One way of looking at Performance Centered Systems (PCS) is as the technology equivalent of performance consulting. Whereas training focuses on what you need to learn, performance consulting focuses on what you need to do and know to perform. PCS is the electronic infrastructure that enables that performance.

• networked,
• involve large-scale transaction processing or database access,
• used for many hours per day
• used by different levels of users.

Performance Centered Systems also provide the infrastructure that captures, stores, and distributes knowledge throughout an organization, enabling it to learn faster than its competitors.

Let's say you are a customer service representative who has to answer calls on a company's products. You may be asked which product is best suited to that customer's needs. A Performance Centered System would give you advice, help you select the best product, and then help you explain its features and benefits to the customer. Finally it might lead you through the process of taking a customer order and send that order electronically to the appropriate department.

Once an expert's knowledge is captured, it can be incorporated into the PCS and disseminated to users at the moment of need. For example, expert knowledge about a specific procedure can be incorporated into the system as a decision tree or rule engine. The system then prompts the user, leading them through the right questions to ask. Another way is to let the PCS learn from experience using a technique called Case-Based Reasoning.

Performance-Centered Design is a technique that utilizes iterative cycles of rapid prototyping and software design activities that include collaboration with actual performers. These activities result in robust interfaces that generate desired business outcomes via direct support for performers.

Performance Support is the concept of using technology to integrate knowledge, learning experiences, and software tools into one package. The goal is to improve business performance by (a) bringing individuals up to speed in their work as quickly as possible and with the minimum of support from other people, and (b) providing an electronic infrastructure to enable organizational learning.

There are a number of companies who are starting major PCS projects in the area of systems development. Many of these companies are building new systems and want to incorporate performance support directly into the software itself to help their employees get up to speed faster and improve their performance. Performance-Centered Design work on new Information Systems is being done in the hospitality, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, high-tech, and consulting industries. There are also a number of smaller, stand-alone systems (known as Performance Support Tools, or Content Software) being developed by smaller software vendors. These products include products such as Quicken and QuickBooks, which is software to help you do home banking and create business accounts.

There are some examples of PCS in soft skills. For example there is one performance support tool for helping someone develop a negotiation strategy from a company in the Boston area. It helps maintain checklists of things you need to do and gives you access to tips and advice along the way as well as helping you capture your ideas and your negotiation plan.

A good comparison is having a book on accounting and a manual accounting system, versus using an electronic accounting system. Using the book, you have to search to find the right piece of information, learn all about bookkeeping, do all the calculations, and then make sure that the results are recorded in all the different ledgers that apply. In most electronic accounting systems, you see a picture of a checkbook, answer a few questions concerning the transaction, and the software handles all the calculations, balances the books, updates all appropriate ledgers, and prints out a set of accounts for you!

1. Start by increasing the awareness in your organization of performance support concepts and their impact on business results, particularly with senior management in the business units who have responsibility for achieving business results.
2. Look at what you can do to re-purpose and extend any existing resources such as Computer-Based Training. You may be able to add performance support to these products as a first step in a transitional strategy.
3. Look for project opportunities to apply PCS solutions and to get a pilot project started.
4. Take a performance perspective - use performance system thinking. Take a performance perspective when evaluating any training effort and integrate training within this approach. Many training organizations are already doing this and consider a wide range of performance intervention options before settling on training as an approach. These performance interventions might include job performance aids, redesigning work processes, workplace layout, or organizational structures, incentive systems design, and so on. Technology provides many more potential interventions that fall within the electronic performance support framework such as CBT, hypertext, multimedia, expert systems, and interface redesign. Use a business performance model to communicate the concept of a business performance system to senior management.
5. Build the organizational learning model. There has been much discussion about the "learning organization" as an organization that attains success through the ability to learn faster than its competitors, and about the concept of creating a system to manage that knowledge - usually called a "Knowledge Management System". One of the major competitive advantages of technology is to provide a practical mechanism for the rapid capture and dissemination of organizational learning. Again, use a model such as the Organizational Performance/Learning Cycle, which provides a conceptual framework for how to think about this process and the role of technology in the process.
6. Design artifacts as an integrated whole. No longer should we have separate development efforts for creating individual artifacts such as documentation, training courses, help systems, software, human processes, and the like. We should design them all as an integrated whole. Each part needs to work together, not as independent interventions. New software development processes such as rapid application development, iterative design, and design for usability provide us with techniques to achieve this.
7. Cross-pollinate methodologies. You can't have separate departments, each with their own walls, involved in the design of the integrated system. The departmental walls must come down. This means much more cross-discipline training that involves learning a number of methodologies and techniques. We are seeing the emergence of a new hybrid discipline. This new discipline is commonly referred to as Performance Support Engineering since you are in effect engineering a system and because your overall goal is to support performance of the individual and of the organization.
8. Consider all technology options. Stay abreast of all of your technology options and integrate them.

