One of ten pages from Craig Marion's Software Design Smorgasbord. The others are:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The software industry has created three standard forms of performance support:
From the standpoint of Performance-Centered Design, all three are compensatory. If software were designed to be intuitive in the first place, the need for each of them would be far less than it is today. And as software becomes better-designed, the need for each of them should diminish. The term "electronic performance support systems" (EPSS) emerged over a decade ago from an AT&T project that built suites of tools that could be added to workstations to give workers just enough information, precisely when they needed it, to enable them to do their work easily and quickly and not have to break the flow of their work by having to stop and get information outside the flow. In her seminal introduction to EPSS (Gery, 1991), Gloria Gloria notes that prior to the introduction of this term, these systems were called "knowledge support systems." I think that this term is still useful and have chosen, in this site, to distinguish the type of assistance that supports using tools from the type that provides domain knowledge. Through 2001 I restricted the term performance support in my writings and on this site to the former and called the latter knowledge support. I see now that I drifted apart from the mainstream in doing this, so I've modified my distinction. Performance support embraces both tool knowledge and domain knowledge; knowledge support is a subset of performance support that's often useful to distinguish. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Especially Recommended | |
| International Society for Performance Improvement | This group has been a strong proponent of performance being the key to workplace productivity for years. (Posted 5/98) |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| American Productivity & Quality Center | "A nonprofit education and research organization that helps companies and the public sector change and improve." The focus is on performance improvement and decision support. (Posted 5/98). |
| Workflow Management Coalition | "Workflow Management consists of the automation of business procedures or "workflows" during which documents, information or tasks are passed from one participant to another in a way that is governed by rules or procedures." (Posted 4/03) |
| Call Center Consortium | "The Call Center Consortium (CCC) goes beyond turnover to provide integrated solutions that improve recruitment, performance and retention in a shared risk/reward pricing model." You can pose questions on the Ask the experts page. (Posted 7/04) |
| Learning 2008 |
October 26-29, 2008. Orlando.
Learning 2008 is designed by and for learning implementers.
These are the mini-sessions,
and these are the keynote speakers.
(Posted 7/08)
|
| Previous Conference Sites Still of Value | |
| Performance Improvement Conference |
April 3-8, 2008. New York.
Enhancing Knowledge, Know-How, and Results (Posted 11/07) |
| Moving Learning |
June 13, 2007, U.K. Netherlands June 14, 2007, Netherlands.
"Controlling and managing informal learning and embedding learning into work-processes is a radical departure from how training teams traditionally work and many questions are emerging for managers of organizational learning. Moving Learning 2007 raises these questions, defines the potential pitfalls and aims to demonstrate, through practical case studies as well as through keynote sessions, how organizations can get to grips with the emerging models and methods of learning." Streaming presentations from the 2006 seminar are available including Bob Mosher's Learning at the Moment of Need and Ron Edwards's Informal Learning and Performance Support, which focuses on the use of mobile devices. (Posted 9/06) |
| International Performance Improvement Conference |
April 28-May 3, 2007. San Francisco.
"This year's theme, Performance Beyond Borders, focuses attention on spanning all performance parameters: geographical, cultural, organizational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal." These are the 2006 sessions and the 2006 speakers & sessions. (Posted 12/06) |
| TechLearn |
Sept. 10-13, 2006. Las Vegas.
"TechLearn brings together an international community of learning, training, and workplace performance professionals looking to explore strategies and technologies, exchange ideas, generate new practices, and learn how to leverage what's new and what's next in technology." This is the conference overview. (Posted 5/06) |
| mLearn 2005 |
4th World conference on mLearning. October 25-28, 2005. Cape Town, South Africa. Theme: Mobile technology: The future of learning in your hands. "The world's largest conference on mLearning and emerging ambient technologies." (Posted 8/05) |
| Instructional Systems Community Conference |
September 19-24, 2005. Las Vegas.
