Reducing errors

Obviously, every effort has to be made to minimise the number of errors that can occur in a computer system.

There are various methods which can help to achieve this goal:

The use of automatic data entry, where there is no need for the keying in of data, removes the possibility of transcription errors.

As a transpositional error is a very common form of typing error, it is crucial it is avoided as far as possible. Paper forms need to be designed with great care so that the chances of errors being made are kept to a minimum.

A data entry screen should be designed to follow the layout of data on the paper form. Mistakes are more likely to be made if the eye has to jump around the page to find an appropriate data field.

The greater number of characters that need to be keyed in, the greater the chance of error. Wherever possible, codes should be used.

To ensure that only valid choices can be entered, options can be given for the user to chose, either in the form of tick boxes or drop-down lists.

Human errors such as transcription errors can be detected using two techniques:

	Verification
	Validation