Electronic Performance Support

"User Friendly?"

2010-07-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

OnStar CIO, Jeff Liedel was recently profiled in InformationWeek. He asks, “How do you code for ‘user friendly’”? I developed my first mainstream business application which helped a group of Industrial Engineers to capture, analyze, and report data which they would collect on their consulting engagements to improve efficiencies in large businesses. I was appalled when some of them complained they not could figure out how to work my application. It was so obvious to ME.

The wonderful thing about people is that they come from all walks of life with endless experiences that shape their views and perspectives. An application's user interface (the visual screen display, menu’s, functions...) may make sense to one, but seem totally foreign to another.

I have a passion for learning and improving things. I love how technology is constantly shaping this. This is part of the reason that I became so committed to the SHO Technology. It allows a person who knows the application and business process to capture or record doing the job the right way. Using SHO Guide, this “script” may be distributed to everyone in the organization to complete the computer task correctly by guiding them step-by-step on the application they need to use to do their job. The formal name for this kind of learning is called “Performance Support.”

I have had a lot of fun creating various scripts to help guide friends and family members with various outcomes they desired on their applications. Now, if only I could figure out how to guide large organizations to find SHO Guide. When you have that one figured out, call me.

Getting the Job Done

2010-06-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Challenge
We (worldwide market) spend over US$ 350 billion per year in software. Consider this scenario: An organization with 250 users of a typical Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution used to manage marketing leads, sales opportunities, service, and related communications, will spend on average $4,250,000. Almost half of the users licensed do not use the software. Studies show the primary reason is that the software is too difficult to use and unfamiliar.

Say you have a great sales opportunity and you want to include a solution specialist on your team to help you win the business. Would you know how to add the person in your CRM tool? Or, would you simply send an email requesting this person help you? If you or your people choose the email, you are in danger of redundancy, loss of tacit knowledge, and possibly missing vital information and communications to win the business.

Solution
The subject matter expert (SME) uses SHO Guide® to record or capture the correct procedure. The SHO Guide “script” is published to a central location and given the title of something like “Add a person to the sales opty team.” Anyone in the organization may click on the link which launches the SHO Player which guides them in the live environment to complete the procedure. SHO Guide is an innovative solution to “learn by doing.” No video’s to watch or steps to memorize in a help window that gets lost behind an sequence. I’ve learned how to do this and completed it at the same time.

Software is only as good as the people who use it. We set out to increase the capability of the people to get the job done and done right.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Microsoft Office had this kind of help engine? Glad you asked. Stay tuned.

:)

Dan Peay

Convergence 2009

2009-03-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally here... our first trip to Convergence after releasing SHO Guide for Dynamics CRM. Although we aren't exhibiting, we are scheduled to meet with many of the top Integrators and key Microsoft CRM Product Managers.

It's quite an amazing feeling to be on the verge of the "tipping point." It's been a long road but we have no doubt that this trip will be the catalyst to propel SHO Guide into the mainstream. We are very proud of SHO Technology and know that users will be able to significantly improve adoption in their respective deployments through the development of even basic scripts.

This past week we learned that SHO Guide has been selected as one of 6 finalists in the seventh annual Utah Innovation Awards. The award presented by Stoel Rives LLP and the Utah Technology Council, recognizes significant innovations and the Utah companies that created them. The program is designed to draw attention to the high level of innovation taking place throughout the state. http://www.stoel.com/innovation/utah_intro.asp. Wish us luck!!!

If anyone reading this will be in New Orleans next week (March 10th - March 13th) look us up.

Best regards,

Daniel Higbee (dhigbee@transcensus.com)

Getting Started email - 14 Day Free Trial

2009-02-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

You should receive this email within 24 hours of completing the registration process for the Free Trial. I've posted it here for convenience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your interest in SHO Guide. I would like to offer you some guidance as you get started with this amazing tool. The first thing you should do is take a deep breath and stop trying to record on whatever application you're trying it out on… and follow these steps first…

How do we know you were doing this you ask? Well, let’s just say we know how tempting it is when you get your hands on this technology to immediately want to try it out in your environment (we all did the same thing). For those of you who didn’t, you would have eventually…

Here’s the key, there are a few tips and tricks that will get you started the right way… and with much less frustration.

Step 1: Make sure you have met the minimum system requirements:

· Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista
· Minimum 256 MB RAM
· Minimum 500MHz processor
· Microsoft .NET 1.1
· Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or greater

Step 2: Print out the attached file “10 Tips for Creating SHO Scripts” and memorize it… or at least keep it close.

Step 3: Go back to the Transcensus website, login using your username and password.

