11
How HMI Has Been Evolving
A big question many readers may be asking is, “ how does this apply to me and my
industry?” Well, regardless of your industry, all the principles stated here apply. The
common factors are people with their unique skill sets, human limitations and computers with all their complexity and quarks. Having an overview is an essential practice, one that was lost in the early days of the introduction of computer technology.
Incomplete information on human factors and ergonomics has led to inadequate
coding systems, poor navigation, unsuitable display formats, poor font types, and size
choices. Also, improper management of change is allowing inconsistencies in the design.
CURRENT GOOD PRACTICES FOR DESIGNING HMI
The critical foundation to design a high-performance HMI is to base the design on a
thorough task analysis, i.e. what tasks need to be done by the operator?
The tasks and the criticality of the tasks dictate the information requirements. The
information requirements determine the HMI design.
The HMI design should be guided by a h igh-performance philosophy and style
guide ensuring proper use of colours/ content, layout, hierarchy/ navigation, alarm support and the ability of the operator to be supported by several systems/ sources/ cues to
ensure a high level of situational awareness and sensemaking. ( Some of these issues
are described in the High-Performance HMI Handbook; Hollifield et al., 2008).
The design should be driven by a us er-centric design, involving user needs and
perception to ensure that all the tasks are supported.
Guidelines and standards such as EEMUA 201 Control Rooms: A Guide to Their
Specification, Design, Commissioning and Operation, ISO 11064 Ergonomic Design
of Control Centres and ISA 101 H uman–Machine Interfaces should be used. The
ISA101.01 is a good standard because of its main message: keep process information
display to the operator simple and based on task requirements.
Alarm guidelines such as EEMUA 191 Alarm systems, IEC 62682 Alarm
Management ( coming from the ISA 18.2 alarm standard) and YA-711 Principles for
Design of Alarm Systems support these standards.
On a more specific level related to HMI, the standard ISO 9241 is a multi-part
standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) covering
ergonomics of human–computer interaction. It gives a broad context for the development of needed systems. High-Performance HMI aims to improve the operator’s
ability to “Detect” a problem, i.e., process parameters going off-normal and heading to an alarm condition. “Diagnose,” providing sufficient information together to
allow the operator to diagnose the problem promptly. Finally, the operator’s ability
to “Respond” correctly to this problem and to correct it while still in “Normal” and
before the “Abnormal” or alarm condition.
REFERENCES
EEMUA 191 ( 2013) Alarm systems—A guide to design, management and procurement, Edition
3, Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association. London, UK.
EEMUA Publication 201 ( 2019) Control rooms: A guide to their specification, design, commissioning and operation, Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association. London, UK.
How HMI Has Been Evolving
A big question many readers may be asking is, “ how does this apply to me and my
industry?” Well, regardless of your industry, all the principles stated here apply. The
common factors are people with their unique skill sets, human limitations and computers with all their complexity and quarks. Having an overview is an essential practice, one that was lost in the early days of the introduction of computer technology.
Incomplete information on human factors and ergonomics has led to inadequate
coding systems, poor navigation, unsuitable display formats, poor font types, and size
choices. Also, improper management of change is allowing inconsistencies in the design.
CURRENT GOOD PRACTICES FOR DESIGNING HMI
The critical foundation to design a high-performance HMI is to base the design on a
thorough task analysis, i.e. what tasks need to be done by the operator?
The tasks and the criticality of the tasks dictate the information requirements. The
information requirements determine the HMI design.
The HMI design should be guided by a h igh-performance philosophy and style
guide ensuring proper use of colours/ content, layout, hierarchy/ navigation, alarm support and the ability of the operator to be supported by several systems/ sources/ cues to
ensure a high level of situational awareness and sensemaking. ( Some of these issues
are described in the High-Performance HMI Handbook; Hollifield et al., 2008).
The design should be driven by a us er-centric design, involving user needs and
perception to ensure that all the tasks are supported.
Guidelines and standards such as EEMUA 201 Control Rooms: A Guide to Their
Specification, Design, Commissioning and Operation, ISO 11064 Ergonomic Design
of Control Centres and ISA 101 H uman–Machine Interfaces should be used. The
ISA101.01 is a good standard because of its main message: keep process information
display to the operator simple and based on task requirements.
Alarm guidelines such as EEMUA 191 Alarm systems, IEC 62682 Alarm
Management ( coming from the ISA 18.2 alarm standard) and YA-711 Principles for
Design of Alarm Systems support these standards.
On a more specific level related to HMI, the standard ISO 9241 is a multi-part
standard from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) covering
ergonomics of human–computer interaction. It gives a broad context for the development of needed systems. High-Performance HMI aims to improve the operator’s
ability to “Detect” a problem, i.e., process parameters going off-normal and heading to an alarm condition. “Diagnose,” providing sufficient information together to
allow the operator to diagnose the problem promptly. Finally, the operator’s ability
to “Respond” correctly to this problem and to correct it while still in “Normal” and
before the “Abnormal” or alarm condition.
REFERENCES
EEMUA 191 ( 2013) Alarm systems—A guide to design, management and procurement, Edition
3, Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association. London, UK.
EEMUA Publication 201 ( 2019) Control rooms: A guide to their specification, design, commissioning and operation, Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association. London, UK.