1、 What Epiplex Can Do for You Epiplex is a new kind of application. There is no other software currently on the market that can do what it does, and the wide range of business problems that it can solve historically have been considered as totally unrelated to each other and addressed by very differe
2、nt types of software. As a result, it can take time to understand the full range of solutions that Epiplex provides. This document is an overview of the advantages that Epiplex can provide to your organization. The thread that ties all of these advantages together is Epiplexs core capture-and-genera
3、te technology. All Epiplex interventions are possible because of its capability to watch, record, and (most importantly) understand interactions between a user and one or more software applications. Think of the interactions between a user and software as a conversation. The user starts the conversa
4、tion by performing an action such as clicking on a button, double-clicking on a file or typing text. These actions have specific meanings; for instance, clicking on the “OK“ button is not the same as clicking on the “Cancel“ button. The software application responds in very specific ways depending o
5、n the users action, perhaps popping up a dialogue box or opening a file. The systems response, in turn presents the user with a new set of possible next steps based on the kinds of user interface controls that it displays. At first blush, the animation capabilities of Epiplex might be confused with
6、a simple screen capture tool that records a video of what is happening on the screen. Such tools work analogously to tape recorders; they can capture the sound produced in a conversation but not the meaning. Epiplex is completely different in this respect. It captures the conversation as a conversat
7、ion. It understands that a button is a control that a user “clicks on,“ different from text that is something the user “enters“ into a text field. It recognizes and records the buttons name and its image. It knows that the new screen that appears after the user clicks on the button is the applicatio
8、ns direct response to the users action. In other words, Epiplex captures an enormous amount of metadata about the interaction between the user, the logic of one or more software applications, and the various names, images, and other elements programmed into the application. This metadata is useful k
9、nowledge about the business process being performed, and it is captured in real time as the user actually performs the business process. The capture process is vastly more accurate and faster by an order of magnitude than the traditional method of capturing a business process by interviewing an expe
10、rt and taking notes. Once Epiplex has captured the knowledge of the business process, it can put this knowledge to use very quickly in a variety of ways. All of this information collected at capture time is packaged up in an XML file and a related directory of assets such as screen images. To create
11、 an intervention that enables business performance whether it is documentation, interactive training, a macro, a wizard, or some other type Epiplex starts by extracting the relevant knowledge from the capture file and automatically generating the interaction and the corresponding code to make it ope
12、rate. So, for 2003 Christensen/Roberts Solutions 1 example, rather than playing back a movie of what happened on the screen during capture, Epiplex actually reconstructs the interaction. It takes the screen images, draws and animates the cursor to represent the users actions, writes out a list of th
13、e steps in plain English (or any other language the author chooses), and highlights those written steps appropriately and synchronized with the animation. Epiplex automatically generates this animationand much moreliterally in minutes, once again reducing the time it would take to create similar int
14、erventions with more conventional tools by typically 85-90% using conventional tools and methods. However, unlike many authoring tools that provide shortcuts to creating cookie-cutter applications at the expense of flexibility, Epiplex provides full best-in-class authoring environments that enable a
15、uthors to extensively edit the pre-generated interventions. Furthermore, in many cases it allows authors to use their own specialty tools and editors (such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or even Microsoft Visual Studio) to enhance the final product. These core technologies of capture and generation, cou
16、pled with the added flexibility of rich editing tools, enable Epiplex authors to generate an extraordinarily wide range of intervention types. These interventions are described in this paper. DOCUMENTATION One of the most basic applications of Epiplex is to capture a process and render it to an elec
17、tronic document such as a Word, HTML, PDF, or general XSL file. Epiplex recognizes close to two hundred types of interactions between users and applications, including actions such as clicking on a radio button or dragging a menu bar. Each of these actions is linked to a sentence structure that read
18、s a little bit like a “Mad Libs“ sentence (called a sentence structure in Epiplex). For example, one sentence structure might be “Click on _ in the _ drop-down menu.“ When Epiplex generates a document, it fills in the blanks with the control names captured from the document: “Click on Copy in the Ed
19、it drop-down menu.“ It associates each sentence with a captured screen image and puts them together, in order, in the document that it generates. Epiplex gives users a great deal of control over the document output. To begin with, they can control the granularity of the steps that Epiplex displays,
20、including options such as combining menu and submenu selections (e.g., “Click on Page Break in the Break submenu of the Insert menu“) or combining repeated actions on the same control (e.g., “Hit the Page Down key four times“). They can control typesetting options such as font characteristics and ca
21、n insert the generated output into pre-created templates (such as Word .dot files) of their choosing. If this isnt enough control, then an expert can further customize the output using XSL. Naturally, once the documents are generated, they can be edited using the appropriate tools for the document t
22、ype, such as Microsoft Word or Macromedia Dreamweaver. Even the generated sentence structures are editable. Epiplex allows users to create their own sentence structures for each of the actions it recognizes and tie those sentence 2003 Christensen/Roberts Solutions 2 structures together in a unified
23、style that is appropriate for the type of document being generated. In fact, this feature makes it easy to generate documentation in other languages by simply having a translator create sentence structures in the target language (which is roughly the equivalent amount of work to translating a four-p
24、age document). When combined with the order of magnitude compression in documentation development time that Epiplexs capture and generate capabilities afford, the documentation functionality affords you a broad range of practical applications: Retaining business process knowledge that could be lost
25、due to downsizing or other attrition: Because Epiplex can capture computer-mediated processes in real time, it can be used to acquire and preserve valuable knowledge that would otherwise be lost due to downsizing, office relocations, or other causes of employee attrition. For example, during the upc
