MAP-01-011 HFI Technical Guide - Human Factors Integration ...

Chapter 15 – Operability And User-Equipment Interaction• There is a need to consider how the user-equipment interface will supportthe user during recovery from system failures.15.1.4 Operability of Marine Engineering EquipmentMarine engineering equipment must be highly operable. The user-equipmentinterface to the platform management system, in common with the CombatSystem, needs to be developed to be compatible with the mission and taskcontext and the needs of users. The task context here will concern vessel controland the generation and distribution of power. Emphasis will be placed on thesafe execution of tasks rather than speed and accuracy of performance. Thefollowing design issues are relevant to the operability of platform managementsystems:HFI Technical Issues• The Human Factors Style Guide (Annex 3) for platform managementshould include marine engineering conventions and symbology whilstfollowing basic display and control rules consistent with those used in theCombat System to improve interoperability.• A platform management alarms and warnings policy should be appliedwithin the context of the whole vessel (Chap 17). A large number ofvariables can go out of range in the platform management system and thealarms and warnings need to be considered.• Operation of systems needs to take into account reversionary modes. Theoperator should always be informed in which mode he is operating.• There is a need to consider how the user-equipment interface will supportthe user during recovery from the failure of a major vessel service.• The predicted enhanced capabilities of platform management systems maylead to reduced manning. There will therefore be a need to ensure that:o Alarm avalanches can be handled within a smaller team.o The operating team can deal with simultaneous failures in severalvessel services.o Improved automation does not lead to user de-skilling.o Situational awareness is maintained so that the user can intervenefollowing a failure.15.1.5 Operability and User PerformanceIdentification of mission critical tasks is key to the design of highly operable userequipmentinterfaces. Operational Scenario Descriptions (Annex 3) are used toidentify the key operator activities that will have the greatest effect on overallsystem performance. The user-equipment interface is specifically designed orselected to ensure that these key operator activities can be performed effectivelyand efficiently in order to meet the performance requirements for each of theoperational scenarios for the system.The important types of human performance in Combat Systems dependfundamentally on the ability of users to process information and decide the bestway to act given an interpretation of the situation. Users of future CombatNov 2006 Page 15-5 Issue 4