EP3111389A1

EP3111389A1 - Method for generating a support system for performance, decision, and learning, documentation and social networking management, contextualized for business control processes, and system utilizing said method

Info

Publication number: EP3111389A1
Application number: EP15715820.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Fabrizio CARDINALI; Matteo SCARAMUCCIA; Cristiano SPADARO; Mirko DEMURTAS
Original assignee: Skillaware Srl
Current assignee: Skillaware Srl
Priority date: 2014-02-27
Filing date: 2015-02-23
Publication date: 2017-01-04
Also published as: WO2015128790A1

Abstract

The invention regards a method for the generation of a system and a contextualised training and performance support system for company control processes, in particular production and control processes where the method provides in combination the execution of a process management programme in which the said processes are described and codified according to standard notations, gathered in a process database and organised and activated and synchronised according to pre-established sequences, that is, according to pre-established workflows of the processes and of activities relative to said processes, that is, of so-called tasks and of activities relative to said tasks, that is, steps. The method and the system are characterised by the fact that it decomposes processes into tasks, into rules of sequencing of tasks and into task execution software applications; it decomposes said tasks into steps and into rules of sequencing of these; It generates a database of tasks, and possibly steps, with associated rules for the sequencing of their execution and associated relative software applications; it generates information and/or document libraries regarding the mode of execution of the specific task and/or step relative to the mode of execution of the specific task and/or step; it selects a process and generates the list of tasks of the said process in the correct sequence of execution

Description

"Method for generating a support system for performance, decision, and learning, documentation and social networking management, contextualized for business control processes, and system utilizing said method"

This invention regards a method for generating a support system for decision-making and performances and management of knowledge, of documentation and of online training in the context of company processes and Software tasks in execution, with particular reference to, but not limited to, processes of production, scheduling and control of new-generation manufacturing installations.

Manufacturing is evolving from a "product centred" approach towards a "process centred" approach.

According to experts, the winning companies of the future will be those that will be able to reorganise and re-engineer their productive processes and activities in order to be able, to produce at a low cost, reconfiguring and rethinking their "supply chain", adopting new "on demand" production flows and personalising their productive installations as according to the specific requests of the individual and/or the community of reference, considering to a greater extent their ability to adapt to market dynamics, "capability", than their production force and preventive storage of goods in their warehouses, "capacity" . This challenge seems to be able to be met only if company business is reorganised planning the infrastructure "holistically" , replanning the production network, rethinking it in a distributed manner over various production departments and sites and not limited to a single installation or department, standardising the intercompany processes and creating and spreading a "process" culture within the company.

The emphasis is thus placed back on the processes with a horizontal organisation, that involves all departments of company organisation, from technical production to commercial and administrative/managerial, on which to produce starting from the market demands, standardising and spreading the best practices for the sector and/or department of reference through their ICT installations and tools and training all the people involved in the transformation process.

Placing the emphasis of the company structure back on processes means that these are considered actual company assets, on a par with other tangible assets which distinguish intellectual property, and which must be defined, documented, archived, reused and shared, that is "managed", in order to be spread, monitored, kept and perfected and then widely standardised within the company to be shared and reused as far as possible.

This emphasis requires the culture and capability to manage business processes to be spread within the company among the people involved both on a cultural level and in terms of the training of managers who have to manage the change and for the operational staff that have to guarantee the performance of the activities connected to the process whether this involves the company information systems or the documental and decision-making base connected to the process itself.

The arrival of this "process" culture has led to the arrival of specific Software applications dedicated to it, known as "Business Process Management" (BPM) , which use a series of standardised process definitions which may be represented in the context of standardised formalisms and notations, such as the XML language notation known as BPMN (Business Process Modelling Notation, for information see the website www.BPMN.org) . The BPMN notation has a large community of supporters in the OMG organisation (Object Management Group, further info at http://www.omg.org/ ) that has decided to share the semantic, logic formalism of the notation in order to exchange good practices regarding processes on an intercompany or intercompany sector level (other available free online publications are: BPM Basics for Dummies, Kiran Garimella, Michael Lees, Bruce Williams, Software AG, Softwareage.com/bpm; BPMv/%_Std_KeyConcepts .ppt,

http: //publib. boulder . ibm. com/infocenter/ieduasst/vlr ImO/topic/com. ibm. iea. ibpmgr/ibpmgr/7.5/Architecture/ BPMv75 Std_KeyConcepts .pdf; Universita di Roma, La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica Automatica e Gestionale Antonio Ruberti, Business Process Modeling and Management, Massimo Mecella) .

The process description possible with said notation is not limited to processes in the productive sector, but ranges from administrative- managerial to supply chain, covering any decisionmaking process within the company, including technical processes for installation controls and production processes usually defined "workflow" .

These methods and softwares are thus linked not only to the business sector in the traditional sense, but may at the same time be actual control programmes for installation and/or production line functioning, going from high-level decision-making processes to actual Software procedure flows which drive planning and/or control systems in industrial production installations .

This invention has thus a technological character, both intrinsically, since it regards the interfacing of software structures, and from the point of view of the technical effect achieved which regards the technological field since it concerns at least partly the management of industrial productive processes, that is, task control, from high-level decision-making to controlling lines and installations which are part of the infrastructure.

The transformation of the company organisation and, above all, of the staff involved towards appropriate levels of process standardisation, reuse and sharing, in addition to the initial change in mentality, usually beginning with the company executive levels, will require constant effort and daily training, communication and support as regards the performances and decision making of human resources, whether managerial or operational staff, involved in the transformation in progress, in order to support the decisions and performances on the field and this must be "integrated" with the workplace and the daily "workflow" .

There is thus an evident need to equip companies, managers and operators involved in processes of transformation and change based on process techniques and technologies, at whatever company level they have reached, with means able to efficiently provide, at an economic rate, extremely simple and quickly-modifiable support for process training, performance and decision making, which is highly personalisable and contextualised for the human staff who have to perform specific tasks during the transformation. For example, in addition to the part of the training regarding the basic methods and notations used, the documents, groups or communities of experts forming the company network or of external suppliers should be automatically reclassified based on the processes and tasks explicitly identified, so as to synergetically increase the availability and accessibility to knowledge and specific professional features. The optimisation in terms of effectiveness of learning and support for decision making holds an extremely important role in a company's transition from a production based to a process based company and has a significant importance for company earnings in the future. To this regard, it is also important to be able to make use of general and specific performance measurements connected to the processes ("Key Performance Indicators", or KPI) regarding the performances of individuals performing individual identified tasks, both while actually working and through role play ("serious games") or didactic simulations, to have feedback on the performances of the individuals involved and on the effectiveness of the processes themselves and their influence on other aspects and company activity in general.

