Business case materials (v1-0)

These materials were produced by the Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, w The work was sponsored by the East of England Development Agency Not for resale Instructions

Detailed instructions for using this spreadsheet are given below. These instructions and further copies of this spreadsheet can also can be downloaded from the Business case m

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Possible impact factors

The Impact factors sheet lists possible costs and benefits associated with an inclusive design project. Many of these are similar to those for a general project, but an inclusive project may impact them in a different way. So, for each factor, we describe common ways in which inclusive design impacts that factor. For example, we explain how inclusive design can reduce support costs. We also provide references to some case studies that show how companies have observed these changes in practice. Other references provide help in estimating the size of such changes. Using the list Not all of the costs and benefits are relevant to each individual project. In addition, some may be relevant but their effect will not be large enough to make a significant difference to the business case. Therefore, the first step is to go through the list and identify the particular factors that you think will be significant for your project. Using the case studies Several of the factors have related case studies, listed in the column Case studies. Rather than giving the whole of each study (which would take up too much space), this column just lists their reference numbers. The details of the studies can be found in the Case studies sheet. The reference numbers refer to the numbers in the first column of that sheet. These case studies illustrate some of the ways in which inclusive design (and related areas of design) can affect the impact factors (the costs, benefits and drivers). Thus, they may help you to determine whether a factor will be relevant for your project. They can also serve as back-up evidence to convince others that an inclusive design project can really make a difference to the factors. General figures Similarly, the General figures column contains references to the General figures sheet. As before, the reference numbers refer to the numbers in the first column of that sheet. Unlike the case studies, these references do not describe specific examples of design. Rather they discuss how you can estimate the size of the change in an impact factor. For example, the general figures for Cost of change estimate how much more it will cost to make changes to a product in the development phase or after launch as opposed to making them in early design.

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also serve as back-up evidence to convince others that an inclusive design project can really make a difference to the factors. General figures Similarly, the General figures column contains references to the General figures sheet. As before, the reference numbers refer to the numbers in the first column of that sheet. Unlike the case studies, these references do not describe specific examples of design. Rather they discuss how you can estimate the size of the change in an impact factor. For example, the general figures for Cost of change estimate how much more it will cost to make changes to a product in the development phase or after launch as opposed to making them in early design.

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Initial impact assessment

The Initial assessment sheet helps you to perform an initial assessment of the business case for an inclusive design project. Each row of the table examines a different impact factor and considers how it would be affected by the proposed project. An example is shown in the first row of the table (shaded in grey). The rows for you to fill in are shaded in green. You can add extra rows by copying and pasting existing rows. Using the sheet Before using this sheet, it is useful to examine the Impact factors sheet and identify the particular factors that you think will be significant for your project. The next step is to transfer these factors to the rows in the Initial assessment sheet. One factor goes in each row, along with the relevant stakeholder. The main stakeholders are already written in the table to encourage you to consider all of them. It is important to consider whether there are any relevant impact factors for each of these stakeholders. Additional rows can be added if you have more than one impact factor for a particular type of stakeholder or if you identify additional stakeholders. The remaining columns can then be completed as described below. Comment boxes are attached to each column heading to provide a brief reminder of what goes in that column. Explanations of the columns Stakeholder: This indicates which parts of the company or process will be affected by the project. Some possibilities are given, together with some suggestions of things that would impact on those stakeholders. These possibilities are taken from the Impact factors sheet. Extra rows can be added if there is more than one impact factor for an individual stakeholder. Impact factor: This describes the factors that will impact on the business case for the specified stakeholders. These include costs, revenues and other drivers. Suggested impact factors are given in the Impact factors sheet. Type of cost/benefit: The impact factor can result in increased or decreased cost, increased or decreased revenue, or it may be h ard to quantify (Intangible). Click on the cells in this column to get a drop-down list of possibilities to choose from. Rationale: This column explains why you think the project will have the specified effect on the impact factor. For example, an inclusive design project may be expected to reduce support costs. The rationale behind this is that the inclusively designed product will have fewer usability problems. As usability problems cause many of the current calls to the helpline, there should be a reduction in calls and thus in support costs. Size of impact: In the initial assessment, you do not need to put in details of how

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the specified stakeholders. These include costs, revenues and other drivers. Suggested impact factors are given in the Impact factors sheet. Type of cost/benefit: The impact factor can result in increased or decreased cost, increased or decreased revenue, or it may be h ard to quantify (Intangible). Click on the cells in this column to get a drop-down list of possibilities to choose from. Rationale: This column explains why you think the project will have the specified effect on the impact factor. For example, an inclusive design project may be expected to reduce support costs. The rationale behind this is that the inclusively designed product will have fewer usability problems. As usability problems cause many of the current calls to the helpline, there should be a reduction in calls and thus in support costs. Size of impact: In the initial assessment, you do not need to put in details of how much money the impact factors will cost or return. A rough estimate of the size of the cost or benefit is enough. Click on the cells in this column to get a drop-down list of possibilities (Low, Medium and High impact) to choose from.

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Full cost-benefit calculation (cont)

Quantity: This estimates how much the indicator will change as a result of the project. The more accurate this estimate, the more accurate the cost-benefit calculation will be. In the example in the table, an estimate of 20% fewer support calls has been given. Value of the cost/ benefit: The indicator may not measure the impact factor directly in terms of money. For instance, the example in the table uses the number and length of support calls as its indicator, rather than their monetary cost. However, we need to know the value of the impact factor in terms of money in order to do the cost-benefit calculation. Therefore, this column specifies the monetary value of the change in the impact factor. A positive value in this column means that the company will gain money (increase revenue, reduce costs, etc) as a result of the project, while a negative value means that it will lose money. For example, the monetary value of 20% fewer support calls can be calculated from the current number of support calls and the cost per call. However, in some cases, it will not be possible to calculate the monetary value precisely and a rough estimate may have to be given. Value per month: The cost-benefit calculations need to know the value of the impact factor over a standard period. We have chosen a month for simplicity. If the cost or benefit is a one-off, then put its whole value in this column (and give a duration of 1 month in column M). If the cost or benefit is ongoing, then calculate it over the period of a month. For example, if 10,000 labels are produced a month and the extra cost for label is 0.02, then the extra cost comes to 200 a month. Evidence / reasoning for these figures: Give your reasons for giving these figures, with evidence where this is available. In the example in the table, this cell explains why we believe there will be 20% fewer support calls. You can also attach comment boxes to individual cells to give more details of your reasoning behind those cells. In the example, a comment box has been attached to the Value of the cost/benefit cell to explain that the monetary value is based on an individual support call costing 10. Likelihood of the change occurring: This gives the likelihood or probability that the cost or benefit you described will actually occur. A likelihood of 100% means that you are absolutely certain that it will happen (although, in practice you can never be 100% sure, so it would be safer to give 90% or 95%). A likelihood of 0% means that you are absolutely certain that it will not happen. Most likelihoods will be between 0% and 100% and indicate a level of uncertainty. For instance, the example uses an estimate of 60% to indicate that there is some risk that the inclusive design work will not catch the usability issues that people complain about in their support calls, but that this is fairly unlikely. If there is a possibility that the change may be greater than estimated (e.g. that the

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Value of the cost/benefit cell to explain that the monetary value is based on an individual support call costing 10. Likelihood of the change occurring: This gives the likelihood or probability that the cost or benefit you described will actually occur. A likelihood of 100% means that you are absolutely certain that it will happen (although, in practice you can never be 100% sure, so it would be safer to give 90% or 95%). A likelihood of 0% means that you are absolutely certain that it will not happen. Most likelihoods will be between 0% and 100% and indicate a level of uncertainty. For instance, the example uses an estimate of 60% to indicate that there is some risk that the inclusive design work will not catch the usability issues that people complain about in their support calls, but that this is fairly unlikely. If there is a possibility that the change may be greater than estimated (e.g. that the development costs will turn out to be higher than predicted), then you can give a likelihood of over 100%.

