IRCTC
"Evaluating App Usability: Identifying Issues and Providing Targeted Recommendations"
Team : Omprakash, Alric, Ashwin, Shreyas
Roles: Usability Testing, User Research, Heuristic Evaluation
Project Duration: 4 Weeks
Project Overview
The IRCTC app is the official mobile application of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), which allows users to book railway tickets online and offers additional services related to train travel within India. It operates as a public sector entity, with the majority of ownership held by the Government.
AIM
The aim of this study is to assess the app’s usability and suggest recommendations based on the identified issues.
Heuristic Evaluation
An Informal review was also conducted as it is a quicker, inexpensive and non-intensive method as compared to usability testing. To evaluate the problems with relation to heuristics.
Literature Review
Conclusion: This proves that the app is being actively used by Indian citizens and by different types of age groups.
Usability Testing
Goal
To evaluate how efficiently and smoothly users can begin navigating and utilizing the app.
The Tasks
We aimed to explore various use cases, keeping in mind that the IRCTC app caters to a broad and diverse user base.
Pilot Test
A pilot test was conducted before the actual test to catch any mistakes in our process.
The pilot test helped us understand how to correctly capture the user interaction. Initially we attempted to screen record on the participants phone but realized that recording the participants screen from our side was easier to manage. It also asked less from the participant in the actual test.
We were also able to check the task flow and examine the script and observation sheet.
Results
System Usability Score
SUS is a method used to measure usability. It consists of 10 questions with 5 options from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The questionnaire was administered to participants after conducting the usability test.
The average SUS score obtained was 49 ☹️
The IRCTC app got a grade 5 which is considered awful. This meant that the app has major usability issues which prevents users from achieving their goals. This was consistent with our observations from the testing sessions.
Results
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