26、oming migration of several branch insurance offices of a large financial services client of ours, Epiplex will be used to prevent the possible loss of business process knowledge should none of the employees in one or more of the offices choose to relocate. Christensen/Roberts Solutions expects to be
27、 able to capture 100% of the computer-mediated processes in less than two days. These capture files can then be used to generate documentation and interactive training for new hires in the new office. Meeting Regulatory Requirements for Process Documentation: The Federal Government mandates that fin
28、ancial services firms, and firms in certain other industries, document a wide range of transaction procedures. Using Epiplex, its possible that companies in such a situation could reduce the total cost of their documentation efforts by 85% or more. Documenting Workflow on Legacy Systems for Design o
29、f New Software Applications: Epiplex can reduce one important risk element in software application design by making it easy to accurately capture the current workflows. Because Epiplex can capture the workflows in real time from actual on-the-job transactions, it dramatically speeds up this critical
30、 step in requirements gathering while simultaneously increasing its accuracy over notes taken from conventional interviews with legacy system process experts. Generating QA and User Acceptance Testing Scripts: Because Epiplex can generate step-by-step instructions so quickly, it is a natural to use
31、in the creation of any sort of test script. The extensive control that the software offers in terms of output styles and document templating makes it easy to tailor the generated script for the appropriate type of test. Generating Accurate Bug Reports: One of the more difficult aspects of defect tra
32、cking is getting accurate, useful bug reports from the field. Epiplex enables QA testers to append a capture file to their bug reports, so the QA team can see exactly what the tester saw. 2003 Christensen/Roberts Solutions 3 Capturing Current Business Processes for Six Sigma Studies and other BPR-ty
33、pe Efforts: Possibly the most critical and yet time-consuming task in any sort of business process analysis and re-engineering effort is capturing the current state of the process as it is actually practiced in the field. Epiplex provides a fast, low-impact, cost-effective method of doing so with un
34、paralleled accuracy. Generating Multi-lingual Documentation: Because Epiplexs output is generated from a list of less than two hundred sentence structures, it is a relatively simple and inexpensive matter to localize documentation. Epiplex can even handle double-byte languages such as Kanji. SIMULAT
35、ION, ANIMATION, AND TEST Just as Epiplex can use XSL to generate documentation from the information it gathers during the capture of a process, it can also generate extremely rich, interactive simulation training. To begin with, it can generate a “Show Me“ animation of the task, with the actions of
36、each step synchronized to a running text list of the steps (in the same way that Epiplex generates the sentences for documentation). Second, it generates a fully interactive simulation, in which learners are presented with a list of steps and asked to perform those steps in the simulated GUI of the
37、captured application (or applications). Once again, Epiplex synchronizes their actions with a running list of steps in the task, highlighting the step that the user must perform next and checking it off when it is done correctly. Epiplex even automatically generates feedback for incorrect actions by
38、 users, showing them a dialogue box that lets them try again, get a hint, or have the system perform the step for them. And finally, Epiplex generates a test in which the users are asked to perform the actions in the task and are scored on their performance. All of these interventions can be generat
39、ed simultaneously with documentation (and all accomplished literally within minutes) to create complete learning and documentation resources. Once these interventions (called “epiLearns“) are generated, they can be edited in a rich, best-in-class authoring environment. EpiLearn authors can edit step
40、 sentence structures, feedback, and visual hints quickly and easily. They can add audio narration to each step. They can add hint balloons and comments. In places where screens dont exist yet or are about to be changed, they can add artist-created images of the screens and add interactivity just as
41、if those screens had been captured from the live application. As powerful as Epiplexs authoring environment is, epiLearn authors are able to supplement it with traditional web authoring tools of their choice. They can add introductory content screens created in their favorite HTML editing tool, such
42、 Dreamweaver, Front Page, or even Microsoft Word or Powerpoint, and import these screens into their epiLearns. They can even edit media resources in their favorite editors, such as Adobe Photoshop for the screen captures or Sound Forge for the audio narration. Once the epiLearns are edited to the au
43、thors satisfactiona process that typically takes hours rather than the days or weeks required to create the equivalent level of functionality using other toolsEpiplex will generate the fully interactive epiLearns in industry- 2003 Christensen/Roberts Solutions 4 standard DHTML. These files are simpl
44、y static HTML directories; no plug-ins are required, no Java is used, and no server-side functionality is necessary. However, if the epiLearns will reside in a Learning Management System (such as MLU), Epiplex includes a utility for generating industry-standard SCORM metadata that allows the LMS to
45、set access permissions and track learner progress and test scores. This functionality can support a variety of business needs: Application Training: Because Epiplex can generate fully interactive simulations, animations, and tests all in the same or less time than it takes to build a non-interactive
46、 slide show or animation using other tools, it can enable you to provide dramatically and demonstrably higher learner retention with very low development costs. And since Epiplex fully supports the SCORM interchange standard, learner progress and test scores can usually be reported directly to whate
47、ver learning management or content management system you may use. Business Process Training: Because Epiplex can create SCORM-compatible learning objects, and because it can incorporate HTML pages created by any tool into its generated learning objects, embedding epiLearns into courses about larger
48、business processes is easy. For example, it would be a simple matter to create an epiLearn that starts with information about how to choose stock options that are appropriate for a clients risk tolerance and then provides the learner (in this case a broker) with an interactive simulation of how to t
49、rade those options using the applications available to the broker. Embedded Help: Since they are nothing more than static HTML directories, epiLearns can be added to the contextual help menu of any application, providing animations and even interactive simulations for any tasks that users may want to perform on a given screen. Epiplex even has a “Cue Card“ style that generates output very similar to the “Quick Cards“ found in many applications today. Simulating the User Interface for Software Applications Under Development: When applic
