User interface design and evaluation for control room

User interface technology is an integral element of modern information and communications systems. This paper describes the outcomes of a field study that sought to design, develop, and evaluate a user interface suitable for an Incident Management System. Initially, the study comprised interviews and questionnaires used to examine how current systems are used, determine key issues facing current users, and identify the functions, features and behaviours a new system should exhibit. Subsequently, a mock-up was tested by potential end-users. All user feedback was incorporated into a set of design guidelines for the multimodal user interface of the new system. Preliminary analysis of the mock-up interface suggests that a 37% improvement in task time-to-completion could be achieved, together with 59% reduction in missed calls from a variety of contacts.