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Example Calculations
Some examples of full cost-benefit calculations are given in the Examples sheet. They are based around a fictional project that involves doing some inclusive design work to improve a product which has usability issues. This involves some design analysis and usability testing, as well as adding a label to the product. The example is fictitious and simplified but illustrates how to use the sheet. Some explanations of the reasoning behind the figures are given in the comment boxes attached to the cells in the spreadsheet.

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iversity of Cambridge, with the Centre for Business Innovation

ed from the Business case materials section within the Inclusive design toolkit website

Overview of the business case materials

It is often necessary to produce a business case for inclusive design, showing the value for a business of taking on a specific inclusive design project. This can be done on a variety of levels. A more informal business case may simply highlight the key benefits of the project. In contrast, a detailed cost-benefit analysis calculates the net-present value of the project and the payback period needed to provide a return on the initial investment. The business case materials are designed to help you to produce both kinds of business case. The materials are in the form of a spreadsheet with seven worksheets. The six main sheets look at different parts of the business case. They are intended to be used in the order given to build up a case step-by-step. The first few sheets can be used to construct a more informal business case, while the set as a whole can help you do a detailed costbenefit analysis. This set of instructions goes through each of the worksheets in turn, explaining what it is and how to use it: Possible impact factors Case studies General figures Initial impact assessment Full cost-benefit calculation Example calculations p3 p4 p4 p5 p6 p9

Example calculations

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Case studies
The Case studies sheet contains case studies of how inclusive design (and related areas of design) can affect the impact factors (i.e. the costs and benefits). Each case study has a reference number (in the first column), which is used to refer to it in the Impact factors sheet. The next few columns contain a brief summary of the study. The last two columns explain where the case study came from, usually a paper, book or web article. Where the article is available online, we have provided a link to it in the Weblink column (the links were checked and worked correctly as of Feb 2011). The Reference column refers to the list of references at the bottom of the sheet, where details of all the papers, books and articles are given. Some of these articles describe the studies in more detail, but some only give a brief summary, similar to what is provided in this sheet. These case studies are intended to help you to determine whether an impact factor will be relevant for your project. They can also serve as back-up evidence to convince others that an inclusive design project can really make a difference to the factors.

General figures
The General figures sheet contains more general numbers to help you estimate the size of the change in an impact factor. They are not relevant to all projects, but can provide a starting point in thinking this through. The sheet is structured in the same way as the Case studies sheet. Each row has a reference number (in the first column), which is used to refer to it in the Impact factors sheet. The next few columns contain a brief summary of the figures and how they relate to the impact factors. The last two columns explain where the figures came from, usually a paper, book or web article. Where the article is available online, there is a link to it in the Weblink column (the links were checked and worked correctly as of Feb 2011). The Reference column refers to the list of references at the bottom of the sheet, where details of all the articles are given. Some of these articles describe the studies in more detail, but some only give a brief summary, similar to what is provided in this sheet.

The sheet is structured in the same way as the Case studies sheet. Each row has a reference number (in the first column), which is used to refer to it in the Impact factors sheet. The next few columns contain a brief summary of the figures and how they relate to the impact factors. The last two columns explain where the figures came from, usually a paper, book or web article. Where the article is available online, there is a link to it in the Weblink column (the links were checked and worked correctly as of Feb 2011). The Reference column refers to the list of references at the bottom of the sheet, where details of all the articles are given. Some of these articles describe the studies in more detail, but some only give a brief summary, similar to what is provided in this sheet.

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Full cost-benefit calculation

If required, the Full calculation sheet can then be used to conduct a more detailed costbenefit analysis, and to calculate the NPV (Net Present Value) and payback period of the impact factors. It is not always necessary to do the full analysis and you can choose a level of analysis that fits your needs. WARNING This sheet contains embedded Excel calculations. These will not work if you cut and paste or move cells. So you must not: Cut and paste cells Move cells around You can: Copy, paste and delete cells To add a new row to the table, copy the whole of an existing row (including the intermediate calculation columns) and then insert it as a new row. To do this: Right click on the row number to the left of an existing row, then select Copy Right click on the row number just below where you want to insert a row, then select Insert Copied Cells The layout of the sheet The sheet has a similar format to the Initial assessment sheet and, in fact, the first four columns are the same. As with the previous sheet, an example is shown in the first row of the table (shaded in grey), and the cells for you to fill in are shaded in green. The results of the calculations are shaded in yellow. Some further examples of full cost-benefit calculations are given in the Examples sheet. Explanations of each of the columns are given below: Impact Factor Descriptions columns The first four columns of Full Cost-Benefit Calculation sheet are the same as in the Initial Impact Assessment sheet, and their entries can be copied directly from the previous sheet. Explanations of what these columns mean can be found on the previous page of these instructions.

the table (shaded in grey), and the cells for you to fill in are shaded in green. The results of the calculations are shaded in yellow. Some further examples of full cost-benefit calculations are given in the Examples sheet. Explanations of each of the columns are given below: Impact Factor Descriptions columns The first four columns of Full Cost-Benefit Calculation sheet are the same as in the Initial Impact Assessment sheet, and their entries can be copied directly from the previous sheet. Explanations of what these columns mean can be found on the previous page of these instructions. Size and Likelihood of Factors columns The next set of columns specify numbers that are important for calculating the costbenefit value of each impact factor. Indicator: This describes how you plan to measure the impact factor. If possible, it should be something specific and concrete that can be used to assess how much the factor is affected by the project. For example, to determine the change in support costs, you may decide to examine the number and length of support calls. p6

Full cost-benefit calculation (cont)

Duration (in months): This describes how long the change in the impact factor will last in months. If it is a one-off cost or benefit (e.g. the cost of usability testing), then put down a duration of one month, as this is the smallest time unit that can be put in this column. Otherwise, put the number of months the cost or benefit will last for. Please only use whole numbers of months. Many cost and benefits will last for as long as the product is in the market. Change per year: This column explains how the impact factor varies year-byyear. We have used a year rather than a month here, for simplicity. A one-off cost or benefit will have a change of -100% (i.e. its value in Year 2 and subsequent years will drop to 0). Ongoing costs and benefits may have either negative, positive or zero changes. A negative change means that the factor has less effect as time goes on. For example, novel features in a product may become less exciting to consumers over time. A positive change means that the factor has more effect over time. For example, a project may involve adding a new component to a product, and the cost of manufacturing this component may increase each year. A zero change means that the cost or benefit stays stable over the 5 year time period.

