What does an EPSS look like?

It’s easy to think of an EPSS as just an online procedures manual. It can be, of course, but it can also be a lot more. Imagine a support system that included templates, wizards, context-sensitive help, expert systems (and simpler forms of decision aid), short tutorials (yes, a bit of learning’s OK), agents, flowcharts, diagrams, tips and hints, war stories, demonstrations, simulations and case files – in all media, not just text.

“Sounds good”, you say, “but most of that is already built-in to Microsoft Office.” True and some of it is actually useful, but an EPSS is more than just online help. For a start, an EPSS is more likely to be task-specific than application-function specific. In other words, you learn how to send out invoices in your Company’s format, rather than how to format paragraphs. Secondly, an EPSS is often company-specific rather than generic – it deals with the specific policies and procedures of your organisation.

It’s possible to combine generic application training with an EPSS. The UK’s Department for Education and Skills used an interesting strategy when they launched Windows 95 across their organisation. They used off-the-shelf e-learning from NETg to teach the general principles of the new system. They used a web site on their intranet, developed internally using standard web development tools, to provide specific support for the way Windows 95 was to be used in the DfES. To back this up, they also provided face-to-face coaching at the desktop, because although e-learning and an EPSS make a great combination, humans can be quite nice too.

In a way, what an EPSS is doing is formalising the process of on-job training that constitutes the major part of all workplace learning (90% according to a study by SRI Consulting). They could even have called it eNellie – although, unlike human Nellie, an EPSS is not a drain on staff time, it’s quick and consistent. Not that on-job training is inferior to other methods - research by Streibel (1989), Seeley Brown (1989) and Suchman (1987) all shows that learning is most effective when performed in the context of actual work.