EPSS Indicators

An EPSS is just one of many possible cost-effective performance improvement interventions. Not all jobs or business processes will benefit from an electronic performance support systems, but some jobs could realize some substantially benefit. How can you quickly analysis a job to determine if it would be a good candidate for a performance support system? This article lists some of the key factors that can indicate that a job or business process could substantially benefit from an EPSS.

Task Frequency

Some jobs consist of many infrequently performed tasks. The banking industry is a good example of this. The customer representatives in many banks is responsible for handling just about all types of banking transactions, such as deposits, withdraws, new accounts, transfers etc. Your bank’s customer service representatives can generally deal with deposits and withdrawals very quickly and with relatively few errors. However, it often takes considerably more time to process an unusual or infrequent transaction, such as transferring an account to another bank. The teller may need to consult with a supervisor or to find some information in a procedure manual. These are also the type of tasks that tend to have a higher percentage of errors per transaction. While the percentage of errors on deposits and withdrawals will be relatively low, the error rate on the unusual or infrequent transactions will tend to be relatively higher.

The following chart illustrates this general principle of task performance frequency compared to the relative performance time and rate of errors. Generally, the more infrequent a task is performed, the higher the percent of errors per transaction and relative task completion time.

Complex Decisions

Jobs that involve complex decision making can substantially benefit from a performance support system. With a well designed EPSS, your employees will not need to know or remember the rules that govern a decision making process. The EPSS could consist of a series of screens with questions about the current conditions. By responding to each question the employee could navigate a complex decision algorithm without the need to know or understand the underlying rules.

The following screen shot illustrates how an EPSS may present a question that is part of a complex decision algorithm.

Access to Reference Information

In some jobs an employee needs to quickly access a large body of reference information and pass that information on to a customer. A good example would be a public information phone center for a regulatory agency or government entity. Most callers will just want a simple answer to a question, but some callers may demand a more detailed explanation. For example, they may want the operator to read the sections of the legislation that apply to their question or concern.

Field Offices

An organization with employees in many diverse locations, can substantially benefit from an EPSS. In this organizational arrangement it can be very expense to bring the employees together for training. These difficulties are further compounded if the employees in the remote offices don't have an expert in their location. In some situations the telephone is the only means of providing support to the staff in the diverse locations. Providing support by telephone can be very difficult and can lead of some substantial misunderstanding and miscommunications.

In these situations an EPSS can help to both simplify the process of performing the job and provide a focal point for a telephone discussions about a task or process. The support person can easily provide the remote employee with step by step instructions for using the EPSS. The support person can also ensure that the employee is using the system correctly, by simply asking them to describe the attributes of the current screen.

Staff Turnover

Organization that have a relatively high staff turnover rate within a particular business unit can sometimes offset the high cost of training with an EPSS. Research indicates that most learning occurs on the job through a processing of conferring with fellow employees and supervisors. An EPSS may be able to help reduce the amount of informal training an employee may need, and thereby enable experienced employee to devote more time to their job and less to coaching new employees.

Process Re-engineering or Software Development Project

Using the principles of performance-centered software design in a software development or re-process engineering project can help an organization to maximize the benefits of a new software system. While this will add to the cost of the software development project, in the long run the organization should benefit from improved employee performance and a smother implementation.

Conclusion

You can use these indicators to quickly identify the jobs and business processes within an organization that might substantially benefit from an electronic performance support system. Jobs that have two or more of these key indicators would probably be very good candidates for an EPSS development project.