"The 2004 Performance-Based Instructional Systems Design Conference is devoted to presenting, discussing, and debating the latest models, practical methods, tools, and case studies for the design, measurement, and evaluation of learning programs and interventions." This is the site of the 2004 conference and the 2002 conference. (This a human performance technology model from the 2002 conference may be useful to some viewers). (Posted 4/05) |
| For Use 2003 |
October 19-22, 2003. Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Second International Conference on Usage-Centered Design A Conference on Usage-Centered, Task-Oriented, and Performance-Centered Design for Software and Web Applications The theme this year is "Performance by Design." This is the program. These are the speakers. (Posted 1/03, Updated 7/03) |
| Especially Recommended | |
| Gery Associates | Gloria Gery is considered by many to be the founder of the EPSS movement. Her articles page features many of her articles, as well as selected articles by others. (See especially Factors in Determining Electronic Learning and Support Options and Achieving Performance and Learning through Performance Centered Systems.) Her presentation page is also a must. Posted 12/02, Updated 4/03, Links Updated 4/05) |
| Ariel | Helps clients "achieve superior business results from their investments in information system technologies by integrating human performance and knowledge management principles into the design of systems and business processes." (Posted 7/99, updated 1/01) |
| ProCarta | "ProCarta enables corporations to design, integrate, deploy, and manage standardized business processes cost-effectively. With ProCarta you can capture best practices, link them to knowledge resources, and deploy fully-functional processes across your organization in just a few weeks. Built for fast, simple deployment, ProCarta delivers a new level of productivity and competitiveness." (Posted 3/04) |
| Epiance | Epiance provides software that creates performance support quickly. It automatically creates support resources such as procedures, wizards, cue cards, cbt lessons, assessments and others from an xml store that's created by a single execution of a task performed using one or more windows applications. The product suite lets you create documentation, e-learning & coaching, animation & simulation, integrated processes & systems without programming. (Posted 1/01, Updated 2/04) |
| C/RS Performance Support Systems | Christensen/Roberts Solutions provides excellent demos of their performance support solutions. This tool guides a user through filling out a 1099-r and provides an automation option to expedite the process. This one is an interactive coach, which was a winner of a 2005 PCD award. This entry for a Physician Coding Audit and Feedback System won a 2006 PCD award. (Posted 2/07) |
| RWD Info Pak Simulator | A simple, clean, and efficient way to build interactive instructional simulations. The tool captures actions within a software product and and makes it easy to add instructions. View the demo. (Posted 7/04, Updated 4/05) |
| SupportPoint | "The Leading Developer of Electronic Performance Support Systems." "SupportPoint provides the most advanced electronic performance support system in the market. Numerous mid-size to large and global customers, in industries ranging from financial services to manufacturing and government, use SupportPoint as their primary system for providing self-service support to their employees." Here's their demo. (Posted 7/07) |
| Baydon Solutions | Providers of Assistware. Here's a demo. (Posted 5/08) |
| Macromedia Captivate | "The evolution of RoboDemo." Macromedia Captivate allows you to effortlessly record any application and enhance the recording with text, animations, audio, and interactivity to create sophisticated training simulations and product demonstrations. You can create simulations in minutes, without any programming skills. Be sure to visit the showcase. (Posted 2/05) |
| Qarbon | Vendor of Viewlets, a quick and easy way to create a visually narrated demo of a software product or website. A number of demos are available. (Posted 9/01, Updated 11/03) |
| ThinkSmart Performance Support Systems, Inc. | Developers or 2Work! EPSS, which "guides users in real-time, as they do their work, so they can successfully navigate even the newest, most complex, custom procedures, fields, or screens." The demo is very nicely done. This is a description of the tool submitted to the 2004 EPSS/PCD Design Competition, where it was selected as an Extraordinary PCD Tools Winner. (Posted 10/06) |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| Xegy | Xegy is a tool that maps processes and makes it easy for performers to follow task and process steps. It also enables managers to manage the execution of the process real time across functional areas, and to track results. See their case studies. (Posted 9/05) |
