What is Input Design? Objectives of Input Design

Input Design: Input design is the process of converting user-originated input format to a computer based format. This computer based format is called as input form or source document.

Objective of Input Design

1. Input forms must be complete & accurate.
2. There should be not any inconsistency of data in input forms.
3. Input forms should be attractive to the user.
4. Assuring input meets the intended purpose.
5. Input forms must be easy to fill out.

Input Data

In entering data, operators need to know the following;

1. Size of each field.
2. Field sequence.
3. The format in which data fields are entered.

When we approach input data design, we design the source documents that capture the data & then select the media used to enter them into the computer.

Source Documents

Source data are captured initially on original paper or a source document.

Eg.

• A check written against an account is a source document.
• Each source document may be evaluated in terms of
• In continued use in the proposed system.
• The extent of modification for the proposed system.
• Replacement by an alternative source document.

Input Media & Devices

Source data are input into the system in a variety of ways. The following media can be used

• Punched cards
• Keyboard
• OCR
• OMR
• Monitor is used for online data entry.

Input Verification & Control

If incorrect data enters the system, it is usually very costly to make the necessary corrections. There are many methods which are commonly used to verify data. Some of them are;

1. Key verification
2. Use of self checking numbers
3. Visually displaying on identifying characteristics
4. Hash totals
5. Checking between a range of numbers
6. Verification of data type
7. Verification of codes
8. Sequence check

How to design Input form

The steps for input form design are

1. Detailed study of user-originated documents
2. Study of data dictionary
3. Capturing of fields from user originated documents or data dictionary
4. Identification of fields whether they are constants or variables
5. Studying of SRS(Software Requirements Specification) document
6. Designing on input forms on the basis of both SRS and user-originated forms

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