Step 4: Go to the “Support” tab then “Resources” (if you’re not there already) and watch and complete all of the online training videos along with the QuickStart questionnaire which is attached and email it or fax it back to me when you’re done (This is extremely important so that we can continue to improve your experience).

NOTE: The videos may take some time to load the first time you run them.

We know this is a lot of free training but if you complete it, you will be well on your way to creating amazing scripts by the end of your free trial…

Step 5: Use the Support Forum to ask questions, you may find the answer is already there.

If you follow these 5 steps and your still having issues or need some help, don’t hesitate to email your question to support@transcensus.com we’ll get you an answer as quickly as possible, but no more than 24 hours. Good luck and we’re excited to hear how you plan on using SHO Guide.

Best regards,

Daniel Higbee

Mom, just click on the BLUE “E”… Yes… Double CLICK…. With the left mouse button… No the MOUSE is the … Forget it… try this…

2008-12-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Does this sound familiar? This was essentially the conversation I had with my own Mother (sorry Mom...) about a year ago. She has just purchased a brand new computer with Vista, replacing the ancient monolith that she had faithfully called me for assistance with nearly every month for the past 5 years. Now the calls became daily if not multiple times daily… Well, this went on for the first couple weeks and finally after setting up nearly everything “just like my old system” she would say I began to get some relief. Then… a new email address and online photos.

I had just started with Transcensus and was really going through the training on SHO Guide. I decided that night that I would record a script that would walk her through accessing her email and send it to her old email address. The problem was that I needed her to download the “player.” The player is a simple 1 Meg installation on our website and allows you to play “scripts.” Now this may seem simple but apparently she had already forgotten her password for her old email address so I couldn’t just send her a link in an email. Oh, no… I had to get her to open a browser, type in the website address and get to the right page to “download” the player. Finally, I ended up creating her new email address for her and doing a GoToMeeting to configure and create desktop shortcuts.

The point of this is… now that she has the player installed, I can quickly create a script and email it to her to walk her through (or do it for her) nearly anything including configuring the browser to block pop-ups, change Word back to 2003 style sheets and automate access to her email including opening the browser, entering her username password for her.

Now apply this to your job and training employees how to complete a task in a given software application...

This is the coolest technology I have ever used… www.transcensus.com/videos.htm

If only we could “download” the knowledge of our Subject Matter Experts…

2008-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

“Subject Matter Expert (SME): An individual who, by virtue of position, education, training, or experience, is expected to have greater-than-normal expertise or insight relative to a particular technical or operational discipline, system, or process, and who has been selected or appointed to participate in development, verification, validation, accreditation, or use of a model or simulation.”

In today’s world of complex applications in the workplace and the need to quickly and effectively train new users, wouldn’t it be nice if we could download our SME’s knowledge and pass it around? I’m curious what and how you’re using today’s technology to deploy SME knowledge…

What methods or tools do you use to capture and author your eLearning courses?
What advantages or disadvantages do you see with each?
What would you like to see in an authoring tool?

Looking forward to hearing from you…

Daniel Higbee, Vice President Business Development
www.transcensus.com/videos.htm

“eLearning” you say, how will that help me?

2008-11-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article this morning in Chief Learning Officer magazine (if you don’t subscribe… you should). According to the article, eLearning investments will increase by 79% in the next 12 – 24 months. This comes as no surprise, as we all realize that primary focus of any organization in today’s economy is to “Get the most out of what I’ve already got…” as one customer told us.

How can we as software vendors, trainers, system integrators, project managers, and learning professionals really help our customers to get the MOST out of what they’ve got? After 16 years in Workforce Management Software (WMS) deployments, I have learned that what “they” have is generally sufficient.

The question is… are they fully utilizing the features of the product they have? These are some of the questions that we generally tell our clients to ask themselves:

Are we getting the full benefit of (insert product name), do my management, my supervisors and employees really know how to get the most out of it?
......I think we all know the answer to this one.
Would there be a savings to our organization by simply increasing efficiency in data entry and reducing the errors currently being fixed by the “back office?
......Most likely an overworked, under compensated, Admin. Assistant named “Beverly” who’s seen it all… and is counting the days to Florida.
How can I quickly get people familiar with additional features of our current products without another huge investment in time and training?
.......They’re saying to themselves, “I can’t get them to use the basics and you think I can get them to use additional features…?”

These three are obviously the basics but they are crucial to understanding how to assist our customers and provide the most value for their investment in our products or services.

eLearning or Workforce Performance Systems (WPS) are the future and they can offer another level of support “At the moment of need”. There are some impressive products on the market today including SHO (Scripted Human Operator) Guide® which offers step by step guidance in the live application and what are commonly referred to as “simulation tools” like Captivate® or Camptasia®.

