Performance Support—Real World Examples

Thursday, June 28, 2007 by Dan Peay

I love training! I hate training!

I truly enjoy learning and there is much discussion around the subject is "Training equal to Learning?" I'll leave that conversation to other professionals. What I don't like is mandatory training programs just to fill a check-box and where the quality of the experience is so weak that I forget most of the value within minutes. This is especially true with software training. I can't count the number of training courses that I have taken to learn new software systems, only to find out that once I sat at my desk, I didn't feel any better off.

Enter Performance Support!

Being involved in the "Learning" industry for several years, I was familiar with the term Performance Support, but it wasn't until I saw a product that provided a clear vision of a real-world example of Performance Support when the lights came on for me.

What is Performance Support?

David Adkins, CEO of Transcensus, LLC, describes it this way: "The term “Performance Support System” (PSS) is commonly used to describe a specialized environment that allows learning or assistance resources to be embedded directly within the workflow or business process. Knowledge workers receive enabling resources that help them to more effectively and independently carry out their job tasks without extensive training or heavy reliance on traditional forms of support. Such resources are delivered at the precise moment in which the information is needed. An effective performance support system improves software usability, raises the level of knowledge worker productivity and significantly reduces operational costs.

Enter the product SHO Guide!

This is the application that changed my entire perspective of learning at the moment of need. Transcensus developed a product called "SHO Guide." SHO Guide(tm) is Windows-based product where organizations can build, without any programming knowledge, fully embedded instructional, user assistance and support resources that interact directly with a software application’s interface, resulting in compelling and highly effective step-by-step guidance to help knowledge workers complete job tasks using the software applications they rely upon. It is much like putting that computer expert in a box and shipping him or her all over the company, guiding you through successful completion driving productivity results and fewer errors.

When it comes to application training, my new mantra is, "Stop Training!" Provide performance support tools like SHO Guide to boost performance without hours wasted time and money in classroom or e-learning courses.