1.1-14 Status at a Glance

Information display systems should allow users to immediately assess overall plant status and detect conditions that require attention without performing interface management tasks.

Additional Information:
The presentation area of computer-based display devices allows only a limited amount of information to be presented at one time. If personnel are unable to view information without deliberately performing interface management tasks, they may be less willing to search for particular information. They also may be less likely to encounter the information casually, as one might when scanning a conventional control panel. This effect can interfere with awareness of developing plant conditions that have not yet exceeded the threshold of the alarm system. Without this awareness, the user may not form the intention to monitor these conditions. Salient indications of anomalies are particularly important for highly reliable automated systems, which users may fail to investigate due to their low failure rate.