Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS)
An Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) is one method of providing comprehensive online support to people who use computer systems. EPSSs and online help systems share many similarities, but they are not identical, as this article shows.
The term Electronic Performance Support System first appeared in 1991, and although technology has advanced, it is instructive to look at the original definition (emphasis added), quoted in EPSScentral (www.epsscentral.info/knowledgebase/about/whatisepss/):
"An integrated electronic environment that is available to and easily accessible by each employee and is structured to provide immediate, individualized on-line access to the full range of information, software, guidance, advice and assistance, data, images, tools, and assessment and monitoring systems to permit job performance with minimal support and intervention by others."
As we see things at TechScribe, significant differences between Electronic Performance Support Systems and online help systems are indicated by the words that we emphasised in the definition:
- Integrated with software. EPSSs are highly integrated with software. The user does not leave the application to obtain help. Compare this with online help systems, which, even if context-sensitive help, are usually separate from the software application.
- Individualised. EPSSs can be user sensitive and take account of an individual user's ability. Compare this with context sensitivity, which typically is based on a screen that a user is viewing.
- Push technology versus pull technology. With EPSS, the system provides guidance to the user, without the user seeking it out.
The boundaries between EPSS and online help are blurred. For example, Microsoft's help functions are accessible at any time. You can read text, view a demonstration, or be guided through a procedure with wizards.
CBT Solutions (www.cbt-solutions.co.uk/epss-multimedia.htm), a vendor of Electronic Performance Support Systems, suggests that "EPSS is a logical extension of CBT technology that delivers on-demand, ad-hoc training in the workplace. It is used to support and instruct employees when they need to perform unfamiliar or complex procedures."
One reviewer (personal communication) suggested that the old-fashioned term 'job aid' (which is used in training needs analysis) covers everything, electronic or otherwise. In other words, let's not become too caught up in terminology; rather, focus on how electronic systems support people in their jobs.
RSS feed