I'd like some feedback, and opinions on the following approach to UI design:
We're working on an application that implements a series of industry-standard protocols. Each protocol dictates (very rigidly) how the user should perform the task at hand, from setup to collect data, to collecting the data, data entry and validation, analysis and finally interpretation/action based on the results.
Most users of the software have limited knowledge of these protocols (they are quite technical), so they may not know what to do at each step, or even the overall workflow.
We're thinking of using a permanently visible "advisor" to guide the user through performing the protocol, from start to finish, with the advisor offering buttons for specific options at each step and controlling UI to show the appropriate content.
For example, initially there is protocol setup, so the software would show the setup options with integrated help to briefly advise. A Next button would then take them to the next step, advising on data collection, and present a spreadsheet where the data can be input (this would all be modeless-style UI). A Next button would check data is properly entered and alert of any problems. The advisor would then start the analysis, advise on status so far, and ask for the next step (e.g. continue, choose to accept a potential problem and continue, exclude a data point causing a problem and continue, etc..). And so it would continue, until all steps/decisions are made and analysis is complete and the conclusion reached. There are a few branches in the process, but often the process either moves forward, or makes a change (e.g. exclude or correct a data point) then resumes.
What do you think to such an approach?
It feels quite rigid, guiding the user from start to finish, since it only offers buttons relevant to the current step. But then the user's aren't experts on the workflows so do need hand holding, and integrating the advice/help into the application might be a better place for it than a manual (which they might not read).
Of course, on the flipside, for experts (10-20% of users) the advisor based approach might get in the way too much? Is it better to just offer the "features" needed to accomplish these tasks, such as a dialog box to change options, spreadsheet for data input, options on the menu to exclude point, etc.. with the analysis steps broken out into separate tasks? Then provide a user-guide which tells the user how the features are used to perform the protocol?
Are there any good examples of applications, desktop or web, implementing such an approach? I've searched repeatedly over the last few months, but have found very little with such an extensive workflow from start to finish.
Hopefully this makes sense, but if not, please ask and I will try to clarify further. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and insight.