Find the authoring tools that work for you, incorporate them into your products, deployments and consulting agreements. If we give our clients what they want and do it in a professional and courteous manner, they will become a client for life.

Daniel Higbee – Vice President, Business Development
www.transcensus.com

Ambient Insight Report on Training

2008-10-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

The training industry is currently in a state of significant transition. According to the Ambient Insight report, a number of factors are driving the rather dramatic changes that are occurring in the US, including:

Steady decline of training budgets and training benefits

Rapid decline of internal HR and Training departments in the US

Steady reduction of internal IT staffs and IT population in US

Migration of staffs and budgets out of legacy buyer organizations and into outsourcing firms

Ambient concludes that the old training industry—pre 9/11, dot.com meltdown, stock market crash, IT spending slowdown, downsizing and outsourcing—is gone forever. Organizations are adapting to a new reality in which greater emphasis will be placed on emerging practices and learning technologies, including location-based learning, process-embedded learning, cognitive and affective learning products and personal learning products.

By 2011, the most significant gains are expected in adoption rates of process-embedded learning, virtual labs, virtual classes and live mentoring. In contrast, classroom instruction, while still the most dominant training method as of last year, is expected to decline significantly within five years. Self-paced e-learning products and services are expected to experience declines as well.

Source: Ambient Research 2006 Snapshot of Learning Technology Trends in the U.S. Training Industry Report U.S. IT Training Market Growth

The Problem is finding the Right Information

Downtime due to an inability to find relevant, job task-specific information remains a huge obstacle to worker productivity. Consider these statistics from a recent IDC report:

Knowledge workers spend an average of 15% to 20% of their time looking for information.
Success rates are less than 50%.
Unsuccessful searches in a company employing 1,000 knowledge workers could cost as much as $6,000,000 in time loss annually.

The study concluded further that technology workers spend approximately seven hours per week looking for answers and researching solutions to problems. Over the course of a month, this represents more than 31 hours of technology worker downtime. When measured across an enterprise of 500 technology workers, the costs of worker downtime could equate to as much as $7.5 million per year—a staggering impact to profitability.

Addressing the Problem

So how is this problem being addressed? The answer is, simply, not very well. Despite significant research that confirms that most worker learning takes place outside of the classroom, organizations continue to rely largely on costly instructor-led training as a primary solution. A recent Training Magazine industry report provided some interesting statistics pertaining to how training budgets are being allocated. In calendar year 2005:

$51.1 billion was budgeted for formal training.
70% of that budget was allocated to classroom instruction with live instructors.
$13.5 billion was spent on training products and services, up $.2 billion from the previous year.
26% said that training budgets were up from the previous year.

Costs for continuous employee development are enormous. However, in spite of continued trends toward allocation of training budgets to formalized classroom instruction, the tide is now beginning to turn. There is significant discussion and debate in learning circles about the effectiveness of formal learning, and greater emphasis is being placed on more informal, process-embedded approaches to learning among industry thought leaders.

Performance support systems have, whether deserved or not, had the reputation of being rather costly to design and implement, which is one of the primary reasons for their only recent emergence as credible alternatives to established training paradigms. Furthermore, the rapid emergence of performance support is being fueled by recent advances in technology. This is allowing organizations to deliver highly effective, process-embedded resources in ways that were simply not possible just a year ago.

How will Process-Embedded Learning Benefit Your Organization?

Perhaps some of the most interesting statistics on the benefits of process-embedded learning can be found in a 2006 report of IT learning technology trends produced by Ambient Insight, LLC, which arrives at the following conclusions:

Rapid e-learning is too slow. Process-embedded learning is, by comparison, very fast.
Process-embedded Learning products reduce content creation and maintenance costs by as much as 60-80%.
Average cost of a help desk call in the U.S. is $125 per incident. Process-embedded learning can reduce help desk calls by 60% to 75%.
Process-embedded learning eliminates lost opportunity costs associated with taking a user out of production to attend a training class or complete an e-learning course. 22

Following are additional benefits that one can expect from a process-embedded, performance-centric approach to worker instruction:

Reduced learning time
Higher levels of worker productivity
Less reliance on others when completing job-related tasks
Reduction in implementation costs
Increased worker autonomy
Better knowledge retention
Better customer experiences

Introducing SHO Technology

Software applications are challenged with these same issues. It often seems humanly impossible to do what we desire to do, even with advertised features of the software. Transcensus focused on both problems. We desired to put the "human interface" into software and provide moment of need performance support for the masses. Our focused effort resulted in the development of what we call SHO Technology.