Currently all business process management programmes on the market do not have an integrated system for managing training, social communities and company documentation, or KPI measurement in a real context or via simulated "serious gaming" ("Business Process Garnification" ©, which allow for contextualising or integrating ("embedding") the necessary training, networking and decision-making support into the process workflow.

In addition, the abilities which may be obtained with training via "traditional" online training systems ("Learning Management Systems") or performance support systems are now measured and monitored separately from the real process and work flow, losing the effectiveness of analysis and "intelligence" that more analytical tracking connected to the process could provide to those that must decide on revision training plans and operational support "on the field" . Another lack is the fact that historic experiences and personal performances in performing work tasks are not gathered and organised in any system, whether bpm or elearning, and require third "Business Intelligence" systems for analysing and evaluating the didactic effectiveness ("Educational Analytics") in order to influence any possible modifications and/or improvements regarding training course and/or the processes themselves.

The invention thus proposes to resolve all the limitations currently caused by the partial implementations listed above, integrating the Performance Support, Learning Management, Social Networking and Business Intelligence functions into a single Process Workflow Based Learning & Intelligence platform, named Skillaware^® that eliminates or reduces the above-described absences and that can make up for these absences regarding support for training, performance and documentation of the current BPM systems with particular reference to, but not limited to, the processes that include Software tasks and tasks for controlling installations or production lines.

The Skillaware^® system will be formed of an author system for creating intelligent Software task replications (SkillEditor^®) , a central management system which connects to the BPM process logic (SkillBoard^®) , a contextual help and quick reference panel for end users on Software and Mobile screens (SkillTab^®) and an optional business process gamification environment (SkillGame^®) .

Skillaware may function both unconnected to a third BPM system and interoperating with a third BPM system that through sharing BPMN formalisms allows for the live contextualisation of the whole training, informative, documental and social networking base and that once "on" works as a sort of "process GPS" (Business Process Navigator^®, or Process GPS^®) able to use context sensors (Business Process Context Sensors^®) and provide the user with the training, informative, documental and networking base required in the operational task context they are in. The invention obtains the above scopes with a method as claimed in claim 1 and with a system as claimed in claim 10.

For the system, the new term Electronic Process Performance Support System, or EPPSS, has been coined since it is a union of functions usually provided for in performance support systems for IT system training, usually defined EPSS (Electronic Performance Support Systems) and systems for managing process knowledge, or Business Process Management (BPM) .

The invention is based on a system that manages online training, communities of experts and the documental base connected to the process workflow which may be managed by a third system (sharing with it a descriptive standard process notation, such as BPMN) both in active software orchestration BPM mode and in simulative game mode in order to contextualise and personalise access to the training, informative and networking base to the benefit of the end user that has to learn how to perform a specific task in a specific process.

The connection occurs via sharing the descriptions of the processes expressed via a formal notation (for example BPMN) and automatically divided into the various tasks provided for, as well as, in the case of Software tasks, into the various operational steps which make them up, identified via an algorithm for destructuring and reconstructing the operator/computer interfacing sequences, that, during the initial registration of the software procedure by the expert using an appropriate author environment, can create interactive replications of the software environment on which the relevant task is to be performed.

The processes, tasks and possibly, software applications, coded according to a descriptive formalism defined SkillPaths^® (Process, Applications, Tasks, Human Skills) , are gathered in a database archive and make up the foundation for the description, archiving, sharing and reuse of a list of processes, tasks and steps of the relevant industrial environment, to be enriched with the recording of software emulations realised via SkillEditor^® , the insertion of training and documental contributions, implementing sector experts, classifiable through the connection to specific tasks and the indexing of specific skills which are necessary for the execution of the tasks themselves.

The skills, intended as second primary classification mechanism along with the workflow tasks, are also described in standard XML notation

(for example, according to the XML specification Vocabulary Data Exchange, VDEX, or Reusable Competency Definition, RCD, of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, see www.imsglobal.org and/or similar available from IEEE, CEN and others) .

The documental base is also described through granular, destructured paragraphs, which are aggregated via XML standard formalisms such as the DITA specification of the definition body of shared XML specifications for the information society, OASIS

(see https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/dita/), so as to be able to connect not only on a documentation as a whole level but also on a paragraph or subparagraph level so as to make the IT support as granular and context-based as possible.

The end user may thus actively select a specific task from a list offered to them depending on their role, or activate an automatic system to identify the active task ("Business Process GPS") that on the basis of the workflow active in the real system or in the context of business gaming, provides the user training, informative, documental and social networking contributions which are highly contextualised to the active task and roles and skills of the staff involved. As regards the specific skills of the people involved, they can be defined via ad hoc taxonomies by importing taxonomies of existing skills expressed according to the sector standards in relation to the individual tasks for defining the knowledge and skills necessary for performing the task defined for a certain task.

These relations allow for the formation of groups of people within the company with skills or abilities for performing determined activities that in turn can communicate and send dynamic information such as notes, question and answer sessions, blogs and whatever else is necessary for performing the relevant activities. All this is tracked with dynamic, active graphs which provide fast Business Intelligence and Learning Analytics displays regarding the trend of process knowledge and culture within the company via a summary, communication dashboard for the process data to be shared among the managers and the users of the processes in execution.

The knowledge material is gathered in a library which may not be localised physically, but is cloud based and entails uploading any type of document and in particular multimedia documents, videos, texts, hypertext links, etc. or the connection to third archives which are accessible via standard protocols, such as the open specification "Content Management Interoperability Services" (CMIS) of the body OASIS (for further information see https: //www. oasis- open.org/)

In addition to the above, when task execution is associated with a Software procedure in a particular environment, the system activates an interface emulation which provides aids for performing both in emulated training environments, detached from the real software environment, and in "overlay" mode (a guiding grid laid over the real software environment), completing the user's training experience .

This experience may be measured recording the "activity stream" of the users according to tracking standards of the eLearning sector, such as SCORM and Experience API of the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative NATO (for further information see http://www.adlnet.org/) and, on the basis of this tracking data, infer one or more performance indicators (KPI, key performance indicators) in relation to the process and/or relative training process. Thus there is a tool available for monitoring the effectiveness of training but also the effectiveness and efficiency of the emulated Software interfaces which will possibly be modified in terms of Software procedure usability, task and process efficiency or variables provided for. Thus when there is a software application for operator execution of a process or part of a process, user task according to BPMN notation, the invention uses SkillEditor^® for the generation of a replication of the graphic interface of the software to be used by the user to execute their task with all its functions .

This replication becomes functional regarding the elements of the graphic interface and their consequent modifications following the actions performed by the user and these elements connect automatically to libraries with basic knowledge or specific execution indications regarding the activity connected to the application, without however having a connection with the operational layer of the application and therefore producing the functional effects that the activities performed on the interface elements would have produced in an actual application.

