Goals of performance support include improving human performance and productivity, optimizing workloads, and enhancing user satisfaction with a system. Support tools include help and documentation, coaches, an advisor or wizard system, a tutor, and knowledge bases. The sections that follow briefly describe the other support components. The purpose of the help and documentation system is to tell the user how to do a task and show the user other information that might be useful. Coaches, Advisors, and Wizards Coaches, advisors, and wizards all provide the performer with more dynamic, interactive support than does help.
Coaches provide specific 'how to' information to help a user over a minor hurdle.
Coaching typically consists of basic information, context-sensitive hints or tips, or procedural steps required to complete a specific, complex task. The content of an advisor usually includes hints, tips, reasoning support, and explanations of complicated concepts. Advisors can help novice performers make decisions and complete tasks more like experts and provide explanations for reasoning, enabling continual performance improvement. They are appropriate when performers want to find out how to do a more complex cognitive task, understand why a specific step must be done, or determine why a specific decision was suggested. Wizards help performers complete tasks by offering brief, action-oriented assistance in response to performer need.