Supporting Human-Centered Function Allocation Processes Through Animated Formal Models

Abstract

Function allocation (FA) refers to the distribution of work across human and machine elements of sociotechnical systems. FA has an important impact on the shaping of the human operators’ roles within the final system and consequently on the resulting human-machine system’s performance and, in particular, on the system’s safety when dealing with a safety-critical working environment such as the operation of an aircraft. It is therefore indispensable to seek for ways to efficiently incorporate the knowledge of human factors specialists and domain experts into the function allocation process. There is a strong need for a suitable design-artefact that facilitates a meaningful communication between engineers, human factors specialists and domain experts for use early in the design cycle. The paper proposes the employment of formal process models coupled with graphical animation to support a structured, scenario-based FA process. The role of the process model covers aspects such as the generation of a wide range of potential system scenarios and the systematic selection of the most critical scenarios as an input to the FA-process and the stakeholder workshops. The main purpose of the animation consists in facilitating an efficient communication and shared understanding of both the scenarios and the potential automation options among the different stakeholders in the design process. Characteristics and application points for the different functions of the model and visualisations within the FA-process are pointed out in the paper and an outlook is given on the application of the proposed method in the development of a pilot-support system for future aircraft approach procedures.