Performance support projects range tremendously in scope and in the organizational commitment needed to drive them. In general, small projects that can be kept within a single department are very easy to implement given the right skills and understanding.

• Performance problem. Is there a performance problem in your organization? Is there a large gap between the best and worst job performers? Do employees at different locations have different degrees of access to knowledge? Are training courses and documentation not improving performance enough? Are employees suffering from information overload? Is employee turnover or fast-changing job requirements resulting in inadequate performance levels? A "yes" to any of these would indicate an opportunity for Performance-Centered Design to help improve your organization's performance.
• New systems. Is your Information Systems group in the process of designing or building new systems? Do you hear the words new Client/Server application being mentioned? Are any existing systems, called legacy systems, being redesigned, upgraded, or being given a new user interface (called front-ending)? Any of these are opportunities to get involved in helping redesign the user interface using a Performance-Centered Design approach.
• Business reengineering project. Is your company involved in a business reengineering project? If so and you're not already designing performance support into your new business processes, you risk losing a major competitive advantage. Get a performance support engineer involved in the reengineering team, identify key knowledge assets in the business, and engineer the business processes to leverage those knowledge assets using a Performance-Centered Design approach.
• Computer-based training project. Are you building computer-based training (CBT) or multimedia-based training? If you are, have you considered the benefits of integrating the CBT into a performance support framework? Doing so gives you a double benefit. You can use the training modules you build both as a learning tool and as a reference tool.
• On-line documentation/CD-ROM. Are you putting documentation on-line (e.g. on the Web) or planning to distribute it on CD-ROM? If you are, consider restructuring the documentation in the form of a performance support system. Reading documentation on-line is 30 percent slower than on paper, so if you don't tailor it to electronic media, you risk making the performance problem worse, not better. Using hypertext, intelligent technologies, and visual programming language, you can turn your documentation into a much more powerful performance support system.
• Knowledge management problems. Are you staying ahead of your competitors in terms of expertise? Are you losing important knowledge assets when employees leave the company? Are there any knowledge management initiatives in your organization? If so, consider using a Performance-Centered Design approach to develop knowledge management systems. Knowledge management systems can be used to capture, store, and maintain your organization's valuable and vital knowledge.

The cost of performance support varies depending on the scope. Simple performance support tools can be built for as little as $US 20,000. Larger systems can cost from $500,000 to several millions. There is no simple answer. However, the key point is not so much the cost but the pay back period. Many projects will achieve a return on investment within six months or less.

• One, if the organization isn't performance oriented, department goals may conflict with a performance-centered design approach. For example, design work may be seen as a threat to software delivery dates. Instead, a project's target dates should be expressed as "when performance is achieved by employees" and not "when the software arrives." In fact, the life cycle for a performance-centered project can be shorter than a traditional project life cycle, since you don't have to wait for a long period of training to be finished to achieve performance in the workplace. One solution is to create a business performance model (BPM) that depicts graphically how employees achieve performance in their work - and how that relates to work processes and organizational goals. A typical BPM would identify potential roadblocks to performance such as poor incentive design, conflicting procedures or processes, or inadequate decision support knowledge embedded in the software. Highlighting potential roadblocks to meeting business goals in a project makes it easier to get top management involved and the project refocused on performance, rather than on meeting software delivery dates.
• Two, it's also important to realize that just making the software easier to use doesn't guarantee day-one performance. Knowing how to use the application's menus is not the same as knowing how to accomplish a work task such as taking a customer's order over the phone. It's not sufficient to produce only an excellent help system and tutorial. Microsoft now recognizes this fact when designing its own software. For example, Microsoft Publisher uses a performance support technique called "wizards" that guides users through the process of creating a brochure, not just how to use commands in the application's menus. Microsoft's PowerPoint helps users structure key building blocks in a sales presentation, not just how to insert a graphic on the slide.
• And three, you can't achieve impressive results by waiting for the software to be developed and adding performance support as an afterthought. Performance-Centered Design (PCD) is software interface design, not the design of separate components bolted onto a computer system. It's necessary to address the interface design at the beginning of a project. Most HR practitioners and trainers already possess the appropriate skills, such as needs analysis and knowledge representation. With some instruction in interface design and PCD, they can become valuable members of a software development team.

In fact it's exactly the opposite. Instead of forcing people to learn lots of discrete facts that will change over time, for example having to learn the features and benefits of hundreds of products, you can let the PCS handle all the facts and let the human focus on more important things like relating and communicating with the customer. It allows you to focus on hiring people for their soft skills such as interpersonal and analytical skills rather than just on how much someone can remember.

The main reason technology is not used is because it is not useful. Implementing technology for technology's sake does not solve performance bottlenecks, in fact it often multiplies them. New technology must be integrated into the work environment in a way that makes sense to the performer, matching the way the work is actually done.

