Dialog Variation Based on Role

Designing the System Structure › Influences on System Structure Design › User's Role in the Business › Dialog Variation Based on Role

Dialog Variation Based on Role

The following table illustrates how a difference in role can result in different dialogs.

Order Entry System	Order Entry System
Data Entry Menu	Data Entry Menu
Maintain Customer Details	Allocate Work
Enter Orders	Review Productivity
Exit System	Check Quantity
	Data Entry Menu
	Exit System

The menu used by a data entry clerk (left) identifies the type of work the clerk performs. Since supervisors in the data entry department have broader responsibilities, their menu (right) supports additional functions as well as access to the same data entry functions as the clerks they supervise.

The following illustration shows how two users with different levels of authority might require different responses based on a common request.

Role Based Dialog Variation

In this example a peer and a supervisor have requested detail about an employee. The response the peer receives is less revealing than the response to the same request made by the supervisor. The response the supervisor receives includes Salary and Date Hired. The supervisor does not need the Internal Mail Code. The design would need to identify the user's level of authority. Perhaps a sign-on procedure could be constructed to recognize levels of authority. Layouts could then reflect that authority.