As it installs Shortways for many new customers, Shortways continues to develop this invaluable tool. The latest release brings some major enhancements, including more powerful statistics functions and ergonomic improvements to enhance the user experience. It better recognizes the work context, notably with ERP ECC from the German publisher SAP®.
New features of ShortwaysSpring 15
The big innovation in Shortways Spring15 is this context recognition on SAP ERP software.
Thanks to its improved algorithm, the virtual assistant identifies the transaction (screen) on which the ERP user is working and then delivers contextualized information relevant to what he is doing just at that moment.
Shortways exploits the Office Mix add-in for PowerPoint to provide contextual micro-learning – directly in the SAP software – to meet the informal learning needs of SAP users. This is important, for according to the “70/20/10 model” proposed by the scientists Morgan McCall, Robert W. Eichinger and Michael M. Lombardo of the Center for Creative Leadership, 70% of our knowledge is picked up via experience and practice, 20% through social interactions, and just 10% through the traditional training schemes that usually absorb over 80% of training department budgets (classroom and virtual training, e-learning, Learning Management System, blended learning, etc.).
Another new feature of Shortcuts Spring15 is the Smart Selector: when the mouse pointer moves over fields on the screen the user is informed of the availability (or not) of help, which saves time when seeking support or business information.
The virtual assistant’s usage statistics have been improved. User paths and access to business information via Shortways are recorded in more detail (searches made, clicked links, displayed documents, learning modules used, etc). This allows the Shortways administrator to monitor usage and to continuously adapt the knowledge base by matching content better to the usage context.
In response to customer remarks and suggestions, Spring15 improves performance and compatibility with the Google for Work® collaborative platform, notably with the Google Sites® documentary space.
The Shortways Spring15 virtual assistant opens the way to increased performance, micro-learning and hyper-contextualized help. It is available now.
The next version now under development will make a major step forward by providing social features to enable veritable collaborative support for business software end-users.
Shortways aims to continue the rapid development of Shortways and release two innovative versions every year.