ABSTRACT
The control of a ship and its services is carried out within the Platform Management System (PMS). There is sound evidence that there are problems within current Royal Navy (RN) PMSs. The status information, warnings and alarms are displayed, acknowledged and controlled in ways that do not match user characteristics. In fact, the general design concept that appears to have been applied in many cases seems to be more associated with the design of electromechanical dials. In this case, the physical measure from a sensor (status) is available plus additional information on whether it is slightly different from a desired range (a warning) or substantially different from that range (an alarm). This is an ‘equipment centred’ approach to displaying information and takes little account of the users’ characteristics. In the past, this may have been the only information that could have been provided in non-computer based systems. However, in current and future systems this can be judged a very limited approach.
