Performance Support Systems

Defining Electronic Performance Support Systems

The concept of Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) is evolving and developing as we gain greater experience with the design, development and implementation of these types of software systems. There are definitions that suggest that an EPSS should contain hypermedia, multimedia or computer based instruction elements. Electronic Performance Support Systems may contain these interactive or media features, this perspective may inadvertently narrow the scope of EPSS.

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Definition of EPSS

To avoid the possible narrowing of the EPSS vision, we may use the following results-based definition.

An electronic performance support system is any computer software program or component that improves employee performance by either

reducing the complexity or number of steps required to perform a task (process simplification),

providing the performance information an employee needs to perform a task, or

providing a decision support system that enables an employee to identify the action that is appropriate for a particular set of conditions.

What is Performance Improvement?

With this definition, a software system can be an electronic performance support system if it produces a measurable improvement in employee performance. An EPSS should therefore enable an employee to perform a task:

in less time,

with fewer errors,

with better results, or

with less training or external support.

When assessing the benefits of an EPSS, we need to consider the outcome of all of these factors. It is possible that performance support system will not reduce the time in takes to perform a task. A system may even increase the performance time, but this increase could be offset by a reduction in training time or the number and frequency of performance errors.

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