Cost/Benefit Calculation columns The remaining columns (with a yellow background) use the values you entered into the first parts of the table to calculate the cost/benefit of each impact factor over a period of 5 years. The overall cost/benefits for each year are also calculated and are shown at the bottom of each column. These values are calculated by the spreadsheet and you should not enter anything into these cells.

Summary results The NPV (Net Present Value) and payback period of the impact factors as a whole are calculated and displayed below the table. As before, these are calculated by the spreadsheet and you should not enter anything into these cells. The NPV also depends upon the Company Weighted Average Cost of Capital. This is also in a cell below the table and can be changed to reflect your companys situation. The payback period is given in months and describes how long it will take for the impact factors to pay back the cost of the initial investment. The payback period is a fairly simple estimate and does not use the weighted cost of capital (or discount rate).

Summary results The NPV (Net Present Value) and payback period of the impact factors as a whole are calculated and displayed below the table. As before, these are calculated by the spreadsheet and you should not enter anything into these cells. The NPV also depends upon the Company Weighted Average Cost of Capital. This is also in a cell below the table and can be changed to reflect your companys situation. The payback period is given in months and describes how long it will take for the impact factors to pay back the cost of the initial investment. The payback period is a fairly simple estimate and does not use the weighted cost of capital (or discount rate).

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Possible impact factors

Possible costs and benefits associated with an inclusive design project. Each section examines the factors associated with one stakeholder.
Is this significant for my project? Type of Cost / Benefit Case studies (ref numbers) General figures (ref numbers)

Impact Factor

How might inclusive design impact it?

Stakeholder: Strategy

Long-term development costs

Decreased cost

Inclusive design can reduce long-term development costs by reducing the need for architectural redesign to make future versions of the product easier to use.

Revenue for other parts Increased of the business revenue

Some designs can encourage sales of related products or the use of related services.

25

Meeting business objectives

Other benefit

Inclusive design can help to meet Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals and other aspects of the business objectives.

5,11

Other

Stakeholder: Development

Cost of change Decreased (making changes to the cost design)

Inclusive design can help to detect required changes early on (especially when these are due to usability and inclusivity problems). Changes are much easier and cheaper to make early in the development process.

1,33

1,2

Cost of project slippage Decreased (delayed time to cost market)

Inclusive design often reduces the risk of project slippage and reduces development timelines. This is because there is often less need for rework, as rework is often required due to incorrect design and miscommunication. In addition, the validity of designs can be confirmed at early stages of the project.

31

Documentation cost

Decreased cost

Inclusive products are often easier to explain and thus to document.

26

Development cost

Inclusive design can reduce overall development costs by helping developers to identify and focus on the relevant functionality, by Decreased detecting required changes early and by reducing the need for rework. There are also development costs associated with or Increased conducting inclusive design (e.g. staff costs, cost of running usability studies) but these are often outweighed by the overall cost cost reduction. Both of these should be considered in the cost-benefit calculation.

14,15

Appropriate functionality

Other benefit

Inclusive design enables you to prioritise the functionality that's important for customers rather than spending time developing undesired and unused features

31

4,5

Risk management

Other benefit

Inclusive design can help to improve risk management by testing the validity of designs early in project development.

Development effectiveness

Other benefit

Inclusive design can help to encourage good development practices, e.g. accessible websites need to be programmed in a clearer and more structured way.

Other

Stakeholder: Manufacturing

Decreased Some designs require different materials to be used in manufacturing the product. If this is the case, then the change in the cost of BOM (Bill of Materials) or Increased the materials should be considered. cost

Tooling costs

Decreased Different designs require different tooling set-ups which may cost different amounts. In particular, making a change to an existing or Increased product may incur retooling costs. cost

Production costs

Decreased or Increased The cost of producing each item (in addition to materials and tooling) may also be affected. cost

Other

Stakeholder: Sales

Advertising costs

Decreased cost

Inclusive design can improve marketability and thus reduce advertising costs. A positive press response and user response to an inclusive product can also reduce the need for advertising.

Retail costs

Decreased cost

Some projects may affect retail costs, e.g. making the stock management systems easier to use may improve staff efficiency and reduce retail costs.

Sales

Increased revenue

Inclusive design can result in increased sales for a variety of reasons. It increases the customer base and the likelihood of repeat customers. In addition, designs that are easy to use and meet the users' needs often "demo better and sell better". In the particular sector of e-commerce, websites that are designed to be usable and inclusive enjoy an increased visitor count and conversion rate.

5,6,7,9,11, 12,15,18, 21,22,25, 27,37,38, 39,40,41

7,8,9

Customer base

Other benefit

Inclusive design increases the customer base by enabling more people to use the product or service. This includes both people with reduced abilities and those who are limited by their environment (e.g. by noise, cold or limited bandwidth).

5,11,21

Repeat customers

Other benefit

Usable and inclusive designs are more likely to result in satisfied customers who will return and use the service again or buy another product from the company.

22

10,11,14

Brand

Other benefit

Inclusive design can improve the brand image and market perceptions of a company.

21

Differentiation

Other benefit

Inclusive design can help a product to stand out, particularly in a saturated market.

8,21

Longevity

Other benefit

Inclusive designs may last longer in the market (reducing long-term development costs and increasing the revenue from each version of the product)

Word-of-mouth recommendation/ condemnation

Other benefit

Inclusive design often leads to more customer satisfaction and thus to more word-of-mouth recommendation. It also avoids the wordof-mouth condemnation that often arises from poor usability.

16

Press response

Other benefit

Usable and inclusive designs can generate a positive press response (e.g. positive reviews), and avoid the negative publicity that can come from usability problems.

2,8,11

Ease of finding the desired products (specific to ecommerce sites)

Other benefit

An inclusively designed e-commerce website is easier to navigate and thus it is easier to find the desired products. This leads to an increase in sales.

20,36

12,13

Other

Stakeholder: Operations

Back office costs

Decreased cost

Some projects may affect back office costs, e.g. making distribution systems easier to use may improve staff efficiency.

Cost of returns

Decreased cost

Inclusive design can reduce the rate of returns, as some products are returned because the customers find them too difficult to use.

Support costs

Decreased cost

Inclusive products cause less usability problems and hence generate less support calls. However, note that introducing any change to a system can initially increase the number of support calls before they settle down to the new daily rate.

10,12,15, 17,18,19, 35

11,12,13

Training costs (internal)

Decreased cost

Fewer training materials and less training time are needed for more usable systems.

