What is in the realm of possibilities may not be possible.

Throughout our lives, we are confronted with those situations that seem to defy common sense. We are affected by laws and rules that prevent us from doing what seems reasonable to do and we can’t always get the things and services we want when we want them. In many of these cases, there may be perfectly good reasons for the rule or absence of a product or service. Unfortunately, governments and businesses often fail to adequately document the reasons behind their rules and decisions. This lack or information often puts us in the frustrating position of not know why something is not possible and feeling animosity towards the business or government that can’t meet our needs or resolve a perceived injustice.

In designing an electronic performance support system, it is important to provide support for those tasks than may be within the realm of possibilities, but, for whatever reasons, are not to be performed by the employee. This means that your EPSS will contain information and explanations about why something cannot be done or is not available.

For example, if your system lists all the possible tasks, you can include in this list all the things that may be within the realm of possibility, but are not enabled. If the user selects the task, then the system can display information about why the task cannot be performed or the service provided.

By including information about those things that are within the realm of possibility but are not possible, you can gain some of the following advantages.

1. You can reduce the time an employee may spend trying to find information about something that they think should be possible but which is not.
2. You can avoid the potential for customer and client dissatisfaction by quickly providing a clear explanation about why something is not possible.
3. You can increase user confidence in the reliability of the information available in your EPSS. If a user cannot find information about something that may seem to be in the realm of possibilities they may tend to blame the software or software builders for this perceived oversight. This inaccurate conclusion can reduce user confidence in the reliability and completeness of the information in the EPSS.
4. By providing information about what is both possible and not possible, you may be able to better identify those things that should be possible, but which may have been overlooked. If a user knows that their EPSS contains information about those things that are both possible and not possible, they may be more likely to document and report on those things are not contained in the EPSS. This could help an organization to better identify policy gaps or potential for new and innovative products.