This is possible thanks to a specific tool provided for by the method and by the system according to this invention and it will be illustrated in greater detail in the following description. This tool is essentially a recording and author support system that allows for both generating the replication of the interface during the performing of activities and adding post-processing activities for modifying graphic and alphanumerical content, such as those caused by linguistic translation and/or data anonymisation.

The software interface's destructuration and the regeneration of its replication in the case of software procedure tasks may be based on both open market specifications, like User Interface Automation (UIA) , combined with the description standard XML of graphic interfaces XAML, made available by Microsoft™ and on proprietary "software hooking" algorithms (for further information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooking) and "screen scraping" (for further information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_scraping ) or similar realised specifically for this invention. These approaches and software modes are known in literature and widely used for the analysis, description or reproduction of graphic elements of user interfaces and on which this patent operates innovatively with the intent of using the integration with Software tasks in processes managed by BPM for training purposes and for connecting with information, training, documental and social networking streams during the provision of the software itself both in real and "serious gaming" mode .

In the context of the activities involved in editing the replication, it is also possible to connect the training, information and documental base to the individual elements of the interface so that during the real use by the end user the information, training and social networking base may be accessed in a highly personalised and contextualised way. Similarly the performance indicators, that is the KPI, may be connected to the replications in order to evaluate the degree of learning and skills of the specific user in order to provide the manager of the project precise indications on how the use of the specific software environment and/or linked company processes and tasks is proceeding both in the launch phase and during widespread use of the software application in order to provide information on the usability and the consistency of the operator interfaces of the new-concept, newly-provided software.

In addition, since the overlay grid is able to identify individual areas of the software interface in order to offer the user the necessary documental and training base, it can also be used to communicate live to all users any process and evaluation messages regarding the provided software, such as the voting ("polling") of specific functions and/or the suggestion of specific data in the launching processes ("roll-out") of new software and/ox international deployment of particular relevant complex softwares.

Finally a successive improvement entails the provision in the group of context sensors representing the workflow descriptors ("skillpaths" or process, task and active application and relative progression step) not only of virtual sensors which record the active task, such as those made available by third BPM systems, but also of physical sensors or physical sensor networks.

These physical sensors may be those which are already present on the market and in the industrial environments such as installation control systems, barcodes, QR codes, RFID tags or newly conceived ones such as those rapidly appearing on the market thanks to the new wave of sensors and devices generated by the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) . They may also be virtual sensors for augmented reality applications collocated with GPS technology in external environments or with WIFI signal measuring technologies in internal environments, which, thanks to a software layer developed for this programme, are transformed into virtual sensors which give further information on the status of the process's progress with reference to the workflow and/or to the physical place in which the task is executed, in order to filter and personalise further the information, training, documental and social networking base provided to the user using the system in that moment and in the context in which it is needed.

Summarising, thanks to the system connecting the platform to the virtual or real sensors for the process, Software procedure workflow and/or physical position, it will be possible to contextualise the actions of tutoring and information and training support to the specific task in execution, favouring the operator's learning and performance, in addition to allowing continuous, constant communication from process management during initiatives regarding the roll-out and deployment of new processes and/or software applications, allowing for the opening of information channels which are highly contextualised to the task in progress until a level of specific areas of software interface of physical area of work of the active workflow, allowing lastly for measuring user performance, in order to infer KPI for suggesting any interface modifications and optimisations, on the basis of synoptic information and graphs produced by the layer of Business Intelligence and Learning Analytics of the SkillBoard^®. Thus the optional connection to a third BPM system with which processes and tasks are shared and with field sensors allows for providing the information and performance support activities not only in the learning phases but also live during process execution.

Finally the system may also be used in environments that use a BPM orchestration as a simulation game. In this context, each component of the company community will be able to play one of the roles provided for by the process based on their own skills and training courses. In this "Business Process Garnification" process in the course of executing specific activities, depending on the tasks assigned and the skills available, a user becomes part of a team which represents a company or company department which performs a task A which leads up to task B within the company performed by other users . The team perform the process orchestrated by the BPM system that sends them indications regarding the activities to be performed in order to advance the workflow successfully. At this point, the users may use the SkillTab^® system in game mode in order to have information which is contextualised to the task to be performed retrieving documents, training contributions and people connected to the specific task, and using the series of replications of the software applications provided for in the various tasks, in order to perform the data entry provided for in the real task, but in replicated, protected environments, in order to advance the relative workflow in execution. The game ends with the completion of the orchestrated workflow and in the end all the Software activities and other actions to which a numerical value is given are measured and the various KPI at the end of the process are measured to provide the end user's performance indicators, which are displayed on a visual Business Intelligence base which is integrated in the SkillBoard^® environment, to be used by the managers involved in the transformation process and/or roll out of the Software system.

If during the course of the game the users have significant experiences, these may be recorded, exchanged in note form with other users and/or added to the knowledge library and then be documented, archived, kept and made available to any of the users who are interested, who will play similar roles in the game and in the future reality, to avoid wasting experiences of value.

The performance measuring data is summarised graphically on a SkillBoard^® dashboard which shows the performances of the execution of the process or a series of processes. From here the manager managing the process may check the performances of the team members and boost the training activities or modify the processes themselves if inefficient.

Considering the productive system as a whole, it is formed of various activities that are performed: partly by production lines or individual automatic machines, able to perform one of more operations individually or in an automated sequence, whose actions aim to generate the product, whether a manufacturing process or a processing process;

partly by human staff that therefore are subject to an intrinsic system which detects the functional conditions and the setting controls or regulation of the functional conditions.

In this case, the global workflow contains within operators that are difficult to check and control that have a strong will and exercise free will when performing their tasks.

This situation may be a serious obstacle when it comes to planning a global production process since it introduces not only variants that cannot be controlled, but because of this the fast, automatic adaption of the other production units, whether automatic or human, in order to avoid jams or delays, is hindered.

The method described until now defines the modes necessary for optimising performances, but at the same time also provides indications regarding processes, tasks or active steps, that is steps in execution and, regarding effective quantitative performance evaluation, that is, the KPI which in addition to qualitative parameters include also parameters regarding execution times.

In a final variant of the method, that may be provided for both separately and in combination with that described previously, the values measured of the PKI parameters and in particular of the execution times are used as feedback parameters to optimise the workflow of the process in execution, or rather, to replan the times and modes of operational steps (processes, tasks and steps) yet to be performed and which begin after those in execution and performed before.

Thanks to this it is possible thus to generate a new workflow which optimises the initial one considering the real execution conditions and not only the automated processes which are independent of direct control or human execution, but also those which may be performed only by human staff.

