Towards User Interface Patterns for ERP Applications on Smartphones

Aim of this paper is to identify recurring user interface tasks of Enterprise Resource Planning applications for smartphones. The identified tasks are used to build reusable user interface design patterns. The proposed patterns aim to accelerate the application design process and improve the user experience across different ERP applications through a consistent user interface. Twenty existing ERP applications for smartphones were analyzed using a task analysis approach. The resulting task trees are examined in terms of recurring, cross-application user interface tasks. The results revealed that the examined applications are mainly focused on selecting, presenting and manipulating business objects. The identified tasks were used to build corresponding user interface patterns. Finally, the patterns were structured through a pattern catalogue.