PERFORMANCE HORSES CONTROL PANEL CASE STUDY
You are to develop at least two different initial concept designs that would meet the requirements of the Performance Horses control panel. These designs will be wireframe only designs at this stage.
The Performance Horses control panel case study is mentioned below. You need to read this case study before starting this assessment item. You will prepare a presentation for the Performance Horses control panel to display your concepts as well as discuss both concepts and the recommended design.
Tasks Sketch two (2) alternative interface designs for the Performance Horses control panel problem. These designs should be for a web page as viewed on a standard 60cm (24 inch) PC monitor with a suitable screen resolution. It is recommended that you use the Balsamiq Mock-ups or other wireframe tool for these concept designs. (60 marks)
As part of your presentation, you should indicate why these designs are a good solution for the Performance Horses control panel. The presentation should recommend one of your designs for further development and state why this design is recommended. (30 marks)
The presentation should recommend one of your designs for further development and state why this design is recommended. (10 marks) There are two goals in this assignment: The first is to exercise your user interface design abilities. Creativity in balancing usability with the constraints of the interface will be essential to successfully completing this assignment.
The second is to start thinking about WHY you chose and used certain designs or design patterns. You need to be able to discuss why your design is a good solution to the problem. The design sketches for this assignment can be hand-drawn. But, if you do use hand-drawn sketches, then you need to ensure that they can be easily read when they are scanned into your presentation.
It is highly recommended that you use the Balsamiq Mockups tool for the final copies of your concept designs. Remember that you are sketching a concept design for an interface. Your designs are concepts that you are presenting to your client. They should not be accurate to the pixel-level.
Performance Horses Case Study Details:
Performance Horses is an elite horse stud and training facility that has decided to invest in computerising their facilities to track the horses, employees looking after horses, and all the activity of the stud and training facility. The stud is on a 150-acre property and can house up to 20 horses and employs 5 people.
The property is comprised of the following:
Buildings
A main house
• A large barn for storing feed
• A shed for machinery
• A 6 car garage
• An employee bunk house
• Two stable blocks A and B each with ten horse stables
• Each stable has a tack shed, a round yard and a wash bay
• Block A has a two-bedroom guest house that includes a kitchen/tea room and bathroom
Paddocks and Yards
• Three 10 acre paddocks
• Six 5 acre paddocks
• 10 small paddocks
• Two stallion yards
• 10 holding yards
• Two training arenas (one indoor and one outdoor)
• Two large spelling paddocks at the back of the property
• An exercise track around one of the spelling paddocks Gates and Parking
• Outdoor parking for guests
• Three entrance gates
Background:
Performance Horses have relied on a white board and written ledgers in the stables to communicate most activities and keep track of visitor logs, horses arriving and departing, allocation of stables and feeding regimes. They have used a rough map of the property with labels on yards and paddocks to identify areas. There has been occasional confusion over arena use and also over when horses have been fed and treated. There must be accurate records kept for all feeding and treatment of horses. There is also a government requirement to track the movement of all the horses around the facility so that any disease outbreak can be quickly and accurately tracked. Tracking is also essential for breeding information when horses are being bred. The business wants to computerise all its activities, including logging vehicle movement through the entrance gates and horses being taken between paddocks, yards and stables. It’s important that all new horse arrivals are quarantined for two weeks and kept separate from the other horses. The business also wants to include employee rosters and work allocation of feeding, treatments and exercise routines and for the employees and other activities. They also want to have a booking system for the arenas, round yards, and all paddocks, yards and stables. Implementation To begin with, they will commence with the employee roster and work allocation, and the paddock, yard and stable allocation. They would like the paddocks, yards and stables to be labelled and they will update their map. They’d eventually like this to be computerised on a touch screen, but not in this first implementation. The roster continues for seven days a week and has three shifts, morning, evening and night shift. An employee is only required for a night shift if a horse is due to foal or is ill and requires supervision and/or treatment.
This will require the following details:
• Employee name
• Shift day and time
• Allocated horses
• Under each horse, the following details: o
Horse name
Age
Breed
Sex
Size
Any medical conditions
Other notes
Paddock, yard and stable allocation
Type and number of feeds per day
Exercise o Treatments (and details)
Appointment and who with (vets, farriers etc)
Due to foal
With the exception of a paddock allocation, all of these points are optional, but must be marked as N/A if they are not needed.
The owner wants a user console at the employee bunk house, each stable block and the barn, so employees can plan their day and mark tasks completed as they go through the day. For this purpose, all employee activity needs to be logged with a date time stamp.