Usability Engineering

Executive Summary

It is the purpose of this document to enlighten small business owners and future Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of successful venture capitalist divestitures about Arithmus, a cost effective, secure, and universally accessible software as a service accounting program. The private sector is comprised by innumerable small businesses and large corporations and functions as a key component of the rapidly globalizing economy. These entities utilize inventory management systems, develop internal control methodologies, prepare financial statements, and adhere to either U.S. GAAP and/or international GAAP. The software, offered at a reasonable monthly or annual rate, seeks to substantially decrease or eliminate overall expenses related to maintenance, software acquisition and development, outside consultation, and computer equipment.

Arithmus was prepared using Scenario-Based Development (SBD), a usability engineering methodology which walks the developer through analysis, design, prototyping, and evaluation stages. An initial scenario based requirements analysis is developed which outlines the root concept, conducts field studies, prepares summaries of key stakeholders, tasks, themes, etc., develops problem scenarios which place the issues Arithmus sets out to resolve in context, and produces multiple claims analyses which identify current pros and cons of the situation. Next, activity design is performed to specify system functionality. This is followed by information and interactive design which designates Arithmus user interface (UI) elements. Finally, a prototype is conceived based upon both a storyboarded scenario which illustrates the details addressed above and a final claims analysis which presents a representation of the problems overcome by the software. In the performance of SBD, Gestalt Principles, Steve Krug’s Trunk Test, and Minard’s Information Visualization were applied as well.

The final claims analysis indicated that Arithmus enables internal users to access records with appropriate segregation of duties-based access privileges online 24/7 via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with strong password protection enabled. It also enables external subscribers to access published, unaudited financial statements and key analytical data about the company to supply assistance in credit extension or investment decisions. Additionally, all data is stored electronically and backed up via user specified encryption methodologies.

More specifically, management receives critical comparative and analytical details in the form of budgets, hard and soft capital rationing tools, common sized financial statements, key liquidity, activity, profitability and coverage ratios, etc. Internal accounting staff, whether bookkeepers or actually accountants, are guided via the fiscal year with a hierarchal progression of the entire accounting cycle which offers the ability