available information hour for detailed configuration and to 30 minutes for
basic configuration. Since it is an ongoing project, it is
Additionally, from the product conceptual modeling expected that the time spent can be further shortened.
perspective, the company has vast experience working with the so- Moreover, the user’s familiarization with the tool could
called PVM methodology. Thus, the stakeholders are familiar with also lower these results.
the model, and the tool learning period is abbreviated. (iii) Potential wrong choices are avoided. The users are not in
doubt during the configuration since they are familiar
with the tool due to their involvement in the Besides, mapping the user features into the model helped
configuration development, especially on the UI design. monitor and record the changes executed over the user features.
Finally, using default values and their positive/negative
(iv) Targeted user interfaces are enabled in accordance with
characterization helped us describe two different user interfaces.
the required outputs. Thus, a “basic configuration” and a
For example, the wallWidth was predefined to a value of “300
“detailed configuration” interface can be provided with
mm”. This helped streamline the detailed configuration where the
the same product configurator.
attribute is visible to the user (+) since this is the most common
choice. On the other hand, given that “300 mm” is the data set
5.2 UCD portrayed in the configuration model mode and has a relatively low impact on the basic configuration
desired output—an approximate price—, we set the attribute as
The progress accomplished on step 2 was supported by mapping hidden (-) to speed the configuration process.
the user features on the configuration model. We present the results The case sample example is presented in Figure 6 with the
by comparing computerized attributes before using the tool (Table improvements mentioned above—from table 2 to table 4—
2) and after utilizing the suggested UCD approach (Table 4). highlighted in red.
Table 4. Automated computation of measurements
Measurement Automated Definition 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Building Area (A) ℕ external walls length (B) ℕ external
This research introduces a UCD approach to develop configuration
wall direction
systems supported by a tool to portray the user features on the
Habitable Area (A) ℕ external wall length (C) wall width.
configuration model.To this end, we stress the difference between
Outer Perimeter (A) ℕ external walls length
the configurator user and the customer; and we focus on the
Inner Perimeter (A) ℕ external wall length (C) wall width.
configurator as the core artifact to be innovated instead of the
Nr. Inner Corners (B) ℕ external wall direction
configurable product, service, or process.
Nr. Outer Corners (B) ℕ external wall direction
Through a case study, we demonstrated that empathizing with
the user from the early stages of the configuration project
It is possible to observe a reduction in the number of variables
development has a substantial positive impact on the configuration
from ℕA, ℕB, C, D, and E, to ℕA, ℕB, and C. This directly
model itself and improves the user perception of the configurator.
affected the time spent by the user configuring the product, thus
Besides, the UX practices reflected in the conceptual modeling
minimizing the risk of possible wrong inputs. On the other hand,
assist in scoping the UI requirements. It enables the reduction of
decreasing the number of variables enhanced the model robustness
dependency and the number of inputted attributes and creates a
since the number of variables’ dependency was significantly
more robust design. On the other hand, the outputs from the
decreased. Furthermore, this translated into improving the model
configurator become more accurate as potentially wrong decisions
complexity by having fewer attributes and constraints.
are prevented due to the active involvement of the user during the
complete configurator design. Moreover, the time spent by the user
performing a configuration is significantly reduced since the UI has
been deliberately targeted, additionally enabling different user
interfaces.
Furthermore, it should also be considered the effect of the
suggested method adoption over the overall project development. It
is expected that using this method can extend the duration of the
first iterations due to the consideration of new factors. However, it
compensates for later phases of the project since fewer adjustments
are required.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the research was developed
and carried out to address complex and highly engineered products.
However, accommodating this methodology to develop other
project configurator typology could reveal further advantages that
have not been identified in this paper.
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