4,15,28,29

Maintenance costs

Decreased cost

Inclusive systems are often better structured and thus easier to maintain.

16

18

System costs (servers, Decreased databases, etc to keep cost the product running)

The system costs vary a lot depending on the nature of the product but need to be taken into account. An inclusive design example is that an inclusive website with clear and consistent navigation reduces unwanted page downloading and thus reduces bandwidth and server load.

16

Legal costs

Decreased cost

Inclusive products reduce the risk of legal action (and negative publicity) associated with inaccessibility.

23,24

User/employee satisfaction and productivity

Other benefit

More inclusive and usable systems can be used more efficiently by staff. In addition, less time is wasted by experienced staff providing assistance when new users encounter difficulties. Inclusive systems are also often more pleasant to use, increasing user and staff satisfaction.

3,13,14,16, 30,32,34, 55,56,57

Other

Case studies
Case studies of how inclusive design (and related areas of design) can affect the impact factors (cost and benefits). Weblink (if Reference number Company Issues it impacts on Company sector Details of case study
available) (Checked Feb 2011)

Reference

(Bias & Mayhew, Development (Cost "By correcting usability problems in the design phase, American Airlines reduced the cost of those fixes by http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide American Airlines Airline 1994) Quoted of change) 60-90%. in (Bevan, 2005) http:/news.bbc. co.uk/1/hi/prog Sales (Press The BBC ran the news headline "Bank upgrade is excluding blind..." after Amex made its credit card rammes/mone (Henry & Arch, Amex Finance response) statements less accessible in a format change ybox/7332216. 2010) stm http://www.w3. ARINC carried out work to improve the navigation and usability of their intranet pages. "Employees around http://www.hu Operations the world accepted the new design, since their usage models were taken into account. In fact, reverse cardHuman manfactors.co ARINC (Employee Intranet sort testing found that 96% of the users understood the new site's categorizations and task groupings, Factors m/about/arinc. productivity) compared with only 45% on the old design. [The usability company]'s turnaround time from data gathering International asp to finished design: only three weeks." (Bias & Mayhew, Operations Telecommuni http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide AT&T "As a result of usability improvements at AT&T, the company saved $2,500,000 in training expenses. 1994) Quoted (Training costs) cations in (Bevan, 2005) B&Q developed two easy-to-use DIY power tools, particularly considering the needs of older users. "Early Strategy (Business reports suggest healthy sales for each line, reflecting consumer support for B&Q's drive to make its own(Design objectives), Sales Product http://data.bolton.ac.uk/designonline/pages/pdf/b&q%20 B&Q label products more user-friendly." These products also fit with B&Q's "commitment to diversity in a Council, no (Sales, Customer design, Retail corporate vision statement: 'We want to be a great company that can be trusted to respect the quality of life date) base) of all the people and communities we touch.' " Sales, Operations (Cost of returns) Freestyle 750 BT handset was designed to be more inclusive. "Since its launch in July 08 sales have Telecommuni increased 20%. The inclusive design has also minimised product returns thereby improving profitability, cations despite higher manufacturing costs."

6 BT

(Clarkson et http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/betterdesign/wha al, 2010)

7 CNET

Sales

News and media

CNET started providing transcripts, an accessibility measure for people with visual impairments and saw a (Henry & Arch, http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/resources.html "30% increase in traffic from Google" 2010) Easy Living Home have "developed a new brand of inclusively designed bathrooms called LivingWorks which was launched with the first showroom in Eastbourne in July 2007. Several of these designs appear in the recent Government document Lifetime Homes & Lifetime Neighborhoods as examples of best practice. Alison was also delighted to receive two Kitchen & Bathroom Industry design awards for her inclusive kitchen and bathroom designs in the prestigious Ebb Review Industry Awards 2007." http://www.incl usivedesigntoo (Clarkson et lkit.com/better al, 2010) design/whatis/ whatis8.html

Sales 8 Easy Living Home (Differentiation, Press response)

Bathroom design

9 EuroClix website

Sales

Website (loyalty programme)

(Egger & de User trials were used to redesign the EuroClix Website before its launch. In its first six months, it Groot, 2000) convinced more than 30,000 users to sign up. This study clearly shows that consumers trust concerns can http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide Quoted in significantly be alleviated by providing relevant information when and where users need it. (Bevan,2005)

10

Ford Motor Company

Operations (Support costs)

Vehicle design

Design changes from one usability study at Ford Motor Company reduced the number of calls to the help line from an average of 3 calls to none, saving the company an estimated $100,000. HP developed a gesture-based keyboard to make technology accessible to non-English speakers in India and South-East Asia. The design was developed based on an understanding of the needs of the users and was iteratively tested with users. The resultant device has opened up new markets and "invigorated HP's bottom line by developing a vast new pool of loyal customers", as well as winning awards for technology innovation. The development of this devices helped HP to "meet its historical prime objective, 'listening attentively to customers to truly understand their needs, then delivering solutions that translate into customer success.' " IBM's Web presence has traditionally been made up of a difficult-to-navigate labyrinth of disparate subsites, but a recent [in 1999] redesign has made it more cohesive and user-friendly... According to IBM, the massive redesign effort is already paying dividends. The company says in the month after the February re-launch, traffic to the Shop IBM online store increased 120 percent, and sales went up a whopping 400 percent." (Battey, 1999) "On IBM's website, the most popular feature was the search function, because the site was difficult to navigate. The second most popular feature was the 'help' button, because the search technology was so ineffective." They did "a 10-week effort to redesign the site, involving more than 100 employees at a cost estimated 'in the millions.'" "In the first week after the redesign, use of the 'help' button decreased 84 per cent, while sales increased 400 per cent." (Usability Net, 2006)

(Kitsuse 1991) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

11 HP Labs

Strategy (Business objectives), Sales (Sales, Customer Technology base, Press response)

http://www.hu Human manfactors.co Factors m/about/hplab International s.asp

12 IBM

Sales, Operations (Support costs)

Website, technology

http://interface. (Battey, 1999); free.fr/Archives (Usability Net, /IBM_redesign 2006) _results.pdf

13 IBM

Operations (Employee productivity) Development (Development cost, Operations (Employee productivity) Development (Development costs), Sales, Operations (Support costs, Training costs)

Technology, internal computer system Government, internal computer system

'Design changes due to usability work at IBM resulted in an average reduction of 9.6 minutes per task, with http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide (Bevan, 2005) projected internal savings at IBM of $6.8 Million in 1991 alone.' (Karat 1990)" The Inland Revenue conducted usability procedures and methods, at a cost of 152,000. In terms of development costs alone, the return on investment (ROI) was 1:1.5. In addition, use benefits "are likely to be substantial, with 30,000 users whose time costs over one Euro a minute" and "usability testing verified that staff could complete task quickly and to acceptable quality standards on their first day of using the online system."

