More Focus on User Feelings in Dynamics NAV

At the March 2008 Convergence Conference held in Orlando, Florida, Microsoft revealed its plans to make users “enjoy” the Dynamics experience. End user adoptability is often a key stumbling block in ERP implementations, but Microsoft is insistent that with its new development features this block is lifted as users will “love” their system.

Working with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, "desirability studies" capture not just user’s responses to software, but their emotions. A key part included showing users dozens of images and asking them to select which ones best expressed how the software they were testing made them feel. According to Jakob Nielsen, principal user experience manager at Microsoft Dynamics, a combination of picture choices and reasons for making that choice provided much better feedback for fixing usability issues than straight, verbal descriptions of what they did or didn't like.

The Feel IT methodology is another step up the evolution rung beyond usability, said Nielsen. "In the beginning, there was a lot of focus on features and making applications useful. Over the last 15 to 20 years, the focus has been not only on usefulness, but usability. We're saying that may not be enough. Software should not only be usable, but the entire experience desirable."

In addition to new functionality, Feel IT will be used to develop future versions of various ERP applications, including Dynamics NAV 2009 due out later this year, said Mogens Elsberg, GM of Microsoft Dynamics.