Of course the method steps previously described allow for the improvement of the KPI and thus not only the generation of a more realistic workflow of the processes, tasks and steps both for the automatic non-human units and for the human staff based on the KPI measured, but also achieving a dynamic improvement in terms of KPI due to assistance and training.

The invention also regards a system of the type described in claim 12 and thereafter.

As regards the terms concerning state-of-the-art technology or notations or programmes which already exist and are being used, these are only an example for demonstrating the support of the claims but they are not a limitation to the specific indication and these terms must include any equivalent technology, software, notation or standard which has the same functions or features necessary for achieving the technical result of the invention. The department technician will choose from among the possible alternatives existing on the market without performing an inventive activity.

Afterwards the features of the invention and the advantages deriving from it will be described in greater detail.

The enclosed illustrations listed hereafter illustrate some executive examples that will be described with reference to the same: 111. 1 Illustrates a simplified block diagram of the learning, tutoring and performance support system for the execution of processes and tasks, in particular in relation to industrial processes and systems for controlling production installations.

111. 2 illustrates a simplified diagram of an executive example of method steps for the generation and execution of functions of the learning, tutoring and performance support system for the execution of processes and tasks, production as according to ill. 1.

Illustrations from 3 to 19 show a series of screens of the user interface of the SkillBoard^®, for the process managers, of the module for creating the databases of the SkillPaths^®, that is connections of the processes, tasks, steps and skills which are related for the management, sharing and reuse of the same and the connection of knowledge and tutoring information as well as replications of the interfaces of the relative applications created with the SkillEditor^® and of indication of indicators of the performances to be monitored in the performance of the tasks by the qualified staff.

Illustrations 20 to 36 show different screens of functions of the tutoring and performance support module named SkillTab^® that can be launched by the end user both in free navigation mode and with open process GPS, positioning it on the process, task and application and possibly on the step of the active software procedure, identified in execution by the "context sensoring" technology, and which performs the functions of learning, tutoring and decisionmaking, documental and performance support and performance measuring for the specific user in the performance of the specific process tasks.

Illustrations 37 to 41 show different screens of the SkillEditor^® module for the generation and configuration of the metafunctional replications of the interfaces of the applications which are related to the various tasks, these interface replications are functional but they do not have communication with the layer of the application for the effective performing of the functions determined by the activation of the interface controls and can be used both in video replay mode, software simulation and/or "active network" on the real software in order to provide environments for practicing respectively disconnected from or connected to the real software.

With reference to the executive examples illustrated and in particular to the examples of the interface screens of illustrations 3 to 41, these refer to generic processes which represent examples of the system functions. Actually, the system is applicable to both non-technological processes and technological processes, that is to the controlling and running of installations and/or industrial manufacturing processes and thus in combination with this application type the system has a technological character since the processes are technological, the interfaces of the applications in relation to the process tasks are formed by interfaces for displaying the installation conditions and thus technical data and controls, the controls and actions caused via the interfaces are technological since they aim to modify the working parameters of the various installations or of configurations of physical parameters of process performance. The fact that the same concepts can be employed also for training, tutoring and performance support in the performance of non- technological activities does not make the system and method non-technological when applied to industrial processes and to controlling installations or devices .

Illustration 1 illustrates the architecture of the training, tutoring and performance support system according to this invention schematically and generally. This system can work alongside and extract information from a BPM process management system. There are various types of these systems promoted by different companies and organisations which use various data interoperability formalisms. At the moment, there is no single standard for data exchange, but there are different systems that are more widely used than others and that are thus on course to becoming the future standard. Two of these interoperability specifications are the notations BPMN 2.0 and XPDL 2.2. which have a language and a standard definition of models of processes expressed in XML. Thus the systems based on BPMN and XPDL are software systems that describe the processes thanks to notation semantics describing the processes and their relationships and to standard models of the processes themselves and which manage them at a software level and thanks to the standard notation the execution flow is synchronised together over time according to a so-called workflow programme.

The generically-named Business processes include, in the context of the current trend of this definition, all the company processes group that contribute to the existence of the company and to the performance of its activities, whether external or internal, and specifically include both activities strictly defined business and technical activities such as in particular the management and control of installations, operational units of machines and industrial production processes.

In illustration 1 the engine of the BPM system is indicated with 1. 101 indicates the business process area and 201 the area of technological processes referred to application tasks on software or specific installations.

The processes described with internal logic from the BPM system (possibly of third parties) can be exported according to the BPMN notation and destructed into their basic components (e.g. Processes, tasks, Lanes, Roles) and memorised in a process database indicated with 2, while the control of their time-synchronised performance and of relations is the task of a workflow diagram or programme indicated with 3, this too may be optionally managed by the third BPM system.

The BPM system 1 communicates with the ski11aware users that are the high-level managers of the process and in any case the managers in charge of the company transformation towards a process culture via man machine interfaces indicated with 4. Man- machine interfaces are the means which the system needs to import the BPMN formalisms and index the materials, skills, social communities to be transmitted to the provision users 5, qualified to access the information regarding the processes and for the user to provide controls, data or requests for performing system functions. Thus every action performed by the user on the interface will generally have a functional response from the system that in turn will be shown under the form of received signal or response feedback to the action performed by the user on the interface and so on.

The training, tutoring and performance support system according to this invention operates to provide support to the user whose action is necessary on the interface in order to perform certain functions or to respond to information generated by the system and proposals on the interface in the various scenarios possible and with reference not only to a single specific action but also to the context in which it is performed, that is to the task and the process in the environment in which the action must be performed. The system engine is indicated with 10 in illustration 1. In general, it provides an importation module 11 for the BPMN notation from archives or third BPM systems, the analysis of individual processes for the generation of a database 12 of projects, processes, tasks and possibly (in the case of Software procedures managed by the SkillEditor®) operational steps. In particular every software procedure processed with skillEditor® will have a section of the DB, 13, "augmented" by various contributions produced automatically during recording, such as a replication environment able to function alone, a "grid" environment able to work in overlay mode with the real application, with or without tracking according to the SCORM and/or Experience API standard, an audiovisual component and a documental component expressed according to the DITA specification.

As regards the human resources that will perform the different tasks in the processes, the system 11 provides for the generation of a database of skills 14, that is a database of operational skills and knowledge necessary for performing the task in relation to the human users 5 in order to tag the people that have a certain set of skills and can perform a certain task and are thus qualified.

Additionally the system has a further database 16 and 17 of sources of knowledge and information regarding the performance of tasks for training and/or tutoring.