14 Inland Revenue

(TRUMP, http://www.usabilitynet.org/trump/case_studies/index.ht 2000)

15

Israel Aircraft Industries

Israel Aircraft Industries conducted usability procedures and methods, as a cost of about $27,000. They saw the following financial benefits: Aircraft - Savings in development costs of $330K. manufacturer - Increased sales estimated at $400K. - Reduced support/training costs estimated at $50K The total benefits were $780,000 with a cost-benefit ratio of 1:29.

(TRUMP, http://www.usabilitynet.org/trump/case_studies/index.ht 2000)

16 Legal & General

Sales, Operations (Maintenance costs, System costs, User satisfaction)

Finance

After usability and accessibility work, Legal & General observed the following benefits: - A reduction in maintenance costs of 66%. The average time for content maintenance was reduced from 5 days to 0.5 days, saving 200,000 a year - A 'significant improvement' in Google rankings and a 50% increase in natural search traffic - An increase of almost double in the number of visitors seeking quotes and buying Legal & General (Henry & Arch, http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/legal-and-general-case-s financial products online 2010) - Page load times were reduced by 75% and there was positive customer feedback on the noticeably improved performance of the site - Inaccessibility complaints were reduced to zero - The new site was accessible to mobile devices 100% return on investment (ROI) in 12 months

17 lucy.com

Operations (Support costs)

E-commerce

(Forrester , lucy.com found that improving descriptions and images on product pages meant that users did not have to 2001) Quoted call or email customer support with simple questions like What does a shirt look like from the back? The http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide in (Bevan, changes paid off when product-related inquiries dropped by more than 20%. 2005)

18 Microsoft

Operations (Support costs)

Software

(Reed, 1992) Microsoft tracks its support call costs and has seen a significant cost savings resulting from improving the http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide Quoted in usability of its products, such as Word. (Bevan, 2005) At Microsoft several years ago, Word for Windowss print merge feature was generating a lot of lengthy (average = 45 minutes) support calls. As a result of usability testing and other techniques, the user interface for the feature was adjusted. In the next release, support calls dropped dramatically; Microsoft recognized significant cost savings.

19 Microsoft

Operations (Support costs)

Software

(Bias & Mayhew, http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

20 move.com

Sales (Ease of finding the desired product, etc)

E-commerce

After move.com completed the redesign of the home search and contact an agent features based on a UI consulting firm's recommendations, users ability to find a home increased from Quoted in http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 62% to 98%, sales lead generation to real estate agents increased over 150%, and [move.coms] ability to (Bevan, 2005) sell advertising space on move.com improved significantly. (Vividence, 2001)

21 OXO

Sales (Sales, Customer base, Brand, Differentiation)

OXO's Good Grips range of kitchen products highlights Inclusive Design as its distinguishing feature. Sales http://www.oxo Product growth averaged 27% per year from 1991 to 2009 and the line has won over 150 international design .com/aboutOX OXO design, Retail awards The line has now grown to over 850 products, all developed based on the concept of Inclusive O.aspx Design. Staples.com determined that the key to online success and increased market share was to make its ecommerce site as usable as possible.. [They] spent hundreds of hours evaluating users' work environments, decision-support needs, and tendencies when browsing and buying office products and Human small business services through the Web. Methods included data gathering, heuristic evaluations, and http://www.humanfactors.com/about/staples.asp Factors usability testing... [They achieved these results]: 67% more repeat customers... 31-45% reduced drop-off International rates... 10% better shopping experience... 80% increased traffic... Increased revenue: It's hard to pinpoint cause and effect with certainty, but third-quarter 2000 sales were up 491% over the previous year and also increased over the second quarter. Sydney Olympic Games was required to pay $20,000 (Australian dollars) in damages due to poor accessibility (Henry & Arch, http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/socog-case-study 2010)

22 Staples.com

Sales (Sales, E-commerce Repeat customers)

23

Sydney Olympic Games

Operations (Legal costs)

Website (loyalty programme)

24

Target Corporation

Operations (Legal costs)

E-commerce

Target Corporation was taken to court by the US National Federation of the Blind over its website's inaccessibility to blind and visually impaired users. Target settled for damages of $6 million (US dollars) and attorney's fees and costs over $3.7 million. It also had to make its site fully accessible.

(Henry & Arch, http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/target-case-study 2010)

25

Unnamed companies

Sales

Website

Redesign without usability: "In several large studies conducted by MauroNewMedia during the past 5 years, it was clear that spending large sums on web site design (re-design) efforts produced almost no benefit it terms of improving the business performance of large E-Com offerings. In one large clients case, serial rehttp://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002) design efforts by several large web development firms used approximately $100 million in development fees. Yet the number of new customers declined, those retained remained level, and almost no customers were migrated to other services or were involved in cross purchasing of products or services."

26

Unnamed company

Development (Documentation cost)

Unknown

(Bias & Mayhew, "Usability work eliminated the need to reprint and distribute a manual, saving one company $40,000 in one http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted year" in (Bevan, 2005)

Unnamed 27 company

Sales

Unknown

(Wixon & "Wixon and Jones (1995) document a case study of a usability-engineered product that achieved revenues Jones, 1995) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide that were 80% higher than for the first release developed without usability engineering, and 60% above Referenced in project expectations." (Bevan, 2005)

28

Unnamed company

Operations (Training costs)

Unknown

Karat (1993) "documents a case study of a usability engineered product that required a one-hour training session as compared to one week of training for similar systems built and used within the organization. The http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide (Bevan, 2005) investment in usability save the organization millions of dollars in training costs and in the opportunity costs of the employees' time in the first year alone."

Unnamed 29 company

Operations (Training costs)

Unknown

"Usability engineering allowed another company to eliminate training and save $140,000"

30

Unnamed company

Operations (User satisfaction)

Unknown

"In a 1992 Gartner Group study, usability methods raised user satisfaction ratings for a system by 40%.

(Bias & Mayhew, http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted in (Bevan, 2005) (Bias & Mayhew, http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

Unnamed company (A large 31 commercial client of MauroNewMedia)

Development (Cost of project slippage, Development cost, Unknown Appropriate functionality)

In one large commercial client, the time to execute a quality assurance test fully was reduced by 85% because of a decrease in features brought about through the application of formal usability engineering and http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002) testing during the early phases of development. This amounted to a savings of approximately $15 million and a reduction in schedule by 18 months over the prior software development iteration.

Operations Unnamed 32 (Employee company (airline) satisfaction)

Airline

Unnamed company (E-Com Development (Cost 33 site selling E-commerce of change) consumer products)

One airlines IFE (In-flight Entertainment System) was so frustrating for the flight attendants to use that many of them were bidding to fly shorter, local routes to avoid having to learn and use the difficult systems. (Cooper, 1999) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide The time-honored airline route-bidding process is based on seniority. Those same long-distance routes Quoted in have always been considered the most desirable. For flight attendants to bid for flights from Denver to (Bevan, 2005) Dallas just to avoid the IFE indicated a serious morale problem. In one large study undertaken by MauroNewMedia involving an E-Com site selling consumer products... By applying professional usability testing in the design of the search query system, the E-Com site could http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf have been improved by a full order of magnitude. Waiting until the database and related search (Mauro, 2002) functionality was complete, however, meant spending more than $1 million in re-design and programming. The cost of a professional usability testing study early in development would have been about $25,000.

