Introduction
Modern businesses and institutes need to implement contemporary methodologies of systems analysis and design to stay competitive in the market and meet the requirements of digitalized industries. Website upgrade is one of the most practical approaches to significantly improve accessibility, customer focus, and stakeholder engagement. In this context, systems analysis serves as an instrument to reveal the underlying problems that hinder the organization’s performance. In turn, website upgrade is a solution that enables a thoughtful approach to mitigate the risks and improve customer accessibility. Ultimately, the current essay thoroughly analyzes two case studies of website upgrade and redesign projects.
E-Health Tools Problems: Upgrading a Hospital Website
The first example concerns the necessity to redesign a hospital website due to outdated content, lackluster accessibility, and inconvenient navigation. These problems were particularly relevant in the study by Nguyen et al. (2019) at the time of the publication since the majority of the facility’s patients were older adults with limited computer proficiency. The authors utilized a 3-step design methodology, consisting of evaluation of the existing website, prototype development, and usability testing (Nguyen et al., 2019). While they have not explicitly mentioned compliance with international standards of website design, each of the phases was thoroughly documented. For content evaluation during the first phase, the authors transcribed and coded the data, consulted patients, and held multidisciplinary meetings to identify the most necessary changes to the website (Nguyen et al., 2019). For prototype development, they used such processes as visitor statistics analytics and collaboration with designers. As a result, the authors’ efforts to involve users allowed them to comply with international standards concerning accessibility, such as W3C guidelines recommended by the ACM (“ACM web accessibility statement, n.d.). The upgraded website exceled in the POUR (perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust) parameters.
The chosen approach in the examined case study is an effective systems analysis and design methodology. The research by Alison et al. (2019) demonstrates that most case studies concerning website redesign do not fully adhere to the characteristics of usability, content, functionality, appearance, and interactivity. Moreover, most upgrades do not use innovative analytics systems in the implementation; only three studies out of 69 works utilized web analytics in the systematic review by Alison et al. (2019). On the other hand, the examined case study enforced visitor statistics analytics, qualitative data collection, and user involvement (Nguyen et al., 2019). These processes additionally adhere to the GoodWeb evaluation guidelines, justifying the chosen methodology (Alison et al., 2019). The potential criticism is the lack of explicit compliance with national/international standards, such as ANSI or ISO. However, upon further expectation, the authors met the requirements of ACM and W3C guidelines concerning accessibility and operability, primarily due to their efforts to involve patients and designers in the upgrade process. Ultimately, the examined website redesign followed an efficient systems analysis and design methodology, although it did not explicitly comply with international standards.
Accessibility Problems on University Websites
The second case study concerning website upgrade as a part of the systems analysis and design project is the accessibility improvement of university websites in the United Arab Emirates. The identified problem is that many websites do not meet the requirements recommended by the W3C organization regarding POUR characteristics (Ali, 2021; “ACM web accessibility statement, n.d.). The author notes that websites suffer from a lack of e-accessibility, resulting in multiple barriers for people with visual, hearing, and learning disabilities (Ali, 2021). The central idea of the project is to evaluate the accessibility of websites through the usage of assessment tools, such as A-Checker, Cynthia Says, and TAW, to determine the underlying issues (Ali, 2021). The author found that approximately 70% of websites do not adhere to at least some of the W3C recommendations, meaning that they also violate the guidelines provided by the ACM (Ali, 2021). Ultimately, the paper implies the critical necessity to improve website accessibility and design in the UAE to meet the standards of international organizations.
Extensive academic literature supports this approach of systematic analysis to determine underlying issues that obstruct website accessibility. The research by Li and Sun (2020) highlights attractiveness, easy navigation, content, speed, and effective search as primary characteristics of customer focus and engagement. However, considering accessibility for people with disability, Ali (2021) and the W3C organization also emphasize the implementation of assistive technologies. They include sound notifications, text readers, videos, easy-to-understand layouts, writing assistants, and multiple other frameworks (Ali, 2021). As a result, the second case study transparently shows the significance of accessibility and the urgent necessity to upgrade websites in the UAE since the majority of them do not meet contemporary international standards.
Conclusion
The current essay has shown that website upgrade is an effective methodology for resolving problems in systems analysis and design. The most common issues in this context concern accessibility and POUR parameters, as noted by the ACM statement and W3C. Moreover, additional attention is necessary when creating a platform for older adults, as shown by the first case study, and people with disabilities, as demonstrated by the second example. Ultimately, it is critical to improve web design to ensure that everyone can navigate sites and acquire necessary information.
References
ACM web accessibility statement. (n.d.). Association for Computing Machinery. Web.
Ali, L. (2021). Accessible websites for everyone-A case of UAE universities websites. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 11(4), 164-170. Web.
Allison, R., Hayes, C., McNulty, C. A., & Young, V. (2019). A comprehensive framework to evaluate websites: Literature review and development of GoodWeb. JMIR Formative Research, 3(4). Web.
Li, R., & Sun, T. (2020). Assessing factors for designing a successful B2C E-Commerce website using fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS-Grey methodology. Symmetry, 12(3), 363. Web.
Nguyen, M. H., Bol, N., van Weert, J. C., Loos, E. F., Tytgat, K. M., Geijsen, D.,… & Smets, E. M. (2019). Optimising e Health tools for older patients: Collaborative redesign of a hospital website. European Journal of Cancer Care, 28(1). Web.