Our patent-pending Scripted Human Operator™ (SHO) technology is an exciting innovation in software performance support and user assistance. It allows content developers to create truly interactive software instructional, assistance and support content that interfaces directly with windows software applications. No programming knowledge is required.

SHO content can be embedded directly within the workflow. While completing job related tasks, workers interact directly with the live software application they are attempting to use, instead of a browser, simulation window or other external training interface. In other words, the actual software application is the training interface. SHO technology can be thought of as a virtual instructor or tutor looking over the user's shoulder and offering step-by-step guidance inside the actual software application the user is attempting to use.

In today's economy SHO Guide can effectively reduce costs and improve efficiency throughout any organization with a heavy reliance on their employees use of software.

Please visit http://www.transcensus.com/videos.htm for a quick overview of what SHO Guide has to offer you and your company.

Daniel Higbee - VP, Business Development

Microsoft Dynamics CRM users...

2008-08-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

Customer Relationship Management(CRM) Solutions

Organizations that use Microsoft Dynamics CRM will experience substantial productivity gains by employing the guided help capabilities offered by Transcensus SHO technology. The guided help content library for Microsoft Dynamics CRM was developed with Transcensus’ award-winning SHO Guide(R) authoring solution and includes dozens of basic scenarios or workflows for the typical CRM user.

Each scenario is captured in an interactive learning script that delivers step-by-step guidance directly inside Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to assist the user in performing the task more efficiently with a corresponding reduction in errors. With this unique solution, users can be immediately productive with their CRM software without having to attend a training class or complete an online course.

To see this solution in action: http://www.transcensus.com/productdemo/1minuteoverview.html The content was optimized for a general installation of Dynamics CRM and is available upon request: info @ transcensus.com.

The "On Boarding" Challenge

2008-06-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I heard an interesting presentation from a major corporation a few months ago about the high cost of on boarding new employees. At this particular company, it’s not usual for a new employee to have to endure up to six weeks of classroom training in order to become certified to use the company’s applications. Six weeks! While I’m certain that the scenario described above is probably more the exception than the rule, it underscores the challenges that many companies face when on boarding new employees, especially in job roles where there is high turnover.

Imagine if you could cut the required new employee training by a third, or even by half or more. Think about how much this would benefit your organization. Results like this are possible with a Performance Support system (EPSS) like SHO Guide from Transcensus. Rather than focusing on techniques to help users remember how to perform a multitude of software-related job tasks, your classroom training, if it is even necessary after implementing a SHO-based EPSS, can be directed toward helping the employee understand how to use Performance Support resources. Such workflow-embedded resources can assist the employee, in a very repeatable and predictable way, with completion of their important job tasks. Besides, the reality is that the new employee is not going to remember much about the classroom learning experience. Studies have shown that only a small amount of information presented during a classroom session is actually remembered.

If this sounds intriguing, let us help you determine where there’s a good fit for a Performance Support system in your company. I’m confident that such a conversation will help redirect your thinking about ways to provide compelling on-the-job assistance to new employees.

The Next Learning Frontier

2008-06-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time as a classroom instructor. In the early days, I used transparencies on an overhead projector to teach people how to perform tasks in complex engineering software applications, as crazy and inefficient as that sounds to us today. When the digital projector made its debut, it was a significant innovation because one could actually demo a software application to new users while they followed along on their own systems. It wasn’t easy or especially efficient, but it was better than other alternatives at the time. Surpisingly, this methodology is still widely used today.

In the 90’s, a rather dramatic shift toward a new learning concept called “e-learning” occurred. Companies started to explore new and more innovative ways to teach some of the same concepts that were traditionally taught in the classroom environment, but in a new medium that allowed someone to access the information directly from their desktop.

Organizations rushed to embrace this new methodology. Results, however, were mixed. Many e-learning initiatives failed because the materials were nothing more than static, reformulated classroom resources that didn’t fully leverage the power of this newly discovered online medium. By many standards, the promises of e-learning were not fully realized in terms of measurably-improved worker productivity. Some became rather disillusioned by e-learning due to disappointing and unrealized ROI.

The “e” revolution eventually got legs, however, and new technologies, such as software simulations have emerged over the course of the last few years that have demonstrated even greater promise from an IT skills development perspective. However, the core issue—preventing someone from having to memorize countless procedures in software applications in order to complete job tasks—is still not addressed, even by these newest forms of learning. As a result, companies and organizations have continued to look toward the next learning innovation, the one that will finally help them to fully realize the promise of e-learning.