Unnamed company (major 34 computer company)

Operations (Employee productivity)

Internal computer system

With its origins in human factors, usability engineering has had considerable success improving productivity in IT organizations. For instance, a major computer company spent $20,700 on usability work to improve the sign-on procedure in a system used by several thousand people. The resulting productivity improvement saved the company $41,700 the first day the system was used. On a system used by over 100,000 people, for a usability outlay of $68,000, the same company recognized a benefit of $6,800,000 within the first year of the systems implementation. This is a cost-benefit ratio of $1:$100.

(Bias & Mayhew, http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

Unnamed 35 company (printer manufacturer)

Operations (Support costs)

Software

A certain printer manufacturer released a printer driver that many users had difficulty installing. Over (Bias & 50,000 users called support for assistance, at a cost to the company of nearly $500,000 a month. To Mayhew, correct the situation, the manufacturer sent out letters of apology and patch diskettes (at a cost of $3 each) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide 1994) Quoted to users; they ended up spending $900,000 on the problem. No user testing of the driver was conducted in (Bevan, before its release. The problem could have been identified and corrected at a fraction of the cost if the 2005) product had been subjected to even the simplest of usability testing. wrote the researcher. Creative Good found that "39 per cent of test shoppers failed in their buying attempts [to buy a holiday online] because sites were too difficult to navigate. Additionally, 56 per cent of search attempts failed".

36

Sales (Ease of Unnamed holiday finding the desired companies product)

E-commerce

(Usability Net, http://www.usabilitynet.org/management/c_business.htm 2006)

The following examples are about design rather than inclusivity or usability, but also serve to illustrate some of the issues: "Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham brought in designers The Workroom to give its communications and Castle Rock Communicatio graphics a more professional edge. Demand is now outstripping supply and the company's barrel sales Brewery ns design, growth has doubled." (Design http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Designs37 (redesigned Sales Food and - "Budget: Approximately 5,000 for initial concepts then further budget was agreed as the project Council, 2010) communications drink progressed" and graphics) - Benefits: Sales growth has doubled "High street music specialist HMV has had to react to massive changes in the way its customers buy music and video titles since the arrival of digital files and the internet. It used design to create a next generation HMV (examined (Design http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Designs38 Sales Retail store and whole new brand proposition. Sales at a trial store jumped by 25 per cent." customer use) Council, 2010) - Budget: Not disclosed - Benefits: 25% increase in sales at trial store "Scotch whisky drinking is in decline. So family company Ian Macleod Distillers employed designers to Ian Macleod Packaging create packaging for its new Smokehead whisky aimed at bringing younger consumers to the whisky Distillers (Design http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Designs39 Sales design, Food market. Sales have doubled since launch in 2006." (redesigned Council, 2010) and drink - Budget: 'A few thousand pounds' packaging) - Benefits: Sales have doubled

McCain 40 (redesigned packaging)

Sales

Packaging design, Food and drink

"Frozen food company McCain suffered badly following a backlash against poor diets and rising obesity, so it worked with designers Elmwood to rethink the way its packaging speaks to shoppers in supermarkets, promoting the product's natural ingredients and low fat. Sales have since blossomed to record levels." (Design http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Designs- Budget: 40,000 Council, 2010) - Benefits: "returned to growth in a declining market... household penetration of McCain Oven Chips is now at a record high... value share in the market rose from 16.6% to 18.3% between 2006 and 2007, following the relaunch"

41

Thistle Hotels (image overhaul)

Sales

"Thistle hotels is using an image overhaul by designers Navyblue to spearhead a multimillion-pound Image design, refurbishment and service improvement programme, and visitor numbers are already rising." Hospitality - Budget: Not disclosed - Benefits: Visitor numbers are rising

(Design http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/DesignsCouncil, 2010)

References
Battey, J. (1999). IBMs redesign results in a kinder, simpler web site. Available: http://interface.free.fr/Archives/IBM_redesign_results.pdf Bevan, N. (2005). Cost benefits evidence and case studies. Available at: http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evidence.pdf Bias, G. and Mayhew, D. (Eds.) (1994) Cost-Justifying Usability. Academic Press, New York

Clarkson, P. J., Coleman, R., Hosking, I. and Waller, S. (2010). Inclusive design toolkit. Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge. http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com Cooper, A. (1999). The inmates are running the asylum: Why high-tech products drive us crazy and how to restore the sanity. Indianapolis, Indiana: SAMS Creative Good (2000, June 12). The dotcom survival guide. Creative Good. Available: interface.free.fr/Archives/DotcomSurvivalGuide.pdf Design Council (2010). Designs to overcome a downturn. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Designs-to-overcome-a-downturn/ Design Council (no date). B&Q - power tools. Available from: http://data.bolton.ac.uk/designonline/pages/pdf/b&q%20power%20tools.pdf Egger, F. N. & de Groot, B. (2000). Developing a model of trust for electronic commerce: An application to a permissive marketing web site. Paper presented May 15-19, 2000 at the Poster proceedings of the 9th international world-wide Forrester Report (2001) Get ROI from design. Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA. Henry, S.L. and Arch, A (Eds) (2010) Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization. Published by W3C WAI. http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/ Human Factors International. Case Studies. http://www.humanfactors.com/about/casestudies-applications.asp Karat (1993) Cost-benefit and business case analysis of usability engineering. SIGCHI93, Amsterdam Kitsuse, A (1991) Why aren't computers... Across the Board (October) 28, 44-48 Landaur (1995) The Trouble with Computers. MIT Press Mauro, C.L. (2002). Professional usability testing and return on investment as it applies to user interface design for web-based products and services (a review of online v lab-based approaches). White paper. Available at: http://www.ergo OXO. Company website: About OXO. http://www.oxo.com/AboutOXO.aspx Reed, S. (1992) Who defines usability? You do! PC Computing (Dec), 220-232 TRUMP (2000). Cost Effective User Centred Design. The TRUMP Project. http://www.usabilitynet.org/trump Usability Net (2006) The business case for usability. http://www.usabilitynet.org/management/c_business.htm Wixon, D. and Jones, S. (1995). Usability for fun and profit: A case study of the re-design of the VAX RALLY. In: Human-Computer Interface Design: Success Stories, Emerging Methods,and Real-World Context. Marianne Rudisill, Clayton

General figures
General numbers to help you estimate the size of the changes in the impact factors Weblink (if Reference number Company
N/A (General 1 figures)

Issues it impacts on

Company sector

Details of case study

"A change may cost 1.5 units of project resource during conceptual design, 6 units during early development, 60 during systems testing and 100 during post-release maintenance"

available) (Checked Feb 2011)