In this case, the system 11 manages the activities related to the databases and indexes the specific skills, people, applications and the rules for performing the tasks so the information and training contributions for the tasks in execution are ordered in the correct order of performance, the appropriate software applications and/or correct execution protocols regarding the individual tasks are proposed and/or launched and the specific libraries of knowledge 16 and information regarding execution 17 are made available.

This information is made available on the same interface 4 represented by the SkillTab^® which appears in overlay mode on the user screen on selecting the specific icon, or via smart phone if connected to installation tasks or on a simplified portal, or Skill Portal^® in the case of a low- level operational user that prefers to access simple task lists and information and training materials and/or simplified graphs with BPMN notations.

In a further improvement, the system provides a subsystem for communication between users indicated with 18 that offers the possibility to generate groups and subgroups of users that form, in the context of the tasks the users are qualified to perform and/or their company role, a social community for the specific tasks. This may be accessible regardless of the activity, that is the task being performed or it may be generated during the performance of the task selecting as members of the community only those who are interested and therefore qualified or involved in the type of task being performed. The process managers may use this social community engine to communicate in real time to the process users based on the specific tasks active, graphic interface and/or software application screen areas .

According to a further improvement, the system

11 may function without process information providing a simple information list or provide as indicated with 19 a context sensor that receives the specific process and task that is active at that moment from the workflow module 3 of the management system of BPM processes 1. This information that works like a sort of "business process GPS" allows the training, tutoring and performance support system 11 to propose as active tasks those inherent to the active process and in the chronological order provided for by the process workflow, soliciting the users interested in the execution of the relative tasks and selecting and making available the relative applications and/or protocols of execution, the relative dedicated knowledge libraries and the corresponding libraries of information, training and tutoring contributions, documental support and networking available.

According to a further improvement that may be provided for as the previous ones in any combination or subcombination with the same, the system also provides a module for determining the performance indicators during the performance of the task, these indicators are known in the field as KPI (Key performance indicators) . There are different algorithms for calculating KEPI depending on different measuring parameters in the technical field which are known to the state-of-the-art. For example, possible parameters for determining the KPI are the speed of the performance of the tasks identified, the number of mistakes and/or attempts before achieving a successful performance, the number of times that the activity is completed successfully in relation to the number of activities performed for the same task, etc. These parameters form the base of tracking realised with the standard specification Experience API of ADL and provided to the Learning Analytics system in the system 11. Depending on the type of task and the performance rules it is possible to define other measuring parameters which provide indications on the basis of which the KPI are determined.

As we will later see, the system 11 uses this information in relation also to the context sensor 19 and to other indications to give an overall informative view regarding the progress status of the process execution, in order to indicate the process managers via Business Intelligence interfaces, times of definitive conclusion and also to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and the skills of the staff in addition to the efficiency of the processes.

As can be seen from illustration 1, the module

20 that provides the parameters for calculating the KPI values has an output which connects to the feedback input of the workflow module 3 via a feedback line 501.

In this case the block diagram indicates that the method according to the invention provides the steps to modify the workflow of the global process, that is, the sequence of the processes, tasks or steps provided for in the global process in order to consider the real operational conditions that are mirrored by the KPI measured.

In the simplest example, we can consider as performance indicator the execution speeds, that is, the process, task or step execution time. Obviously if the execution times depend on this, as start or end of other processes, tasks or steps, a variation of the speed or previous process, task or step execution times will have a repercussion on the next and not only, also on further future processes, tasks or steps present in the sequence defined by the workflow.

Thus the method and the system according to this invention not only allows for having a continuous improvement in terms of the KPI of individual processes, tasks or steps provided for in the workflow of the global production process, but also for continuously updating this workflow based on performances . The method and the system according to this invention allow for integrating into the process control not only the activities of automatic machines used for executing processes, tasks and steps, but also the activities performed by the human staff, without offending human dignity and the different skills, but rather improving them constantly.

Thus the method and the system according to this invention allow for dynamically adapting the workflow of the productive process seen in its entirety defining initial average performance parameters and constantly modifying these parameters thanks to detecting their value in real time. On the basis of the measurements the differences between the starting values are calculated and the workflow is redefined, optimising and harmonising the time sequence with the skills of both the automatic machines and the human staff.

A further module of the system 11 is the SkillEditor^® module for generating, editing and executing replications of the interface of the application respectively selected or active indicated by module 21 in illustration 1.

As previously indicated, in the case of software tasks, the man-machine interfaces created automatically by the recordings made with module 21 are the means needed by the system for transmitting to the qualified users 5 experiences emulated on the processes and for the user to provide controls, data or requests for performing functions for the system. Thus every action performed by the user on the interface will generally have a functional response from the system that in turn will be displayed in the form of received signal or response feedback to the action performed by the user on the interface and so on. On a software level, there are open specifications such as XAML or UIA provided by Microsoft™ that allow fox describing and analysing the software interfaces and the relations of functional workflow between them. Should this level of analysis not be sufficient for certain applications there are also software hooking and screen scraping techniques which can be of help for creating the emulation algorithms provided for module 21. On the basis of these algorithms the individual active display elements and the individual active data input or control elements and different aspects in relation to the status determined by a user's action can be described separately from the functional engine of the application. The replication module 21 generates thus a copy of the interface of the application which is perfectly active in presenting all the functions of the interface of the original application and the responses of the same to the user's actions on the input means of the interfaces, without however having a connection with the application's operational engine, that is, without causing the effective execution of the control inserted.

Replication generation can be executed separately from the real software or optionally as a support grid in overlay mode in the real software environment.

Finally, thanks to the presence of this software replication environment and to the interface with third BPM systems, the Skillaware system will also be extended to serious game processes (business process gamification) which will be based on the software task emulation environments, on bpm flows replicated for learning, from the module for determining the KPI 20, and the possibilities for generating groups or domains of selected users qualified to perform determined tasks based on their skills to generate a subsection of recreational/competitive learning which advances the workflow in the form of roleplay. In addition to improving the skills of the individual members this allows for checking the effects of the different scenarios and furthermore checking the aptitude of the different users as regards performing a specific task, in addition to the efficiency of the process, thus allowing for optimising the human resources in a team or group context and possibly checking the company processes before making them active .

With reference to illustration 1 it should be noted that this is an example where the training, tutoring and performance support system 11 is associated and connected to a BPM system. This is not absolutely necessary and it is merely a possible option. The system 11 may also operate separately from a BPM system, it must generate or import the DB processes 2 and the workflow diagram 3. In this case the tutoring system, that thanks to a manual selection or to the capacity of the software process sensor connected to the procedural workflow of the specific software application in use, allows for identifying the steps provided for the software task selected by the user, listing them in the correct order in terms of performance and suggesting the information, documental and networking bases regarding the individual steps and functional software areas. Thus the system according to this invention and the method may be implemented also in the context of individual roll-out and software deployment programmes even if not integrated in a shared BPM software or within companies which are not yet oriented towards a complete adoption of a process approach.

