Cost-justifying electronic performance support systems

Consider how attractive and valuable a support system would be if it allowed any individual to enter a new job without prior training, and if it would gradually bring this individual to higher performance levels than those achieved by traditional initial training sessions. Not only would such a system offer savings in training costs, but it would also provide productivity gains due to the user’s increase in performance—the ultimate aim of Electronic Performance Support Systems. How realistic is this goal, and how cost-effective is an EPSS in reality? In spite of a number of success stories, 1 this question is difficult to answer with certainty, especially in a pre-project phase when the intent is to determine if an organization should go ahead with an EPSS project. The large number of factors to consider and the lack of data to help predict results make it difficult to quantify the return on investment for an EPSS. The objective this article is to provide some empirical data on this subject by using cost-benefit data based on the analysis of a potential EPSS project for a large electric utility company. We hope the findings will give some generalizable results and that the method can be reused for the purpose of conducting EPSS cost-benefit analyses. How can the benefits and return on investment of an EPSS be determined in advance?