| Talsico International | "Learning Strategies that Reduce Errors and Improve Business Performance" (Posted 10/06) |
| RockeTools | Developers of ActiveGuide, a tool that enables companies to insert an "intelligent performance support layer" between users and the application to make users successful every time they use the application. See the Flash preview on their home page. (Posted 7/04, Updated 9/05) |
| Human Dynamics | On the Flash Site, under Showcase, look at the Case Studies and Gallery. (Posted 7/00) |
| Dyna-Q Corporation | Producer of Intelliwizard. "With Dyna-Q's Intelliwizard software, anyone can make wizards with ease!" Via EPSSCentral. (Posted 4/02) |
| Darryl L. Sink & Associates, Inc. | An instructional design firm that factors performance support in their solutions. They offer a simple and to-the-point statement of the advantages of performance support. (Posted 11/04) |
| Especially Recommended | |
| Learning and Performance Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia | Look at the project demos. (Posted 1/03) |
| Software Agents Group of the MIT Media Laboratory | "Investigates computer systems to which one can delegate tasks. Software agents differ from conventional software in that they are long-lived, semi-autonomous, proactive and adaptive." A great many of their publications are available online. (Posted 7/98, Updated 7/99) |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| IIRG | The Interface Interest and Research Group is "a group of instructional designers interested in practical application of research to the design of instructional and performance support software. You are welcome to use original material you find in IIRG! for teaching or research purposes providing you credit IIRG!, the authors, and Indiana University for it." (Posted 8/97) |
| Especially Recommended | |
| Attributes and Behaviors of Performance Centered Systems | This 1995 article, explaining 19 attributes of performance- centered systems, has become a classic. Originally published in Performance Improvement Quarterly, Vol. 8. No. 1. (Posted 5/97, Updated 7/99, Link Updated 4/05) |
| Attributes of Performance-Centered Systems: What Can We Learn From Five Years of EPSS/PCD Competition Winners? | By Craig Marion. Looking at the the 35 award-winning entries in the first five years of this competition both clarifies Gloria Gery's 19 Attributes of Performance-Centered Systems and suggests some new ones. Originally published in the November 2002 issue of Technical Communication (Vol 49, No. 4, pp. 428-443). Winner of STC's 2002 Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article competition for Distinguished Technical Communication. (Thanks to Gery Associates for obtaining permission from STC to make this article available online and hosting it.) (Posted 12/02) |
| Performance Support Perspectives | July 2000 special Issue of ISPI Performance Improvement Journal. See especially the discussion on Performance Support in Internet Time: the State of the Practice and Barry Raybold's excellent Building Performance-Centered Web-Based Systems, Information Systems, and Knowledge Management Systems in the 21st Century. Via EPSS.com (Posted 4/01) |
| Special Issue: Performance Support Matures | ISPI Performance Improvement Journal / Nov Dec 2002 / Vol.41 / No.10. These are the executive summaries. See especially ROI Calculations for Electronic Performance Support Systems by by Hasan Altalib, and Applying Video Game Interaction Design to Business Performance by Ara Shirinian and Erik Dickelman. Via Gery Associates. (Posted 4/06) |
| Introduction to Workflow Learning | by Sam S. Adkins. Workflow Learning is about integrating real-time learning through the Web and intranets into industry and government worldwide. This blog on workflow learning appears to be the remains of the short-lived "Workflow Learning Institute." Another good introduction is this Workflow Learning Symposium, which features high-quality presentations viewable in an exemplary way developed by Altus Learning Systems. (Audio and Powerpoint alternatives are available as well.) This keynote by Jay Cross and Gloria Gery is more basic. Other materials from the Workflow Learning Institute remain available. (Posted 7/04, Updated 10/06) |
