Performance Support Systems

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Gloria Gery

"Success is measured by the ability for people to perform work with limited training or external support. If best practice is embodied in the task structuring part of the tool (such as a wizard embodies best practice in installing software, or Turbo Tax embodies best practice in completing tax returns), people will be able to do what they don't 'know' how to do.  And they learn by doing. Performance is the measure and traditional performance metrics are the tools to assess it."

"The types of resources to be integrated in performance support systems are summarized below.  The nature and degree of integration of these resources truly matter."

	Process				Description
	Analysis and Design				Focuses on knowledge acquisition, observation of current efforts, deliverables
	Support continuum				Transitions from external support to linked support to embedded support
	Group process				Integrates cross-disciplinary skills, job performers and subject matter experts
	Systems viewpoint				Comprised of computer and human elements
	Focus on goals				Identifies any performance barriers to ensure successful outcomes
	Design heuristics				Considers systems approach and need for knowledge management

According to Barry Raybould, "This process, or processes very similar to this, will be the foundation for designing performance-centered systems at the beginning of the 21st century and will be critical to developing successful e-commerce systems and to providing the means for a knowledge management system to improve business results."

Ed Hutchins and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, propose that, "rather than thinking of cognition as an isolated event that takes place inside one's head,

	"Cognition should be looked at as a distributed phenomenon  - one that goes beyond the boundaries of a person to include environment, artifacts, social interactions, and culture."

cognition should be looked at as a distributed phenomenon - one that goes beyond the boundaries of a person to include environment, artifacts, social interactions, and culture." Once again, the professional must think beyond the learning event or product and to the larger environment, with all its cognitive potential. 

Gery (1989), Rossett and Gautier-Downes (1991), and Pea (1993) encouraged distributing performance-enhancing materials into classes, AND into other means, such as job aids, on-line help systems, and documentation.