The final phase, which only a few visionary companies such as Dow, Scandia and Bachman Laboratories, and some of the larger accounting firms have embarked upon, is to develop a corporate wide Knowledge Management Strategy, in which the intellectual assets of the organization are actively managed.

If you don't have any experts, then you have three choices: One, benchmark against other areas in your company; two, benchmark against other organizations; and three, conduct some basic research and development.

• Do you have a performance problem, and what is the size of the problem?
• How long does it take for a new employee to get up to speed and to reach full competency?
• While employees are getting up to speed, what is the dollar impact on the business in terms of errors on-the-job, poor customer service, or reworked or scrapped product

One of the key first steps, once you have identified the opportunity, is to build a business case. Another key step is to look at feasibility.

• Is competition increasing the need for faster response time, better products, or improved customer service?
• Does your organization frequently change or add products or services?
• Is your organization reengineering or streamlining?
• Do employees use computers to perform primarily "knowledge work"?
• Are there inadequate job performance levels or high turnover rates in your organization?
• Is the information necessary for employees to do their work in electronic format, stored in multiple locations, or frequently changing?
• Are employees located in different locations; do they have varying levels of access to knowledge?
• Are training programs no longer meeting the needs of performance improvement or are training budgets being reduced?
• Does the organization have performance support knowledge or can the expertise be obtained?

• stand-alone,
• not involving large-scale transaction processing or database access,
• developed by end users or by a training group, and
• used a few times a week, month, or quarter

Performance Support Engineering is a professional discipline that uses a set of techniques, methods, and approaches to apply technology and develop Performance Centered Systems (PCS) using the concept of Performance Support (PS) and Performance Centered Design (PCD).

Performance-Centered Design is a technique used in the Performance Support Engineering professional discipline to design the user interface of an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS).

Similar term: User-Centered Design (This term is associated with making software easier to use, whereas performance-centered design is associated with supporting the performance of work.)

Knowledge Engineering is a technique used in the Performance Support Engineering professional discipline to capture and structure knowledge for Performance Centered Systems.

Alternative term: Intrinsic Support

Alternative term: Extrinsic Support

External Support is a type of support that is not connected to the interface of an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS), such as classroom training, documentation, peer support, or bulletin boards.

Start with the Web site www.epss.com and www.epssinfosite.com. These sites contain extensive background on PCS as well as references to articles, professional societies, case studies, conferences, and links to other web sites on PCS. The most targeted conference in this field is the On Line Learning and Performance Support Conference held annually (www.performancesupport.com).

Using a process called Knowledge Acquisition, you identify who your exemplary job-performers are and capture their expertise. Later on, during a Performance-Centered Interface design phase, you build that knowledge into the software.

Yes, a PCS is ideally a dynamic system. It's very important when designing a PCS to consider how volatile its content is and design accordingly.

The performance support approach has been rapidly spreading throughout the professional training community as an alternative approach to training, and is offering a new set of interface design principles for professionals in the human computer interface design community. The concept, pioneered by consultants such as Barry Raybould and Gloria Gery, originated in the late 80's and has been gaining widespread acceptance since then.

Simulation software and role-plays are good choices of technology for soft skills training. Multimedia is also a useful tool to facilitate these role-plays.

Yes there are. In the semiconductor chip industry, Intel built a PCS to support their assembly line. Some smaller companies have built systems using off-the-shelf software that help a person troubleshoot equipment, diagnose the problem, and give step-by-step instructions for repair with pictures of the equipment and even video clips of various assembly or disassembly operations. The manufacturer of this software is called Wonderware.

The type of tools you need is dependent upon two major factors. First, the type of knowledge and performance you are supporting. And second, the constraints in your technical environment such as the amount of development time available, availability of resources, and what software infrastructure is already in place.

Intranets are commonly used as the technology platform for a PCS. In fact if the Intranet is not being designed to support people's performance and is just a place to put information on-line, it's not being used effectively.

It's exactly the same process as designing any PCS. First you identify the performance need and then you determine what type of support is needed, whether that support is in the form of tools, reference, advice, learning resources, or any other resource. From a technical standpoint, you will probably be adding interactivity to the web page but that doesn't mean whiz bang graphics. It's does mean developing some software applications that help people do their work.

There are about twenty key design principles for Performance Support. Primary examples would include: helping to structure the work process, embedding best practices, matching the flow of the work, and integrating all the resources someone needs to perform the work.

Some are. The fundamental question is do these wizards focus on helping you do the work or do they just help you use the software? If it's the latter, then that misses the point of a PCS. An example of PCS in Microsoft Software are the Wizards in PowerPoint or Publisher, they focus on the work not the software.

If you don't find the answers you need, feel free to ask a question.