Adaption of a task analysis methodology to the design of a decision support system

The aim of this article is to describe the use of an analytical method for task analysis (MAD) within an industrial development project, APLCRA TES. The method has previously been used within research contexts, and has been limited to task analysis and user interface design. Within the APLCRA TES project, we not only used the method for defining the user tasks and interfaces, but we also used it for knowledge acquisition and as a powerful communication tool between the different development tearns addressing decision support system development, database definition, on-line help, user manual definition, and for communication with the clients. We explain briefly the aim of the APLCRA TES project and what MAD is, and then describe in detail how MAD was used and modified to meet the needs of the project.