So what is on the horizon for the industry? What new innovations have emerged or will emerge that will significantly change the way we transfer knowledge? As I look ahead, I truly believe we are on the verge of another revolution. Performance Support (EPSS), a process by which learning is embedded directly in the workflow, has emerged rather dramatically in recent years as companies and organizations have started to realize the substantial and measurable benefits that can be gained by providing workers with on-the-job, task-embedded learning resources.

Performance Support is not traditional e-learning. It is a new and improved form of “e” in which emphasis is placed on delivery of content that helps someone complete job tasks by providing the right information to the right user at the right time. It’s learning at the moment of need—and it’s revolutionary in the way that it addresses the market need.

Our SHO technology takes all ambiguity and guesswork out of complex procedures that involve the use of software. It provides the capacity for even novice users of an application to be immediately productive in completing job tasks by providing step-by-step instructions to the user that interact directly with the graphical user interface of the application. There is nothing quite like it on the market today.

I would like to invite you to contact us to learn more about how SHO technology can change your thinking about the importance of the on-the-job component of your overall learning strategy. Visit us at http://www.transcensus.com/ for more information about our exciting Performance Support technology. I guarantee that you’ll be impressed and amazed by what you’ll see.

Why SHO Guide vs. Simulation?

2008-05-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

At Transcensus, all of our combined learning experience has pointed us to the vital importance of connecting learning and readiness to the immediacy of performing the task. With the dramatic changes that are occurring in the IT training industry and the ever increasing need to embed learning within the process, performance support was clearly the right focus, but existing performance support technology solutions and methodologies were difficult to use, difficult to implement, and/or too expensive.

Software applications are challenged with these same issues. It often seems humanly impossible to do what we desire to do, even with advertised features of the software. Transcensus focused on both problems. We desired to put the "human interface" into software and provide moment of need performance support for the masses. Our focused effort resulted in the development of what we call SHO Technology.

Our patent-pending Scripted Human Operator™ (SHO) technology is an exciting innovation in software performance support and user assistance. It allows content developers to create truly interactive software instructional, assistance and support content that interfaces directly with windows software applications. No programming knowledge is required.

SHO content can be embedded directly within the workflow. While completing job related tasks, workers interact directly with the live software application they are attempting to use, instead of a browser, simulation window or other external training interface. In other words, the actual software application is the training interface. SHO technology can be thought of as a virtual instructor or tutor looking over the user's shoulder and offering step-by-step guidance inside the actual software application the user is attempting to use.

What is EPSS? (continued...)

2008-05-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

Each day I get more and more excited about learning more about elearning... or guided help... or any of a hundred other terms for Electronic Performance Support. I'm wrapping up the last blog with "How will Process-Embedded Learning Benefit Your Organization?"

Perhaps some of the most interesting statistics on the benefits of process-embedded learning can be found in a 2006 report of IT learning technology trends produced by Ambient Insight, LLC, which arrives at the following conclusions:

Rapid e-learning is too slow. Process-embedded learning is, by comparison, very fast.
Process-embedded Learning products reduce content creation and maintenance costs by as much as 60-80%.
Average cost of a help desk call in the U.S. is $125 per incident. Process-embedded learning can reduce help desk calls by 60% to 75%.
Process-embedded learning eliminates lost opportunity costs associated with taking a user out of production to attend a training class or complete an e-learning course.

Following are additional benefits that one can expect from a process-embedded, performance-centric approach to worker instruction:

Reduced learning time
Higher levels of worker productivity
Less reliance on others when completing job-related tasks
Reduction in implementation costs
Increased worker autonomy
Better knowledge retention
Better customer experiences

The majority of this content is available in our white paper "Learning at the Moment of Need" which is available by contacting us at info@transcensus.com.

**************************************************************************************

Daniel Higbee is the Vice President of Business Development for Transcensus, LLC.

Transcensus, LLC, based in Orem, Utah, is dedicated to the cause of improving software usability through the introduction of a new interactive platform for authoring and delivery of performance support and guided help content. The company's solutions embed learning, user assistance and support content directly in the workflow, enabling an unprecedented level of enhanced usability and contextual learning in software applications. The company is developing solutions that will influence virtually every market segment that relies upon software as a critical component of its operational strategy. For more information about Transcensus, visit http://www.transcensus.com/.

"What is electronic performance support?"

2008-05-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

If your reading this there's a good chance you already know the answer but I was asked this question again by a friend, After reading my blog. So, just in case you are asking the same question...

