Lenient Error Feedback in Data Entry Interfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional financial services software configuration processes are burdensome and stall upon detecting data entry errors, failing to flag suspicious or unreliable data, and do not allow users to navigate and correct errors without discontinuing the configuration process.
Innovation Solution
The system tolerates and navigates data entry errors by displaying an error indicium associated with configuration steps, allowing users to mark and remediate errors within a user interface that presents errors in context, enabling continued configuration and later correction of errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the configuration process stalls upon detecting a data entry error, then data accuracy is ensured, but user productivity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the error handling process into distinct phases: error detection during data entry, error marking and visualization, and error remediation. This allows the system to maintain data accuracy requirements while enabling continuous workflow, as users can mark errors and continue configuration without immediate validation blocking progress.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary error detection and marking without immediately blocking the configuration process. Users mark data as unreliable or have errors detected beforehand, allowing them to continue with the configuration and address errors systematically later, rather than being stopped at each error point.
2Measurement precision
If the configuration process stalls upon detecting a data entry error, then data accuracy is ensured, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary error marking mechanism that sits between data entry and validation. Users can mark data as unreliable without immediate rejection, and the system provides visual indicators (error indicia) that mediate between the user's input and the validation requirements, making the process more user-friendly while maintaining accuracy standards.
Solution Approach 2:
Users are empowered to self-identify and mark unreliable data during the configuration process. The system provides tools for users to mark their own errors and navigate to them later, reducing the need for system-imposed blocking and allowing users to manage their own data quality while maintaining workflow continuity.
3Reliability
If conventional configuration processes accept or reject data, then data reliability is maintained, but the ability to flag suspicious data deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by allowing different treatment of different data fields. Individual data elements can be marked as unreliable or flagged as suspicious while other data remains validated and accepted. This granular approach maintains overall data reliability requirements while providing flexibility to handle uncertain or questionable data points without rejecting entire configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for contextually representing errors during data entry, including obtaining an expandable and collapsible tree (ECT) having a first node and a second node corresponding to multiple tasks for data entry; displaying a portion of the ECT including the second node, where the first node stems from the second node; presenting a record, corresponding to a task represented by the first node, including a data field for entry of data; receiving a data entry error for input to the data field of the record, where the data entry error is inconsistent with a predetermined range of acceptable data; and displaying, on the ECT and in association with the second node, an error indicium indicative of the data entry error while allowing further progression through the multiple tasks.