Guidelines for Development and Evaluation of Usage Data Analytics Tools for Human-Machine Interactions with Industrial Manufacturing Systems

We present the lessons learned during the development and evaluation process for UX-sensors, a visual data analytics tool for inspecting logged usage data from flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Based on the experiences during a collaborative development process with practitioners from one FMS supplier company, we propose guidelines to support other developers of visual data analytics tools for usage data logging in context of complex industrial systems. For instance, involving stakeholders with different roles can help to identify user requirements and generate valuable development ideas. Tool developers should confirm early access to real usage data from customers' systems and familiarize themselves with the log data structure. We argue that combining expert evaluations with field study methods can provide a more diverse set of usability issues to address. For future research, we encourage studies on insights emerging from usage data analytics and their impact on the viewpoints of the supplier and customer.