Just-in-time knowledge delivery

Abstract

A case study of an award-winning support system demonstrates the vital characteristics and primary design goals for generating peak performance.•he typical business operation has to address a variety of issues, not the least of which are rapidly changing business environments, training employees, satisfying and retaining customers. One of the responses to these challenges is the development of a relatively new type of software called Electronic Performance Support Systems, a term that is widely used but has no generally agreed-upon definition. One can characterize alp EPSS by its purpose, its design, and its development methodology.Expressions such as "just-in-time knowledge" or "delivering the right knowledge at the right time" are Iten used to describe EPSS. The immediate purpose of an EPSS is to support and enhance users' perforanee by providing them with the knowledge required by the task they are performing at the time they actually performing the task. This knowledge can be explicit, as in the case of information retrieved from a database and delivered to the user. It can also be implicit, such as the knowledge that goes into designing a graphical user interface data entry screen that guides the users efficiently through the task they are performing. Just-in-time knowledge delivery has strategic implications from a business Kevin Cole, Olivier Fischer, and Phyllis Saltzman viewpoint, two of which are training and adaptability to change. If the users of a system are adequately guided by the system itself toward the knowledge they need to accomplish their job, then the training requirements are drastically reduced. The training on the system itself is minimized by the intuitive design of the user COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Juiy i 997/Vol. 40. No. 7

Research Performance Support: Connecting Online Graduate Students from the LMS to the Library

“…Many performance support systems have a two-fold aim to "train and support the novice user in the performance of tasks" (Wild, 2000, p. 6). The systems also are intended to provide users with the exact information needed to perform a task at exactly the moment they need to perform it (Cole, Fischer, & Saltzman, 1997). In this way, performance support stands apart from traditional instruction or training that happens before a user needs to perform a task.…”

Human Performance Technology and Knowledge Management: A Case Study

“…By doing this, successful performance outputs can be described and the behaviors that will produce those outputs can be identified (Gordon, 1997). HPT offers a systematic way to analyze performance problems and their causes, and to develop and implement interventions to address problems and improve performance (Gery, 1997;Rosenberg, 1996;Cole, Fischer, & Saltzman, 1997).…”

Job aids and performance support: the convergence of learning and work

“…We can build performance support systems for many different settings: from software applications to factories to educational settings (Brush et al, 1993;Cole et al, 1997;Dorsey et al, 1993;Gery, 2003;Kasvi and Vartiainen, 2000;McCabe and Leighton, 2002;McManus and Rossett, 2006;Schwen et al, 1993).…”