Non-Instructional Intervention - Performance Support Systems
This article excerpted with permission. McGavin, Scot. (10/20/2002). A look at performance support systems. Document posted to Boise State University IPT560 course, Fall 2002.
Performance Support Systems as
Non-Instructional performance intervention solutions
The term Performance Support was new to me, but, as I now understand the concept better, the mechanisms are more familiar than I realized. Performance Support Systems (PSS) and their electronic counterparts (EPSS) are one of the newest intervention tools in the HPT field, according to Stolovitch and Keeps (p.443). So new, in fact, that the concept does not have a standardized definition and very little research exists to substantiate the value and methods of these interventions. It is a rapidly changing area of performance enhancement, highly integrated and leveraged with technology. Stolovitch and Keeps describe a PSS as “an optimized body of coordinated on-line and off-line methods and resources that enable and maintain a person’s or an organization’s performance” (p.443).
The EPSS is perhaps the fastest growing and
most changing type of performance support system. The definition of an EPSS, like that of the general PSS, also
remains unfixed, but a few stabs have been taken at it.
EPSS Central, a website devoted to providing
information and links relating to EPSSs and other
performance solutions, defines an EPSS as “..any
computer software program or component that improves
employee performance by 1) reducing the complexity or
number of steps required to perform a task, 2) providing
the performance information an employee needs to perform a
task, or 3) providing a decision support system that
enables an employee to identify the action that is
appropriate for a particular set of conditions.”
(http://www.pcd-innovations.com/what_is_epss.htm)
With this growing understanding of performance
systems, I recognized a project that I helped implement
several years ago as an EPSS that nearly perfectly fit the
description and characteristics of typical EPSS solutions.
The project, called “Bridges” was an
intervention designed to solve problems of timeliness, and
data accuracy, and the related problems these issues
created within a mid-sized wood products company.
The Bridges project was large-scale and very
complex and spanned virtually all levels within a segment
of the company’s product manufacturing and sales
organization. The
major problems it was designed to solve were an 8% error
rate in product ordering (and thus mis-manufacturing), and
a leadtime lag of over 200%.
These performance problems resulted from a number
of problem areas in the sales, order placement, and
manufacturing queuing processes.
Based upon a Lotus Notes that was highly customized
to meet the carefully assessed and systematically
organized needs of the people involved in these processes,
the Bridges project was an EPSS custom built for these
complex performance problem issues.
The end result met the five I’s criteria put
forth by Stolovitch and Keeps (p.444):
- Intuitiveness – The project was
designed after careful analysis of end-user needs and
capabilities. Most
users were not technologically adept and often had no
prior computer background.
As such, it did not require much
“re-training” for users familiar with different
application idiosyncrasies than Lotus Notes had.
The terminology they were familiar with using
was incorporated into buttons, links, and icons to
simplify their use of the tool.
- Integration – The Bridges
project incorporated a Lotus Notes application that
integrated into a sales ordering system that had been
previously created (another EPSS*) to simplify product
selections by sales people. That sales front-end app had an automated data-dump into
the Notes database.
The Notes database was replicated across a
12-node WAN. Users
at other sites (manufacturing for example) could
utilize the data and even had back-end tools in some
cases to pull orders into other processing systems
already in place.
- Immediacy – Icons, links, and
text were online instantly for use by the users that
needed the data.
Replication was automated to ensure up-to-date
information.
- Individualization
– Several levels of users and corresponding profiles
were implemented so that different users’ needs were
better met. They were able to access only the data they needed and
were not buried with things they did not have any use
for.
- Interactivity – The level of
interactivity was relatively high, based upon how many
users at other sites used the system.
They could bounce back requests for more
information using the Notes replication process.
Interactivity with the EPSS was not
particularly strong.
*
The sales front-end app that Bridges relied on was
in itself an excellent example of a smaller EPSS.
Updated periodically with new product information,
this software application was created to 1) provide easy
access to the myriad products the sales force needed to be
familiar with, and 2) categorize, price, and characterize
(for structural capabilities) the products in an order
process. The nature of the sales job was one of needing to be
highly familiar with the structural problems faced by
clients wanting to design buildings with these engineered
wood products, and how the products would meet their
needs. This
tool gave ready access to this critical information as
well as providing a level of error checking for product
matching (and mis-matching) based upon type and
characteristics. This
tool alone accounted for a major turnaround in ordering
errors. When combined with the integration into the Bridges database,
additional errors due to lost or unreadable faxes,
incomplete orders, etc. were drastically reduced.
I was involved only in the
implementation at initial roll-out of the Bridges project
and left the company shortly thereafter, before it had
been fully implemented and long before the results had
shown themselves as to its ROI.
However, my expectation based upon the success that
the tools appeared to have initially is that it was likely
to bring returns that would far exceed the project cost.
The care taken during the analysis and design
phases was evident.
Another example of how EPSS tools can
significantly increase knowledge support and performance
improvement is illustrated by Cisco Systems at http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/may2002/schneble.html.
Cisco had the goal of hiring 250 service and
support managers (SSMs) over a period of 18 months and
needed a tool to help bring new SSMs online quickly and
effectively, managing the myriad data they would be
exposed to.
The knowledge management system approach they chose was developed
through a systematic process of analysis, design,
development (prototype first), formative evaluation (with
feedback integration), and finally implementation with
ongoing evaluation. The online solution fits the description of an EPSS.
VisionCor, the product developer, describes the
solution as one that ”provides
a guide for organizing information, learning, and
knowledge into smaller pieces called knowledge objects and
building meaningful relationships between those objects.
As a result, the end-user can locate the critical
information needed to improve productivity and performance
more quickly and easily.”
The resulting
knowledge portal was an online knowledge management tool,
“a growing collection of knowledge and experience “.
The tool was well received and is considered a
major benefit by those SSMs surveyed.
“Basically, this site just makes my job easier
and gives me more time to focus on serving my customer”
said one SSM. The
ROI on this type of EPSS tool comes from customer
satisfaction and loyalty and as such is hard to quantify
directly, but nonetheless, is crucial to success.
These examples of Performance Support Systems are but two of the many, many ways that technology and innovation are improving performance. Experts such as Jakob Nielson, Don Norman, and Bruce Tognazzini are focusing their efforts for EPSSs on user design and efficiency. Gloria Gerry and Craig Marion are well known for their specialties in performance software design and development. Geary Rummler, Donald Tosti, and many others have provided the foundations of what performance improvement is all about. Stan Malcom and others have put their focus toward interactivity (ITSSs) in performance. Other key areas where PSSs are growing include knowledge management, e-learning, and various internet implementations of EPSS tools. Performance support is a rapidly growing and changing field. Success stories will continue to emerge as these powerful performance tools become more widely implemented.
References
EPSS Central, referenced 10/2002, http://www.pcd-innovations.com/what_is_epss.htm.
Stolovitch, H., & Keeps, E. (1999). Handbook of human performance technology (2nd ed.), San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.