Reference

Development (Cost General of change)

(Pressman, 1992) Quoted http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide in (Bevan, 2005)

N/A (General figures)

Development (Cost General of change)

"Solving one serious usability problem early in the development cycle may require minimal costs in terms of actual usability testing fees. Leaving that same problem until after launch, however, will cost at least 100 http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002) times as much to fix. In studies by MauroNewMedia, the actual cost of solving complex usability problems after beta was closer to 1000 times original costs" "The Standish Group (2003) found that only 34% of IT projects completed were on time, on budget, and delivering the functionality required; 51% of IT projects were 'challenged'meaning that they were not on time, not on budget, or not delivering the functionality required; and 15% of IT projects failed or were abandoned. One of the major causes is inadequate user requirements" In traditional software, and even more so in large E-com web development efforts, about 5% of features available to the customer are used 95% of the time. A more staggering statistic is the fact that some 70% of user-interface design features are never or rarely used. "More than 95% of your customers will use less than 5% of the features and functions of your site. Customers will NEVER use about 75% of the functions on your site" In discussing the elimination of unnecessary features through usability testing, Mauro says that "For every $10 spent defining and solving critical usability problems early in development using professional usability research, you will save about $100 in development costs"

N/A (General figures)

Development costs Software

http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide (Bevan, 2005)

N/A (General 4 figures)

Development (Appropriate functionality)

Software, Websites

http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002)

N/A (General figures)

Development (Appropriate functionality)

General

http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002)

N/A (General figures)

Sales (Advertising costs)

General

"For every dollar spent acquiring a customer you will spend $100 dollars reacquiring them after they leave because of poor usability or bad customer service"

http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002)

N/A (General 7 figures)

Sales (Ease of finding the desired product)

E-commerce

"You can increase sales on your site as much as 225% by offering sufficient product information to your customers at the time they need it. One way to do this is to develop product lists that dont require shoppers (User Interface to bounce back-and-forth between the list and individual product pages... [Customer who did bounce back http://www.uie.com/publications/whitepapers/PogoStick Engineering, and forth] added only 11% of the items to their carts. In contrast, shoppers who encountered lists that 2001) displayed the right amount of relevant information added 55% of the products to their shopping carts"

N/A (General figures)

Sales

E-commerce

Creative Good estimated that improving the customer experience of e-commerce increases the conversion (Creative http://interface.free.fr/Archives/DotcomSurvivalGuide.pd rate (and hence the number of buyers) by 40% and the order size by 10%. Good, 2000)

N/A (General 9 figures)

Sales (Sales, Ease of finding the E-commerce desired product)

"For every dollar you spend improving the visual design or style of your site, you will receive virtually no improvement in sales. The same dollar spent on improving core behavioral interactions with your site's http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002) critical way-finding and form-filling functions will, however, return $50-100 if executed in a professional and rigorous manner"

10

N/A (General figures)

Sales (Repeat customers)

E-commerce

"42% of US Web buying consumers made their most recent online purchase because of a previous good experience with the retailer"

(Forrester, 2001) Quoted http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide in (Bevan, 2005)

11

N/A (General figures)

Sales (Repeat customers)

E-commerce

One study found that new users at a merchant site spent an average of $127 per purchase, while repeat users spent almost twice as much, with an average of $251"

(Nielsen, http://useit.com/alertbox/9708a.html 1997)

12

N/A (General figures)

Sales (Ease of finding the desired product)

E-commerce

A study from Zona Research found that 62% of Web shoppers have given up looking for the item they wanted to buy online (and 20% had given up more than three times during a two-month period)"

(Nielsen, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981018.html 1998)

13

N/A (General figures)

Sales (Ease of finding the desired product)

E-commerce

In Jared Spool's study of 15 large commercial sites users could only find information 42% of the time even (Nielsen, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981018.html though they were taken to the correct home page before they were given the test tasks" 1998)

14

N/A (General figures)

Sales

"3.1 million U.S. adults have discontinued their use of online banking... because they find the service too E-commerce, complicated or were dissatisfied with the level of customer service" Finance "only 35 per cent of online bankers that discontinued their service were inclined to try it again."

(Usability Net, http://www.usabilitynet.org/management/c_business.htm 2006)

N/A (General 15 figures)

Operations (Support costs)

E-commerce

37% of online consumers have used customer support on a site. B2B [Business to Business] companies estimate that online service is $5 to $25 cheaper, per incident service

(Forrester, 2001) Quoted http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide in (Bevan, 2005)

16

N/A (General figures)

Operations (Support costs)

Internal computer system

"Because in-house PCs are often hard to use, companies have to provide about $3150 worth of technical support for every user"

(Gartner Group, 1997) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

17

N/A (General figures)

Operations (Support costs)

Websites

"The single largest predictor of call center volume is your website's usability. Calls cost an average $22$30 per call."

http://www.ergonomia.ca/doc/UsabTesting&ROI.pdf (Mauro, 2002)

N/A (General 18 figures)

Operations (Maintenance costs)

Software

80% of software life cycle costs occur during the maintenance phase. 80% of maintenance is due to unmet or unforeseen user requirements; only 20% is due to bugs or reliability problems.

(Pressman, 1992) Quoted http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide in (Bevan, 2005)

N/A (General 19 figures)

Operations (Employee productivity)

Software

(Landauer The average software program has 40 design flaws that impair employees' ability to use it. The cost in lost 1995) Quoted http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide productivity is up to 720%. in (Bevan, 2005)

20

N/A (General figures)

Operations (Employee productivity)

Internal computer system

"Non-technical employees take 4-10% of their time to help co-workers solve their computer problems at a cost of $10,500 a year for each computer (Nolan Norton Institute, 1997)"

Quoted in http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide (Bevan, 2005)

21

N/A (General figures)

Operations (Employee productivity)

Internal computer system

"Unproductive activities with computers (support and housekeeping, response time delays, checks for accuracy, etc) cost another $5590 per computer per year"

(Gartner Group, 1997) http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evide Quoted in (Bevan, 2005)

References

Bevan, N. (2005). Cost benefits evidence and case studies. Available at: http://www.usabilitynet.org/papers/Cost_benefits_evidence.pdf Creative Good (2000, June 12). The dotcom survival guide. Creative Good. Available: interface.free.fr/Archives/DotcomSurvivalGuide.pdf Forrester Report (2001) Get ROI from design. Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA. Landaur (1995) The Trouble with Computers. MIT Press Mauro, C.L. (2002). Professional usability testing and return on investment as it applies to user interface design for web-based products and services (a review of online v lab-based approaches). White paper. Available at: http://www.ergo Nielsen, J. (1997) Loyalty on the web. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, August 1, 1997. http://useit.com/alertbox/9708a.html Nielsen, J. (1998). Failure of corporate websites. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, October 18, 1998. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/981018.html Pressman, R.S. (1992). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach. McGraw Hill, NY Usability Net (2006) The business case for usability. http://www.usabilitynet.org/management/c_business.htm User Interface Engineering (2001). Are the product lists on your site losing sales?. http://www.uie.com/publications/whitepapers/PogoSticking.pdf

