Carrie Medders is the director of Administrative Applications in the Division of Administration & Finance at California State University, East Bay. She has participated in several rounds of usability testing for Fusion’s Human Capital Management (HCM) work flows, and she is a member of the Oracle Usability Advisory Board, which first met in 2008 with the goal of bringing the usability of enterprise software to a new level. Carrie is also a member of the HCM Strategy Council. Here’s what she had to say about Oracle’s usability testing process with Fusion applications:

	Easy Access a Cornerstone to Fusion Applications HCM User Experience Author: Kathy Miedema, Oracle Applications User Experience June 13, 2011 With Fusion Applications, Oracle fundamentally changes a fragmented, frustrating work situation. Users of Human Capital Management (HCM) software often must bounce around between applications, searching diligently for the right information about employees. They may spend a lot of their time tracking down the data they need to complete a task. Fusion offers a completely different user experience. “Easy access is a big differentiator for Oracle, especially in Fusion HCM,” says Aylin Uysal, Senior Manager of Oracle’s Human Capital Management User Experience (UX) team. ”If you want to find data about a person, the data lives in multiple places. There is not a single space where you can go and find all that information about a person -- whether it’s payroll, compensation, or benefits. That is the biggest issue for HCM users. They really want all that information about a person in a single space.” Read more...

Carrie Medders, Director of Administrative Applications in the Division of Administration & Finance at California State University, East Bay

Q: How have you participated in testing on Fusion Human Capital Management modules?

Carrie: I've done multiple one- to two-hour sessions with a variety of the products -- all for the HCM side of the house. I've looked at time and labor, core human resources (HR), performance management and benefits. I was heavily involved in a week-long session surrounding primarily core HR as well.

Q: What sort of feedback did you offer?

Carrie: The feedback I've given has been all over the board, from suggestions on terminology to placement of fields and data on the pages to the actual functionality itself. I've been able to be very honest about how I feel the product works and whether or not certain aspects are useful or not. I've given insight on how my institution might (or might not) use the new functionality and why certain things are more important than others. I've been able to talk about how the new functionality compares to what we currently have and talk about what's better, what's different, and what will be great for users.

Q: Does usability testing have an impact on the end product -- in this case, Fusion Applications?

Carrie: I think it's incredibly valuable. Getting the input of actual users can only make the product better. I feel like Oracle has put a ton of focus on user feedback and input with the development of Fusion, and while I'm certain I won't like or use everything that's delivered, I know it's a better product because of the input I was able to give.