Illustration 2 indicates method steps necessary for the generation and performance of the functions of the system according to illustration 1.

Step 100 provides for the importation or generation of the process database. In this case the individual processes can be taken from software descriptions standardised according to notations or languages which are also standardised, for example in the context of the BPMN notation.

The next step is to analyse the individual processes and destructure them into individual tasks and chronological execution rules or role rules, indicated with 110, 120 and 130. These steps thus provide for the generation of the process database 2 and task database 12 of the system according to illustration 1.

After step 140 the description of the skills with which the staff and the specific tasks can be indexed is generated or imported in order to infer who is qualified on paper to perform that task. Standardised taxonomies of skills are available to the state of the art for different professional figures and for the qualification of these for performing determined tasks . These taxonomies were created for other reasons and in particular for quality control and for security, as well as for skill -based training and occupational certification and may be used also for this invention. This step allows for generating the skills database 14 and skills tagging steps for the various tasks and the various users indicated with 150 and 160 in illustration 2. Similarly, although the step is not illustrated specifically, the protocol and/or application software database regarding the performance of the individual software tasks is generated and these are indexed on the relative tasks .

Once the above-indicated steps have been performed it is possible to continue with the steps regarding the generation of groups, communities or domains of users qualified for various tasks or processes and to the information, training and tutoring libraries for the execution of the tasks, that is, of the applications relative to them and the knowledge information libraries. These steps are indicated with numbers 170 to 200.

When performance measuring is provided the steps regarding the definition of parameters to be measured and of the functions for determining the KPI performance indicators indicated with 210 must be carried out.

220 indicates the steps for the integration with third BPM systems and the relative activation of the so-called context sensors which detect, in the context of the performance of a workflow, what the process and active task is and in what progress status the process is, that is, what task is to be performed or the list of tasks to be performed.

At this point, the system and the system engines have been generated and made available and it is possible for the end users to go ahead with the system, the end users may access process information freely or guided by the active process GPS system.

According to the first mode, when the process GPS is not provided or active, that is, the context sensors, a process and/or task selection interface is generated on request and the relative knowledge and training, tutoring and support information libraries are retrieved, and the community or user group is generated and interconnected as indicated at step 230. When the process and the task have been selected, the relative application is detected and can be launched and executed in detail according to the steps provided for in the software workflow, automatically making available the knowledge and training, tutoring and support information libraries as well as the connections to the community as indicated at step 240.

The execution of the tutoring programme may take place both in training mode and thus on the effective application launched by the user, but disconnected from the specific software environment, that is, in a sort of demo or self-teaching mode, and on the application executed and active and effectively connected to the process, so that the actions performed by the user are executed and will have their repercussions on the process in the context of the task selected and the corresponding process. In both cases, when the system provides for the calculation of KPI, during its performance the training, tutoring and support system measures the parameters provided for the calculation of the KPI in particular, by way of example but not limited to the execution times and the success rates and calculates the KPI as indicated at step 250. These will then be made available to the process managers via system dashboards integrated into the BI skillBoard^® that, via a display interface, will create in real time BI and Learning Analytics graphs for the decisions of the case.

If the generation of a replication of the interface of an application regarding a software task is provided for, the user may perform the training, tutoring and performance support programme on an interface replication which they may choose to launch also during the execution of the application regarding the active task. This overlaps with the interface of the application and allows the user to perform training on an interface which does not however communicate with the functional layer of the application despite operating in correspondence with the application interface when in execution.

Advantageously, according to an improvement, the replication will have active display areas and active controls only for the performance of operational steps regarding the execution of the selected task thus simplifying the learning activity. These replication activities can also undergo parameter measuring such as execution speed and success rate in terms of performing operations provided for determining the KPI. In this case, the user can see the results and decide if the training level achieved is sufficient to abandon the replication and act on the application in execution for performing the selected task. In addition the availability of the active areas where notes, information and documentation, possibly multimedia, can be attached may be used by process managers to communicate with the user base during roll -out and software deployment processes gathering use impressions and notes regarding the system usability via notes expressed explicitly or via analysis of the KPI tracked during use.

According to an improved variant which may also be activatable alternatively to the above-described steps, when there are context sensors which automatically detect the active process, its progress status and the succession of the tasks to be performed with reference to the progress status, the system may automatically determine the list of tasks to be performed which are proposed in a chronological succession and can therefore activate the training, tutoring and support system interface in relation to the application of the task to be performed and automatically connect the relative knowledge, training information and tutoring libraries to the application in execution and define the communities and the connections of members of this community as described at step 240, skipping 230. Again in this case the option of the execution of the application in active form or demo or in the form of a replication as at step 260 and all the relative KPI measurements if provided for is valid. Finally the context sensors can be enlarged with hardware devices which are able to provide information regarding the status of the installation and/or the location via barcodes, QR codes, GPS positioning in open areas or wifi signal measuring for positioning in closed areas, virtual labels or RFID for positioning in augmented reality contexts.

In the following illustrations the operational modes and system functions which have been described will generally be illustrated by means of examples of graphic interfaces with reference to illustrations 1 and 2.

Illustrations 3 to 19 show a series of screens of the user interface of the module of creation of the databases of the processes, tasks, skills and applications related to the tasks and of the association between them and with knowledge and tutoring and project, process and task management information, and of replications of interfaces of the relative applications and of systems for measuring performances in terms of task execution by the qualified staff.

The interfaces shown in the illustrations refer to functions executed by a module for managing the training, tutoring and performance support system according to this invention which substantially regards the management, configuration and execution of steps 100 to 230 and 250 and 270 as according to illustration 2.

The interface is typical with windows and selection tabs and function activation and display areas and includes a general icon bar 20 and secondary icon bars 21 associated to a dedicated display area 30 with several separate display areas in which every screen is divided.

Illustration 3 shows the loading, identifying and selecting phase of a process task.

In the left display, activated clicking an icon, a project with the relative processes is opened and for each process the relative tasks. The left display 30 shows this information via a tree structure, while the display next to it 31 shows the task list in the form of a selection table. Each task has a unique ID as according to column 131, a selection column 132, a column where the project the process is part of is indicated and one 134 which indicates the current process in which the execution of one of the various tasks is provided for, a column 135 in which the name of the task is indicated and a column 136 in which the task user is indicated. When the process has been described with the aid of a BPMN notation there is also a column 137 where it is possible to access through an icon a display with the representation of the task according to the BPMN notation.

