Mainframe GUI Mockup

1994, The Norfolk Southern Corporation

Reassigning a folder, as I proposed it.

Problem

Threefold:

• Reduce the potential for human error involved in typing 10-digit employee and project ID numbers.
• Speed up, and reduce the potential for error in, a paper-and-mainframe-based interdepartmental messaging system.
• Provide continually-updated feedback on the progress of certain time-consuming interdepartmental operations.

Problem Details

The Norfolk Southern Corporation had, for a year, used a Macintosh front-end to a mainframe environment. I was on the team of programmers who developed the Macintosh system. After becoming familiar with the system, I realized that while the Mac program did help NSC in certain ways, in other ways it was very similar to their original mainframe environment.

For example, employees called "clerks" would be assigned folders of customer issues to be resolved. Each folder was a digital collection of data stored on the mainframe, accessible through the Macintosh environment. If a clerk fell ill, the clerk's supervisor could opt to reassign the folder to another clerk. That "Reassign Folder" process worked as follows:

• A supervisor would reassign a folder to a particular clerk by entering the clerks' ID numbers, as shown here.
• The supervisor would write down the new clerk's name and the folder's ID number on a Post-It™ note, and put the Post-It note somewhere in a rapidly-shifting pile of papers.
• A few hours later, the supervisor would look up the clerk's list of folders, and refer to the Post-It note to see whether the folder had been successfully assigned to that clerk.
• If not, the supervisor would perform the operation again.

From the supervisor's perspective, the operation usually worked after the first try, but it sometimes took two or three tries. As a result, the process of reassigning a folder could take as long as a day and a half. Sometimes, the supervisor would simply work on the folder herself, instead of bothering with the reassignment process.

There were approximately 80 other such windows, in addition to the two windows shown here, representing dozens of other workday processes. The Macintosh system had originally been commissioned to display customers' faxes and edit customers' and partners' invoices.

Solution

Reassigning a folder, as I proposed it.

I realized that the "files" and "folders" in NSC's vocabulary corresponded very neatly with the Macintosh concepts of the same name. I proposed a way of representing the applicable mainframe data graphically, using existing Macintosh metaphors, as an extention of the existing Macintosh software. In addition to eliminating the occasional errors from mistyping or miswriting a clerk or folder ID, the system would also verify that a folder had been properly reassigned, and display the status of the reassignment process. The proposal comprised a mockup and the two-page presentation below. This proposal represented many of the mainframe features using similar and/or applicable Macintosh terminology. For example, the Reassign Folder process described above could be accomplished by dragging a graphical subfolder from one user to another, as shown at left. In designing the mockup, I also noticed that certain types of aggregate data could be easily displayed in Macintosh-standard formats. For example, status information about a Supervisor's clerks could be displayed in a Mac-standard "Get Info" window. The proposal included these suggestions as well.

The full proposal. Click for a larger view.