The article Request For Proposal: Discovery recommended a way to identify your user profile(s). Now that you have those profiles, your team should work with Usability Services to determine and document what those users will typically do with the solution you seek to purchase.
If you have not already done so, request a consultation with Usability Services to begin the process.
User and Task Analysis
In her book Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set … Test! Carol M Barnum presents information on what we know about users in general, about users' expectations with websites and digital products, and about generational and gender differences in users. Refer to Chapter 4 "Understanding Users And Their Goals" to see her foundation for creating personas and writing scenarios for user subgroups.
- Tasks are the things that users do—steps they must take, processes they must complete, acts they must perform—to achieve a goal.
- Goals are the result, or outcome, that the user seeks.
- Scenarios tell the story of your users' goals.
Usability Services can consult with you to help you determine your users and what they will typically do.
Create Use Cases
Use cases attempt to thoroughly outline a user's goals and steps for completing a task or series of tasks in a given situation.
Use cases can be simple or complex depending on your situation and timeline. They can be as brief as a sentence:
"As a ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿, I need to ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ so I can ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿."
If your RFP team has specific needs or if you aren't sure how to complete the blanks of the example above, then you can follow a set of steps to fill the use case with greater detail based on what you know about your users and the situations they experience.
- Select one of the user types who is going to be using the product.
- Select one of their goals, the result or outcome the user seeks to achieve while using the product.
- Describe preconditions that must occur before and after the use case begins.
- Define a trigger: the event that causes the use case to be initiated for this particular user.
- Define what this particular user wants to do — steps they must take, processes they must complete, acts they must perform — to achieve their goal.
- Describe a basic flow: the normal course of events when this particular user is using the site when nothing goes wrong. Describe it in terms of what the user does.
- Describe what the system would likely do in response that this particular user would want to be aware of.
- Define a termination, or an outcome, as this particular user might describe it when they have finished what they are trying to do.
- If time allows, consider alternative flows of events that could extend the use case for this particular user depending on different conditions. These may include variations or exceptions that happen when things go wrong.
- Repeat the steps 2–3 for all other user types and their goals as desired.
It is not necessary to define all possible use cases for all possible users. Instead, use this activity to focus the scope of your RFP to the specific situations and goals that matter most to your users. Usability Services is available to help determine the use cases related to the solution you seek.
Build Case Studies
With a list of use cases in mind, RFP teams are prepared to negotiate which functions become their requirements. When presenting these requirements to a vendor, avoid a laundry list of features. Instead, frame your requirements as case studies for which a vendor might propose a solution.
Develop Usability Scenarios
In preparation for usability testing of RFP finalists, Usability Services can facilitate a conversation with your stakeholders as you develop usability scenarios that keep the focus on the core functions you determined in your use cases and case studies.