UX Evaluation Design of UTAssistant: A New Usability Testing Support Tool for Italian Public Administrations

Since 2012, usability testing in Italian public administration (PA) has been guided by the eGLU 2.1 technical protocols, which provide a set of principles and procedures to support specialized usability assessments in a controlled and predictable way. This paper describes a new support tool for usability testing that aims to facilitate the application of eGLU 2.1 and the design of its User eXperience (UX) evaluation methodology. The usability evaluation tool described in this paper is called UTAssistant (Usability Tool Assistant). UTAssistant has been entirely developed as a Web platform, supporting evaluators in designing usability tests, analyzing the data gathered during the test and aiding Web users step-by-step to complete the tasks required by an evaluator. It also provides a library of questionnaires to be administered to Web users at the end of the usability test. The UX evaluation methodology adopted to assess the UTAssistant platform uses both standard and new bio-behavioral evaluation methods. From a technological point of view, UTAssistant is an important step forward in the assessment of Web services in PA, fostering a standardized procedure for usability testing without requiring dedicated devices, unlike existing software and platforms for usability testing.