Agresso User Survey Results
Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's survey. It is through your comments and feedback that we are able to identify areas of need to be able to focus future developments.
Response
The survey was made available to users for November 22nd – December 1st inclusive. The questions used were the same as for the 2009 survey. 127 users responded (although one user responded not applicable to each question as he or she did last year) as against 142 responses last year.
The random draw rewarded 3 respondents, Katherine Swainson, Monique Welton and Angela Milsom, with Amazon Vouchers for their time.
The mix of respondents was similar to last year. We asked users to classify how much time per week they spent using Agresso:
2010 (2009)
Less than 1 hour 80 80
1-10 hours 27 41
Over 10 hours 20 21
Results (Chart)
The questions were divided into broad categories covering Usability, Design, Information, Usefulness, and the areas to be improved in the 5.5.3 release.
The areas of Usability and Design were rated lower this year than 2009 and 2008; Information and Usefulness was rated below the 2009 level but above 2008.
When respondents are categorised into low, medium and high frequency users we found least satisfaction amongst the low frequency users. Information and Usefulness was rated higher than previous years by the medium and high frequency users. Usability and Design were also rated lower by these groups.
The comments provided imply that a large proportion of the low-frequency users were those using Agresso for the first time as result of the introduction of web expenses. This has been a significant change for the user community, embraced enthusiastically by some and reviled by others.
There is also a general trend of increased expectation of usability for all IT systems. This implies that even a highly usable system will score less well over time unless it is improved.
Future Strategy
- Raise with Agresso at a high level the need for design changes to screens in order to make them less daunting for the occasional users. Agresso are now aware that they have not won the HR/Payroll systems contract, mainly for usability reasons and we should build on this with them.
- Thoroughly investigate the full scope of options to increase flexibility of process within the system. In particular any facilities in the new 5.6 release - and potentially bringing it’s implementation forwards - and the ‘Agresso Customisation Tools’. These options may be limited, but we do need to make the best of them.
- Increase the usability skills of our development teams, in particular by drawing on the abilities within the Web Services team.
- Where appropriate use more flexible external systems to achieve greater usability - for example both the Market Place and Web Payments developments.
- Review all areas within Agresso that are frequently-used and put increased effort into de-cluttering and simplifying them where possible. For example introducing bespoke single purpose screens for Catering Internal Orders.
- Continue to make available department based training sessions for particular widely used areas – Expenses, Requisitions, Project Reporting Desktop – and encourage departments to invite us to make these presentations.
- Further extend the ranges of web based reporting available and enhance the web printing capabilities.