| Portals and Performance Support | A white paper by Gloria Gery, January 2003. "What are portals and how must we think about them when we are thinking about performance support. In this extensive and researched white paper Gloria Gery defines, describes and advocates a design perspective. The white paper is available as a .pdf file and can be downloaded. " (Posted 4/06) |
| Supporting Human Performance Across Disciplines: A Converging of Roles and Tools | By Lorraine Sherry & Brent Wilson. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 9 (4), 19-36. Interest in performance support is arising in a number of fields, such as technical communications, training, and performance technology. This paper explores how it is affecting some of these fields. (Posted 5/97, Link Updated 9/99) |
| Literacy Explorer: A Performance Support Tool for Novice Reading Educators | By Brenda GBannan-Ritland, Emily Eerton, Jen Page, and Michael Behrmann A rich and comprehensive case study describing the construction of an EPSS. From Performance Improvement Quarterly, Vol 39 No. 6, July 2000. Via EPSS Central. (Posted 2/02) |
| What is EPSS and What Does It Mean to Information Designers? | by Craig Marion. An overview of EPSS with a focus on the implications of its principles and contributions for information designers. The article highlights Cheryl Lockett Zubak's typology for embedding help into user interfaces, which advances the EPSS theme of making user assistance intrinsic. (Posted 5/98) |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| Start at the Very Beginning: Performance-Centered Portals | by Gary Elsbernd of Ariel Performance-centered Systems, Inc.. "While portals are almost mandatory in companies these days and everyone is trying to get into the act, true performance centered portals are rare." This article describes their characteristics. Originally published in Performance Improvement, November/December 2001 Ariel has also posted Gary and Matt Hummel's slides of the their presentation on Performance-Centered Portals from forUSE2002. (Posted 1/06) |
| Guidelines for WWW-Based Support Environments for Education Professionals | By Elka Remmers. "A description is given of how a WWW support environment for mentors, managers, counsellors, tutors, and learners was designed, developed, and evaluated." (Posted 3/02) |
| Crafting a wizard | By Jodi Ballaert. "Fifteen dos and don'ts for designing wizards that make complex tasks easier for your users." See Jodi's companion article, More Web-based wizard tips and tricks . (Posted 3/02) |
| Modeling User Workflows for Rich Internet Applications | By David Hogue, Ph.D. "As Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) become more advanced, the tasks, problems, and processes they address become increasingly complex, making it more important than ever to accurately model user workflows . . . the tasks, information, and processes necessary to complete them; and the needs of the people using the RIA." Discusses Flash applications. Via iaslash. (Posted 7/04) |
| Interactive Task Support System | ITSS is similar to EPSS, but the authors distinguish the two and critique the concept of EPSS. See also Knowledge Management on the Shop Floor for supporting information. (Posted 8/97, revised 11/98, links updated 12/00) |
| An EPSS Interface Design | by Bill Miller. A case study of an EPSS used by a staff working with aboriginal communities to find and fill in the forms and documents required to administer and register land and membership transactions. You can download a copy of the program. (Posted 8/97, Updated 7/99, Links Updated 4/05) |
| Performance Express | Monthly newsletter from ISPI, the International Society for Performance Improvement. (Posted 9/02) |
| Business Integration Journal | Business Integration seeks to harmonize company resources, including people, processes, suppliers, customers, and technology, by creating a cohesive and accessible IT infrastructure to support the needs of business users. A wealth of articles are available for download. Via Gery Associates. (Posted 11/03) |
| Gloria Gery's presentations | As of this update, 24 of Gloria's presentations. (Posted 12/99, Updated 4/05) |
| Ariel's Presentations | A collection of papers staff members of from Ariel Performance-Centered Systems. Many were delivered at the Performance Support and Online Learning conferences. (Posted 8/02) |
| Slideshare presentations on performance support | A collection of presentations on the topic of performance support. (Posted 10/07) |
| Innovations in E-learning | Symposium at George Mason University in June of 2005. Streaming video and downloadable audio of 14 presentations on cutting-edge e-learning. A good place to begin is Jay Cross's presentation on Workflow Learning. (Posted 2/06) |