Once the task database has been generated as indicated in the screen of illustration 4 activating the icon 122 on the bar 20 we move on to indexing the list of skills necessary for each task. To this end, it is possible to draw on taxonomies of skills already in a skills database or which may be taken from other sources thanks to an importation mechanism of XML formalisms used for their description, such as the VDEX and/or RCDEO specifications of the IMS Global Learning Consortium. Once the taxonomies have been imported it is possible to activate a window for browsing the skills which also provides for the possibility of extending the basic skills taxonomy with the addition of new terms inserted directly by the using community authorised to do so using the selection and/or input field with 32, thus creating a "social" version of the taxonomy (folksonomy) . In short, the taxonomies can be imported thanks to the control icon 33, as illustrated in illustration 5 in which the taxonomy of skills which are sought and defined by the input criteria has been loaded and is reproduced as tree structure, allowing thus for the selection of one or more skills items from the tree, or created by hand by the qualified ski11aware users.

Activating the icon 123 we access the content folders in which the knowledge and training information can be memorised as indicated in illustration 6. In this case all the content files present are listed in area 30.

Illustration 7 instead shows the list of the users who have the skills suited to using the system with reference to the selected task and therefore that can perform the task steps and participate in the community or group of reference for the specific task. The display is activated with the User key 124 and the screen again shows in the area 30 the tree structure for selecting projects, processes and tasks and in the area 31 there is a table containing the information on the individual members of the user group .

A secondary bar 21 dedicated to the specific function allows for selecting different activities relative to the user list. On the right there is another area 32 for filtering and displaying the community in which experts can be filtered for their additional skills, country of origin or work, language, role, geolocalisation and identification and/or other user description or user keywords.

The screen in illustration 8 displays the interface for the configuration of the execution of the "notes" functions relative to the specific task selected which again appears in the left part 30. In the main bar the icon 135 allows for selecting this function. The notes posted by different people who on the field are using the ski11aware portal or the aid on the screen or mobile SkillTab^® are shown. This allows for the posting of notes which are contextual to the task and/or the step and specific interface zone in the case of software tasks. The notes regarding the selected task are listed in the form of a list, activity stream and/or network graph in the display area 31. In addition, it is possible to send personal notes or broadcast to everyone using special characters, such as "@" followed by the name of the colleague, to follow colleagues that post notes of particular interest and/or vote notes which could benefit other users. In addition it is possible to perform a people or note search thanks to a search icon and to a window for inputting keywords.

Activating the graph icon 136 in illustration 9 in the display area 31 it is possible to see the interconnections between various communicating members. To this end different visual analytics criteria can be used. An example is that of representing the number of connections between the same as a graph for example with circles of smaller and bigger diameters as indicated in the graph display area 32. The bigger the diameter, the more contact requests the person represented by the circle has. This makes it possible to understand who the main people of reference are, that is, the best specialists for the specific task.

Finally, in the case of software tasks, with a further system evolution, it is possible to send notes and thus to open informative communication channels dedicated to specific procedural steps and to specific areas of the user interface to which the skilltab^® is connected in order to post in real time notes including advice, requests, specific guides in a highly-personalised and contextualised way.

Illustration 10 shows an example of a process and task display screen according to the BPMN notation imported by file system and/or third BPM systems which display it with interfaces to Skillaware. In the secondary bar 21 of the screen for selecting projects, processes and tasks it is possible to select the icon 221 to upload this representation into the display area 31, while the area 30 again shows the project, process and task tree structure generated by the importation action and in which a specific task is selected (in the example Pizza Order) . The secondary bar 21 makes available other functions which allow for modifying a selected project, process or task, uploading a new project, a new process or a new task or eliminating a project, process or selected task. It is furthermore possible to copy and paste processes and tasks respectively into other projects and processes optionally transporting all the documental, information and social networking base connected with the task and/or process in its entirety into the action favouring the maximum reuse and sharing of the information and contents aggregated by skillaware^®. These operations occur obviously with dedicated screens for selecting, inputting and/or filtering data and controls which are obvious for the department technician and which are not described in detail for this reason.

The screen in illustration 11 again shows for the same task, the construction of the knowledge libraries. The knowledge icon 126 of the bar 20 activates this function, again with reference to the project, process and task selected indicated in the tree list in the display 30. Two new secondary icon bars are opened, respectively 21 and 22. Secondary bar 21 allows for selecting the type of knowledge according to different criteria which may be activated with the appropriate icon. In the example in illustration 11 the "knowledge" function has been activated via the corresponding icon. In this knowledge base, the registered users discuss matters considered relevant for the relevant task with question lists and relative answers given by various users qualified for the corresponding task. Other functions of the "knowledge" tab provide for the creation of work groups (Groups) , Voting (Polls) , Discussions and selective learning and/or training tests (Tests) on the selected task.

The second secondary bar 22 allows for activating different functions which act on the specific knowledge base selected, including new discussion 322, groups or new groups.

The screen in illustration 12 shows the information made available regarding the "Groups" function selected with the corresponding icon 421 in the context of the knowledge generation and management initialised with reference to the steps of illustration 11. The part of the screen 31 shows the knowledge base dedicated to the interactions of themed Groups which can be moderated or free and connected to the specific task and have means for ordering this list according to different criteria.

The second secondary bar 22 again shows the three items: discussions, new discussions, groups and new groups, which allow for generating the dedicated knowledge library for the selected task.

The screens in illustration 13 and 14 are activated with the icon 128 of the main bar 20 relative to the "intelligence" function. This function gathers different measuring data regarding the user activities and reports them in analytical form which is easily interpretable by process managers who have to monitor the rollout and deployment of new processes and software tasks and not within the company. The type of data and their number can vary according to the processes and tasks selected, in any case it is possible to identify a minimum common denominator of useful information for understanding the trend of the task and the process.

The icon 128 activates for the selected task and process a secondary bar 21 that provides icons for activating the display of different data indicated with 421 and 521 and an icon 621 for reporting. Icon 421 activates the display screen for the Key performance indicators for the task measured on various users active on it. The "stream" icon 521 shows the activities of communication and the intensity of the exchanges between the different users both in the stream version, that is, chronological list of the messages posted, and in the version which extrapolates statistics regarding the number of messages posted by each user. In this right display field indicated with 32, it is possible to provide a second secondary bar 22 for selecting different measuring criteria regarding the messages posted.

The illustration 14 shows the screen regarding the activation of the icon 621 in the secondary bar 21 "reports". All data of the other screens are summarised via indicating graphs displayed in display area 31 forming a sort of measuring dashboard for the performances of the execution of the specific task, but also of the success of the learning activity.

Illustrations 15 to 19 show the screens of the management module relative to the use of the replications of the interface of the applications associated to the various software tasks created with the skilleditor^® tool.