Initial assessment

Initial impact assessment

Project Name: Date:

Stakeholder Example Operations Strategy < Possible factors: Long-term development costs, Revenue for other parts of the business, Business objectives, Other > Development < Possible factors: Cost of change, Time to market, Documentation, Development costs, Other > Manufacturing < Possible factors: Bill of Materials, Tooling, Production, Other > Sales <Possible factors: Advertising, Retail, Sales, Brand, Press response, Longevity, Other > Operations < Possible factors: Back office, Returns, Support, Training, Maintenance, System costs, Legal issues, User/Employee productivity, Other >

Impact Factor Descriptions Type of Cost / Benefit Impact Factor (choose from drop-down list)

Rationale

Size of Impact (choose from drop-down list)

Support

Decreased cost

Fewer calls to support helpline as many calls are about usability problems

High

7/25/2013 4:44 AM

ID-1 Cost / Benefit Analysis

CfBI EDC 2011

Initial assessment

7/25/2013 4:44 AM

ID-1 Cost / Benefit Analysis

CfBI EDC 2011

Initial assessment
Values for the drop- Types of Cost / down lists in the table Benefit Factor Increased cost Decreased cost Increased revenue Decreased revenue Intangible Size of Impact Low Medium High

7/25/2013 4:44 AM

ID-1 Cost / Benefit Analysis

CfBI EDC 2011

Full calculation

Full cost-benefit calculation

Project Name: Date:

Values for the drop-down lists in the table

Types of Cost / Benefit Factor Increased cost Decreased cost Increased revenue Decreased revenue

WARNING
This spreadsheet contains embedded Excel calculations. These will break if you 'cut and paste' or 'move' cells. So you must not: * Cut and paste cells * Move cells around You can: * Copy, paste and delete cells To add a new row to the sheet: * Copy the whole of an existing row (including the intermediate calculation columns) and then insert it as a new row. To do this: - right click on the row number to the left of an existing row, then select "Copy" - right click the row number where you want to insert a row, then select "Insert Copied Cells"
Impact Factor Descriptions Stakeholder Example Development Strategy < Possible factors: Long-term development costs, Revenue for other parts of the business, Business objectives, Other > Development < Possible factors: Cost of change, Time to market, Documentation, Development costs, Other > Manufacturing < Possible factors: Bill of Materials, Tooling, Production, Other > Sales <Possible factors: Advertising, Retail, Sales, Brand, Press response, Longevity, Other > Operations < Possible factors: Back office, Returns, Support, Training, Maintenance, System costs, Legal issues, User/Employee productivity, Other > WARNING: The only way to correctly add a new row is by copying an entire row and then inserting it. Net Cost / Benefit: Company Weighted Average Cost of Capital NPV (Net Present Value) of above Impact Factors Payback period (simple estimate, does not use the weighted cost of capital) 10% Development costs: Cost of Increased cost inclusive design work Some inclusive design work is necessary in the redesign to identify how best to address the usability problems and to make sure the new product is inclusive. Time taken to do the work, extra costs of Initial work: 3 developers, 3 days. Testing: 1 - 6,650 - 6,650 A developer costs 60/hour (including overheads). Participants cost 20. 110% 1 -100% - 7,315 0 0 0 0 Impact Factor Type of Cost / Benefit Rationale Indicator Quantity Value of the How will you How much cost/benefit measure the change do (in money) factor? you expect? Size and Likelihood of Factors Likelihood Evidence/ reasoning of the for these figures change occurring Cost/Benefit for Year: Duration Change per year (in months) How will the value How long will the vary year-by-year? change last? 1 2 3 4 5 Likeliho Duration od of the (in change months) occurrin Cost/Benefit for Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Value per month

110%

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0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0%

0 Net cost/ben efit

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Accumulated 0.00 cost/benefit 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 if cost/benefit 0 is still 0 negative 0 0

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Payback period 0

0 months

7/25/2013 4:44 AM

ID-1 Cost / Benefit Analysis

CfBI EDC 2011

Examples

Example calculations
Project Name:
This example project focuses on a product which is generating a lot of calls to the helpline about usability problems. The proposed project involves doing some inclusive design work to improve the product. Initial indications suggest that the main change will involve adding a label to the product. This example is fictitious and simplified but illustrates how to use the "Full CostBenefit Calculation" sheet. Impact Factor Descriptions Stakeholder Impact Factor Type of Cost / Benefit Rationale Indicator Quantity Value of the How will you How much cost/benefit measure the change do (in money) factor? you expect? Time taken Initial work: 3 to do the developers, - 6,650 work, extra 3 days. costs of Testing: 1 Extra cost of label Number and length of the support calls 1 label per product 20% (200) fewer calls per month - 0.02 per product 2000/ month Size and Likelihood of Factors Likelihood Value per Evidence/ reasoning of the month for these figures change occurring A developer costs 60/hour (including - 6,650 110% overheads). Participants cost 20. The cost per label is taken from the materials cost book. Based on production 30% of support calls about the current product are about usability. Cost/Benefit for Year: Duration Change per year (in months) How will the value How long will the vary year-by-year? change last? 1 -100% 1 2 3 4 5 Likeliho Duration od of the (in change months) occurrin Cost/Benefit for Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Values for the drop-down lists in the table

Types of Cost / Benefit Factor Increased cost Decreased cost

Increased revenue Decreased revenue Intangible

Development

Development Some inclusive design work is necessary in costs: Cost of the redesign to identify how best to address Increased cost inclusive design the usability problems and to make sure the work new product is inclusive. Bill of Materials Increased cost The redesign adds a label to the product.

- 7,315

110%

######

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Manufacturing

- 200

100%

60

5%

- 2,400

- 2,520

- 2,646

- 2,778

- 2,917

100%

60

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-200.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-210.0

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-220.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-231.5

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

-243.1

Operations

Support

Decreased cost

Fewer calls to support helpline as many calls are about usability problems

2,000

60%

60

0% Net Cost / Benefit:

14,400

14,400

14,400

14,400

14,400

60%

60 Net cost/ben efit

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

1,200.0

4,685

11,880

11,754

11,622

11,483

######

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

1,000.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

990.0

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

979.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

968.5

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

956.9

Company Weighted Average Cost of Capital NPV (Net Present Value) of above Impact Factors Payback period (simple estimate, does not use the weighted cost of capital)

10%

Accumulated ###### cost/benefit ###### ###### ###### 1 if cost/benefit 1 is still 1 negative 1 1

######

######

-315.0

685.0

1,685.0

2,685.0

3,685.0

4,685.0

5,675.0

6,665.0

7,655.0

8,645.0

9,635.0

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

######

Payback period 8

37,976

8 months

7/25/2013 4:44 AM

ID-1 Cost / Benefit Analysis

CfBI EDC 2011