Think about it this way... When you first started at your new job, did you need to learn how to use any new software? An accounting system, customer relationship managment tool, Microsoft product, or otherwise? Do you remember how frustrating it was trying to figure out how to complete your tasks quickly? How many times did you ask different people the same questions so they wouldn't know you forgot.... again...?.?.?

EPSS or Electronic Performance Support Systems are esentiallly designed to provide you with immediate help within the software application your using at the "TIME OF NEED." Allowing you to complete the task immediately vs. asking co-workers or going searching for assistance in help files.

The Problem is finding the Right Information...Downtime due to an inability to find relevant, job task-specific information remains a huge obstacle to worker productivity. Consider these statistics from a recent IDC report:

Knowledge workers spend an average of 15% to 20% of their time looking for information.
Success rates are less than 50%.
Unsuccessful searches in a company employing 1,000 knowledge workers could cost as much as $6,000,000 in time loss annually.

Another survey of technology workers , in this case IT professionals and programmers, concluded that 100% of those surveyed reported having to stop working at one or more times per day to find answers and look for solutions to job-related problems. Of those surveyed, 20% reported having to stop 10 or more times per day. When totaled, this equates to at least 50 interruptions per week.

The study concluded further that technology workers spend approximately seven hours per week looking for answers and researching solutions to problems. Over the course of a month, this represents more than 31 hours of technology worker downtime. When measured across an enterprise of 500 technology workers, the costs of worker downtime could equate to as much as $7.5 million per year—a staggering impact to profitability.

Addressing the Problem

So how is this problem being addressed? The answer is, simply, not very well. Despite significant research that confirms that most worker learning takes place outside of the classroom, organizations continue to rely largely on costly instructor-led training as a primary solution. A recent Training Magazine industry report provided some interesting statistics pertaining to how training budgets are being allocated. In calendar year 2005:

$51.1 billion was budgeted for formal training.
70% of that budget was allocated to classroom instruction with live instructors.
$13.5 billion was spent on training products and services, up $.2 billion from the previous year.
26% said that training budgets were up from the previous year.

So now you are starting to see the light... to be continued...

A Case for Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) in the Post-Training Era

2008-05-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

I thought I would have to write a long description but found that someone else has already provided some very good information so I will simply provide the link... Thank you to:

Lou Roberts
Principal
Christensen/Roberts Solutions

www.crsol.com/home/samples/presentations/lroberts_techlearn2005.ppt

Simulation vs. SHO (Scripted Human Operator)

2008-05-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

One of the questions I get on a regular basis is "What's the difference?" What they are asking is what's the difference between your SHO Technology and Simulation. Well the answer I usually give is that simulation is just that, simulation... and SHO walkes the user through the steps within the live application.

Now, I have seen it a thousand times, and once you see it "record and playback" (yes, I think we may need to change our terminology) you will fully understand the difference but until then, here's the scoop.

SHO: User is guided while working inside the actual software application by performing real interactions with the software application instead of simulated interaction.

Simulation: User works in a separate simulation window and must figure out how to apply what was done in the simulation window to the actual software application. The learning environment is disconnected from actual software application.

SHO: User creates real data during the learning or guidance process.

Simulation: User does not create real data during the learning process. Any "data" created in the simulation window is lost once the simulation ends.

SHO: Does not rely on video, animation or screen capture, so visual presentations are dynamic and can adjust to the current appearance and position of the software application and its interface components (toolbars, dialog boxes, etc).

Simulation: Creates static visual presentations of software interfaces that do not adjust to user-defined configurations (toolbar and dialog box placement, interface settings, etc.).

SHO: Majority of content remains viable across new versions of the software application, resulting in longer content shelf life.

Simulation: Visual presentation must be updated with each new version of the software application.

SHO: Reduces bandwidth requirements for remote content.

Simulation: Heavier bandwidth requirements for remote content.

SHO: Visual presentation is language neutral to allow for easy localization.

Simulation: Visual presentation is static and language specific and must be recaptured for other languages.

SHO: Provides intelligent verification of how the user is using the software inside the actual software application.

Simulation: Verifies user interactions with the simulation window only.

SHO: Eliminates the need to switch back and forth between the software application and a training or simulation window.

Simulation: User must switch back and forth between the software application and the simulation window.

SHO: Eliminates the need to resize windows in order to display a separate simulation window.

Simulation: User must adjust window sizes to display both the actual software application and the simulation window.

End User Adoption - Mom's email...

2008-05-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to me (and somewhat embarrassing I might add) that for the past 14 years, I've been implementing Enterprise Time and Attendance applications at some of the largest companies in North America and until recently had little to no insight into "performance support."

