Portal de projetos da UFSM: percepção dos usuários e proposição de melhorias

Abstract

This research aims to identify the level of users’ satisfaction of the UFSM project portal and to make proposals for improvement in the system. The data collection procedure was developed in two stages: the first part, the qualitative, was performed through an interview. In the second part, the quantitative, a survey was applied. Data collection from the first stage involved the application of twelve interviews to users of the project portal. A structured interview, composed of 45 questions and divided into seven blocks was chosen. For the research, a structured questionnaire was applied with 68 closed questions subdivided into four blocks. For the first two blocks, a five-point likert scale was used, including 47 questions adapted from Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988, Goodhue and Thompson, 1995, Venkatesh et al., 2003, Klopping and McKinney 2004, and Pereira et al. 2011, which aim to evaluate the satisfaction of users of the Portal. The third block consists of 10 questions that analyze the use of the project portal. Finally, the last block with 11 profile questions. This structure, before its application, was submitted to expert evaluation and to the pre-test. The data analysis procedure involved three steps: in the first part, the qualitative, content analysis was performed. In the second part, the quantitative, four analysis techniques were applied: descriptive analysis, exploratory factorial analysis, t-test and ANOVA with Post Hoc. The last step consisted in triangulation of data. The results indicate, from the perspective of the respondents, that there was some resistance in the use of the platform after the change of the SIE to the Project Portal, mainly due to failures in the implementation process, such as lack of user training, absence of a process of awareness and dissemination, and absence of a period of tests and transition. Most of the respondents realize difficulties in the financial matters of the projects, such as: the work plan, budget, indicators, goals and phases. In the quantitative part, the results indicate that the majority did not show difficulties of interaction with the project portal, declared to be able to use the system, considered the system useful in their professional activities, informed that it allows the accomplishment of tasks faster than when they were carried out in the SIE, which improved the project registration process in relation to the SIE, and which presents a level of detail sufficient for its needs. However, they still report having some difficulty in registering projects and do not find it obvious and easy to find the information. Thus, it can be seen that, in general, the most difficult items highlighted by the participants are the budget, goals and indicators. Therefore, it is necessary to make some improvements to make the platform more intuitive, to develop a tutorial with detailed information about the financial data, mainly phases, goals and indicators, and to carry out training for users. Therefore, it is up to the institution to improve the system to make it simpler in these issues and to develop activities that train the servers in order to minimize these gaps.