Design Pattern: RF(5) Lists

Context

A set of incoming alarms has been registered. After getting an overview of the status of the controlled process, the human operator would like to access to a more detailed information. The human operator would like to see the order in which alarms occurred, which is often useful for diagnosis of the underlying problem.

Problem

The human operator needs to understand the chronological order of alarms.

Solution

Show alarm information in tables and arranged it in a chronological order. A table is a display containing alphanumeric characters arranged by rows and columns. A table should be constructed so that row and column labels represent the information a user has prior to consulting the table. The left-most column should contain the labels for the row variables, and the top row should contain the labels for the column variables. When a table of numbered alarms exceeds one display page, the items should be numbered continuously in relation to the first item on the first page.

Known uses
Fig1. Alarm table displaying the chronological order of alarms in a CAS data logger interface.
Fig2.Alarm summary in a list provided by the Toshiba’s SCADA system
Rationale

Lists have been characterized as useful in both retaining information about the order in which alarms occurred and displaying low-level detail alarm information (12. Stanton, N., Booth, R., & Stammers, R. (1992). Alarms in human supervisory control: A human factors perspective. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 5(2), 81-93. )
Relations