When Dan Peay (Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Transcensus) first showed me the SHO Guide product I was left speechless, and if you knew me, you would know that is quite a feat. Once I recovered from the initial shock, I began to think about all those years of answering the same question over and over about the same features in our applications.

A good personal example would be my Mom; she would call me regularly to ask how to open her web email. I would say in a calm helpful voice from 1,500 miles away, “open the browser… no it’s a hyperlink on your desktop, a hyperlink is a … forget that part… no the one that looks like a lower case e, no the blue one…” you get my drift... so when I got a hold of SHO Guide what do you think the first script I ever wrote was??? You got it… Mom’s email, I called it “CLICK HERE FOR EMAIL” and put it on her desktop in the middle of her screen.

Implementations of Enterprise software applications are not only challenging but costly, and end user adoption is much more difficult than showing Mom how to get to her email. Users who simply want to “get it done” without all the “rigamorol…” tend to revert to their old ways while you are pushing to get them to understand the benefits of the new way.

Bottom line, if you can provide a script that walks the end user through their given task or workflow, step by step within the application, you’ve just eliminated the majority of issues with early end user adoption.

Learning at the Moment of Need

2008-05-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Knowledge workers today are required to adapt to ever changing systems and procedures, and the relevancy of this knowledge is often fleeting because of rapid changes in the way companies are doing business in order to remain viable and competitive. From a business standpoint, more important than attaining knowledge for knowledge’s sake is application of knowledge to help workers carry out their job tasks with greater efficiency. As Roger Schank, Director of the Institute of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University puts it, "What you know is trivial. The real issue is what do you know how to do?"

In this short statement, Schank accurately summarizes one of the greatest challenges faced by most organizations today—what do our workers really know how to do? With the substantial technological requirements now associated with most job descriptions, how much knowledge should we realistically expect them to retain? What is the best way to ensure that they are able to gain access to relevant information when they need it to assist them in developing and maintaining their job-related competencies? How do we retain our knowledge pool when there is so much employee attrition, and, therefore, so much need for ongoing training?

An often cited study developed by Dr. Robert Kelley, Adjunct Professor of Business at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University, puts the knowledge retention dilemma into perspective. Dr. Kelly concluded that in 1986, workers could retain in memory as much as 75% of what they needed to know to perform their job tasks. By 1997, knowledge retention dropped dramatically to 15%-20%. In 2006, it was estimated that as little as 8%-10% of what one needed to know to perform their job tasks could, on average, be retained in memory.

Why the dramatic shift in knowledge retention? One could argue that the primary reason is that there is simply too much to know. We are bombarded with the need for application and procedural knowledge to the point that in many cases, we don’t really want to know more. However, an equally compelling argument for the decline in worker knowledge retention is that workers are no longer really required to know everything related to their job tasks because of all the knowledge access tools that are now available to help them find information.

Search engine Google is a prime example. Although the company is only nine years old, many would be hard pressed to imagine life without Google or other search engine tools, like Yahoo and Live Search. Why? Because they have opened the floodgates to nearly instantaneous fingertip knowledge on a massive scale and in ways that were simply unimaginable and unattainable only a decade ago.

Exciting innovation that is specifically tailored to learning and that is designed to address complex knowledge access and retention challenges head on is emerging very rapidly. In some respects, we are witnessing a new frontier in learning, one that will dramatically shift how organizations develop and maintain their knowledge assets. For more than a decade, significant discussion has been centered on a concept called "process-embedded learning," more commonly referred to as "performance support.." Technologies that surround this concept, commonly referred to as Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), have advanced, in quite dramatic fashion, to the point at which effective performance support, once unattainable for most organizations, is now an affordable alternative to traditional instructor-led training and e-learning. The purpose of this paper is to explain the concept of performance support while outlining reasons why a process-embedded solution can bring dramatic positive change to an organization by empowering workers with resources that will significantly improve their performance.

(Exerpt from Transcensus white paper "Learning at the Moment of Need")

Performance Support and ROI

2008-05-20T17:43:00.001-07:00

An Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) may also be known as electronic performance support, automated job aids, electronic performance support tools, electronic coaches, intelligent online help, performance centered design, embedded support, or enriched learning environments. Performance support systems such as job aids have been a matter of importance to performance technology for a long time. The availability of computer technology, the increasing complexity of the workplace, and the need for increased workplace performance to enable global corporate competition are three factors that have lead to an increased concern about how to most effectively design and develop performance support tools in an electronic environment.

