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supervised_user_circle DMS MMCM Programe

DMS TSAM JavaFx app

Read about experimentation of the QDS on the DMS “TSAM HMI” project.

The QDS has been experimentally deployed on the DMS “TSAM HMI” project. This product is a revamp of an existing user interface, used by Marine force operators to remotely control a sonar system towed by an unmanned surface vehicle during mine hunting operations at sea. During the interface Design process, various desktops and widgets have been built from the ground-up to provide an unprecedented user experience. The diversity of widgets and interface elements makes it an interesting use-case to deploy Quantum on a typical Defence Mission Systems application.

Quantum project

Scope

This case study was focused on the technological point of view; the experimental migration of the TSAM JavaFx fat-client app to QDS and capture of the related costs and feedback from DMS employees about the before/after QDS effect. The initial experiment proceeded with the following objectives:

1. Apply Quantum colours on JavaFx styles sheets by using tokens (Design values attributes)
2. Launch a poll; previous release of TSAM vs TSAM based on Quantum
3. Better estimate the Quantum migration costs for JavaFx apps

DMS Points of contact Designer: Julien FERRAND
Developer: Paul DIELENSCHNEIDER

Rescoping to go further

After providing the Quantum Figma access, the tokens and giving clear guidance on how to proceed, the Quantum colours migration and the poll survey were completed. However, note that, the TSAM team QDS hands-on took time, the tokens were not directly compatible with JavaFx and an adaptation was required. This first step was interesting for the Quantum core team to document tokens and enable the capture of business insights on the kind of Dark patterns we should consider for QDS.

Early feedback indicated that the QDS touch application was weak and according to the survey results, the experimental outcome did not achieve the desired level of impact. We needed to go further in aligning TSAM to the QDS.

Which is why we extended the scope of the experimentation and formulated new objectives:

1. Extend the application of the QDS foundations to shadows and icons, still by using tokens. We avoided the application of QDS grid and typo as this would disturb the existing interface information architecture and require significant design rework.
2. Co-design and implement sonar business-oriented components for JavaFx based on the Quantum foundations
3. Integrate Quantum tabs, toggle, buttons by implementing the JavaFx variants
4. Relaunch the poll with the extended scope and capture feedbacks
5. Estimate the related Quantum migration costs for JavaFx apps

Outcomes

The second iteration of experimentation produced more convincing results.

The QDS shadows and icons were applied, the app main navigation was placed at the top instead of the bottom of the interface as recommended by QDS guidelines, the tabs, toggle, buttons and even sonar business components were implemented for JavaFx and integrated to the app.

A new poll was launched to compare the preference of DMS employees (pseudo users) between TSAM vs TSAM based on Quantum, capturing feedback on:

• Look & feel - visual rendering and aesthetic
• Readability - easiness of reading
• Branding - Thales brand image and Touch

30 people participated and the results show a general preference for TSAM with QDS.

Some users even took the time to write comments that helped the TSAM team to collect pain poins, preferences, that mostly reside in readability, lack of gradients, and colour schemes.

Migration costs

At the end of the case study, the team conducted a migration cost analysis. The TSAMxQuantum migration required 40 days of effort. With a TSAM development cost in the order of millions, the product team indicated that the migration cost was reasonable and acceptable, particularly considering the additional benefits realised.

TSAM is part of the MMCM (Maritime Mine Counter Manager) program which includes 3 sub-systems for drone mine warfare, the team estimate the need for approximately 100 days to migrate the full software suite.

Deliveries

• Implementation of Quantum JavaFx components; tabs, toggle, buttons, and sonar business components
• Package is coming...

Discover more about the poll study

A website by using Quantum CSS package was created to host the poll on-line.

3 major TSAM interfaces were evaluated, the participants were able to use a vertical slider in order to change the interface and look and apply with/without Quantum rendering.

Each evaluated interface had a business goal description and a section to vote and provide free feedback.

The following visual shows that the participant is visualizing 25% of the interface with Quantum on the left side and the rest of the interface without Quantum.