| At the Moment of Need: Providing On-Demand Resources | By Gloria Gery. One of a set of free web seminars that "bring the experts in business performance and learning management right to your desktop. Industry Legends such as Elliott Masie, Gloria Gery, John Coné, Geary Rummler and Paul Green - to name just a few. Each month you'll hear from a different expert on how to improve organizational and individual performance, and how business performance improvement can impact your company's bottom line results." The presentations are in PDF format with streaming audio. (Posted 7/04) |
| Pedaling Toward Performance | By Hal Christensen, Christensen-Roberts Solutions . The case for performance support, with links to Christensen/Roberts Solutions demos. Presented at the 2005 ISPI Conference. This is the MP3 audio. (Posted 2/07) |
| Evolving a Software Product Through EPSS to Performance-Centered Design: a Case Study (in Progress) | By Craig Marion. How Strohl System added an EPSS to guide users through the use of its flagship product and is proceeding to redesign the interface so that it will no longer require performance support. The presentation is also available in PDF format. (Posted 10/99) |
| Especially Recommended | |
| EPSScentral.info | Gary Dickelman's "EPSScentral.INFO is a set of free resources on the many disciplines that comprise performance centered design, including cognitive science, usability engineering, agile development, information engineering and architecture, knowledge management, hypermedia engineering, content management, learning technologies, human factors engineering, and more. The site includes articles, awards, books, design & development methods, tools, organizations, people, reports and studies." The redesigned site also contains a link to Gary's previous site. (Posted 11/01, Updated 7/04) |
| infoREADER | The .infoREADER is the EPSScentral Knowledge Network's newsletter, which includes late-breaking features of the knowledge base, opinions, trends, awards and discussions regarding new and exciting developments in the disciplines that comprise EPSS and PCD. The .infoREADER is available by e-mail with a free subscription. (Posted 3/04, Updated 7/04) |
| HPC Spider | "The Navy's premier online resource for human performance and training technology for lifelong learning." (Posted 11/06) |
| Performance, Learning, Leadership, & Knowledge | By Don Clark. A huge quantity of information mapped visually, with links to hundreds of topics. (Posted 8/05) |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| Electronic Performance Support Systems: Readings and Resources | Papers, some interesting examples, and other resources. One of a set of information resources from the Center for Instructional Technology, Univesity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. (Posted 2/02) |
| Especially Reccommended | |
| Microsoft Agent | "With the Microsoft Agent set of software services, developers can easily enhance the user interface of their applications and Web pages with interactive personalities in the form of animated characters. These characters can move freely within the computer display, speak aloud (and by displaying text onscreen), and even listen for spoken voice commands."(Posted 7/98, Updated 11/03) |
| PCD Award Winners | These are the 2007 winners. Also available are winners and samples from 1997-2006. For an analysis of the winners of the first five years of this contest in light of Gloria Gery's Attributes and Behaviors of Performance Centered Systems, see What Can We Learn From Five Years of EPSS/PCD Competition Winners? by Craig Marion. (Posted 3/04, Updated 12/07) |
| Especially Reccommended | |
| Bezanson, W., 2002. Performance Support Solutions: Achieving Business Goals Through Enabling User Performance. Trafford Publishing. Available as an ebook. Much of the book can be viewed by selecting 'Preview This Book' and then 'Full Screen' on the Google Book Search site. (Posted 5/08) | |
| Gery, G., 1991. Electronic Performance Support Systems. Copyrighted by Gery Associates, Tolland, MA. (413-258-4693) (Posted 5/97) | |
| Other Selected Sources | |
| Dickelman, G., Ed. (2003). EPSS Revisited: A Lifecycle for Developing Performance-Centered Systems. 1SPI. (Posted 11/03) | |
| Stevens, George H. and Emily F., 1995. Designing Electronic Performance Support Tools: Improving Workplace Performance With Hypertext, Hypermedia and Multimedia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications (Posted 5/98) | |
| Winslow, C. & Bramer, W. (1994). FutureWork: Putting Knowledge to Work in the Knowledge Economy. NY: The Free Press. (Posted 5/97) |
is explored on its own page.