The purpose of EPSS is to enable workers to perform a task or set of tasks better by providing information and procedures when they're needed, in the worker's natural environment. Providing performance support "just-in-time," (JIT) obviates the need for the worker to store knowledge; they can access it as needed, and within context. This is not only more convenient than out-of-context training, but may allow better transfer of learning, because workers often learn better in authentic performance settings.

An EPSS is not a magic bullet, and measuring ROI for an EPSS is as important as for other interventions. The cost of an EPSS is primarily incurred during the initial development. While delivery costs may be lower than that of traditional training, it is more difficult to track them. Performance support occurs at the same time as the employee's performance, in contrast to traditional training, which is normally finite and easier to isolate from the cost of performing the work itself. Because most of the cost of an EPSS is up-front (during implementation), the ROI for an EPSS increases the longer the system is used. An EPSS can also eliminate the costs associated with traditional training, such as travel expense and classroom space.

Hawkins, Gustafson, and Nielsen (1998) created a web-based EPSS ROI calculator for use by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Some benefits of an EPSS tracked in an example web-based ROI calculator were:

New employees:
· reduced time required to learn the task
· reduced supervision hours (answering questions, training the employee, organizing work)
· reduced help from coworkers
· reduced calls to help line
· reduced down time (waiting for help, consulting manuals)
Continuing employees:
· fewer mistakes
· fewer employees needed
· reduced overtime
Quality benefits:
· reduced employee turnover
· reduced grievances
· reduced absenteeism/tardiness (morale improvements)

Reference: * Electronic Performance Support Systems - By Susan Mullen ( http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/ARossett/pie/Interventions/epss_1.htm )

About Transcensus

2008-05-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

Founded in 2004, Transcensus is dedicated to the cause of improving software usability through the introduction of a new interactive platform for authoring and delivery of performance support and job assistance content. In 2007, Transcensus received the Performance Centered Design (PCD) Award for the SHO Technology.

SHO Guide is an advanced authoring tool that allows subject matter experts, managers, software trainers and IT professionals to create, without any programming knowledge, job assistance and performance support content called scripts. These scripts interact directly with live software applications to guide employees and software users through the proper execution of software procedures. An easy-to-use recording feature captures important software procedures as they are performed in real time and converts them into fully-interactive, step-by-step instructions in multiple languages simultaneously.

At Transcensus, all of our combined learning experience has pointed us to the vital importance of connecting learning and readiness to the immediacy of performing the task. With the dramatic changes that are occurring in the IT training industry and the ever increasing need to embed learning within the process, performance support was clearly the right focus, but existing performance support technology solutions and methodologies were difficult to use, difficult to implement, and/or too expensive.

Software applications are challenged with these same issues. It often seems humanly impossible to do what we desire to do, even with advertised features of the software. Transcensus focused on both problems. We desired to put the “human interface” into software and provide moment of need performance support for the masses. Our focused effort resulted in the development of what we call SHO Technology.

Our patent-pending Scripted Human Operator™ (SHO) technology is an exciting innovation in software performance support and user assistance. It allows content developers to create truly interactive software instructional, assistance and support content that interfaces directly with windows software applications.

SHO content can be embedded directly within the workflow. While completing job related tasks, workers interact directly with the live software application they are attempting to use, instead of a browser, simulation window or other external training interface. In other words, the actual software application is the training interface. SHO technology can be thought of as a virtual instructor or tutor looking over the user's shoulder and offering step-by-step guidance inside the actual software application the user is attempting to use.

SHO Guide currently records on many .NET, Java Swing or browser-based software applications. However, we do not guarantee nor do we recommend that it is used with applications that have not been optimized.

Scripted Human Operator (SHO) Technology

2008-05-20T14:02:00.001-07:00

What if you could capture the knowledge of your 20+year "subject matter expert" on the software applications you are using in your organization and email it to any user in the organization?

How many calls everyday does your organization get with the same question, "How do I .... again in the ... application? Now imagine clicking a single button and recording the answer and never getting the call again. Seem impossible, guess again.

SHO Guide is a performance support authoring solution that lets you capture important software procedures and workflows in the form of interactive instructions that guide software users inside the real software application, instead of a separate browser, simulation or help window. Simply enable SHO Guide’s sophisticated recording feature and complete the desired procedure inside the software application of your choosing*. SHO Guide automatically
builds fully‐interactive, step-by‐step instructions for you—and inmultiple languages simultaneously.

Try it out... you will be amazed.

Go to http://www.transcensus.com/SHO_Player.htm and download and install the player (1 Meg – Windows Registered App)
Then run the “sample scripts” from on that same page…

I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to try it out.

Daniel Higbee