The interface replication are generated, configured and published on the skillboard^® via the dedicated skilleditor^® module which will be described further ahead.

Using the tree structure on the left display area 30 for selecting a specific task of a specific process in the context of a project it is possible, if it is a procedural task which provides for the use of a software application, to activate the display of a specific list of replications of the various interfaces of the application associated to the task with the icon 129 "Screenflow" of the main bar 20. Selecting one of the items from the list displayed in the area 31 of the illustration 15, the window for managing the replication which is represented in illustration 15 is opened. A secondary bar 22 is opened that allows for selecting different activities relative to the replication and that in the specific case activates the flow function with icon 721. In the display area 31 the flow of the various screens and the relative user interactions provided are displayed via an interactive graph defined screenflows^® that allows for selecting specific screens for the replication of the interface of the application relative to the task selected or for selecting the sessions of user interactions for a listing of actions performed by the user on the relative interface. The screenflow is thus structured in the form of a series of screens connected by activities on the screens for modifying the same, both through user action on the screen, such as data entry or area selection, and as responses to user actions, such as response data display or further interface graph areas.

In illustration 16, icon 821 of the secondary bar 21 corresponding to the "tasks" control activates in the display area 21 the list of tasks that provide the use of software applications relative to the process "process 3" selected in the tree structure of the left display area 30. The list shows the replications of the various tasks existing and the progress status of the preparation of the replication, performed via recordings of the procedure by the expert users using skilleditor^®, the specific software application used for the relevant task and the replication author.

Screen 17 shows the display obtained with icon 921 corresponding to the function "screenflows" which allows for localising information and data regarding information and training assigned to the individual specific interfaces and to their graph subparts by the expert users during the recording sessions performed with the skilleditor^® or by qualified skillboard^® users using drag and drop functions on the interfaces of materials or specific notes or localised reports. To select specific associations a further secondary bar 22 is opened where there are content, notes and activities icons.

Illustration 19 shows the screen for the specific interface obtained selecting the thumbnails in the screenflow graph. Here the active areas where it is possible to connect materials, notes and/or training courses regarding tasks and steps to be executed are shown as is shown in the example with the circuit diagram of an installation management software.

Illustration 17 shows window 33 that is opened activating the contents icon and that shows the list of materials relative to the task, the type of media, the title and the relevance or rating allowing the qualified users to add their own.

Similarly to that shown with reference to the tasks and as described with reference to the reports in illustration 17, notes can be connected to the individual replication interfaces and/or the active notes can be displayed on these areas. The "notes" icon activates window 34 which shows the list of notes active for the task replication selected and the corresponding author as shown by illustration 18. Notes can be added by the qualified users using the "add" icon.

Illustration 18 shows how combining the selection of screenflow graph areas and selecting one of the icons 22, such as the notes icon, it is possible to see the specific notes associated to the software screen displayed along with the relevance or the rating of the people that have posted the notes and/or input new ones if qualified.

Illustrations 20 to 36 show interface examples of the skillTab^® support module for the end user that may be activated on the calculator screen during the execution of the software task, in overlay mode on the BPM process management system and/or on mobile devices .

The skillTab^® module offers training, tutoring and decision-making, performance and networking support aids in contextualised or free navigation mode. The skillTab^® module is dedicated to the individual user who will perform one or more specific tasks which form part of a process. This module, if used on a computer screen, provides for the opening of a small window which forms a tab which interfaces with the skillaware^® system in its server component skillBoard^®. Unlike the module described before, in this case the module is not a system management module, but an operational support module which offers training, tutoring and performance, decisionmaking and networking support aids during the execution of specific tasks. The module may operate according to two different modes . In a defined "Business Process GPS on" module the application is in execution in tandem with a process management programme which controls the chronological activation corresponding to the workflow of the individual tasks previously shared with the skillboard according to the modes described. In this case the skillTab^® module detects the presence of the application in execution and when it is retrieved to be executed, automatically activates the knowledge libraries, the community of qualified users and the connections with this and the libraries of training material and makes the various replications available and retrievable in the case of a software task. In this case, the module provides the presence of so-called "context sensors" which form a sort of GPS process navigator, for which, based on these data, the skillTab^® unequivocally identifies the active task and, in the case of software processes, the individual steps of the application which is active or which is activated by the user in order to perform the task provided for.

With the other defined mode "Business Process GPS off" the user can navigate the processes and the tasks as they please in order to identify and select the tasks whose execution is responsible for activating the system of training, tutoring and performance and decision-making support for the task selected as if it were active. If the task is software the skilltab^® again allows the connection to software applications possibly active in the background allowing for retrieving the replication for training purposes, the connection in overlay mode to the real software as a guide, note exchange and/or connection to networks of experts and colleagues, or a provision in tutorial mode, without following the software in execution.

As we will see from the description of the various interface screens, the selection of the process and the task allow for accessing the functions which have already been described in the system management module according to illustrations 3 to 19 and that in this module have been configured to be made available to the end user, executing the task, when via the tab module activates the training, tutoring and performance support system for learning, obtaining help or gaining more knowledge regarding the knowledge necessary for performing the selected task as well as possible.

Illustration 20 shows an interface tab example for which the context sensors for automatically navigating the process are off as indicated by the switch 51 set to off. The tab window has a main bar 53 for selecting the aid which one intends to activate (task training, content and knowledge library, social networking) and a secondary configuration and utility (language selection, send email, print, minimise or maximise tab) bar 52, a window for selecting the process 54 that allows for browsing the various processes with the arrows forward and back and that in the central zone shows the selected process. In the below display area 55 the list of tasks provided for the corresponding selected process when the "Tasks" icon 153 of the main bar 53 is active is shown. Illustration 20 shows the list of tasks relative to the selection of processes indicated in area 54. The task items are identified by a serial number and by a name, in addition next to each task there is a chronometer which measures the time necessary for completing the task and the box indicating the task status, such as the indication that the task has been successfully completed.

At the bottom is the third bar 62 with selection icons for accessing the personal area in which the user can record, with a simple drag & drop action, the tasks (my Tasks) , the knowledge base and materials (my Library) and notes (my Notes) considered to be of particular interest.

Illustration 21 shows the situation in which a specific software application is active for the performing of tasks and relative procedural steps which in this example is represented by a drawing programme (paint) .

Activating the tab, as indicated in illustration 22 the relative window opens and if the GPS navigator 51 is off it is possible to manually select the process and the task relative to the active process. If, instead, as in illustration 23 the GPS process navigator is activated, position ON of the icon 51, the system automatically detects which process and relative task is active and which list of steps must still be performed in order to complete the process according to the pre-established workflow. In both the cases the skilltab® connects to the software application below and provides the step-by- step guide for the software procedure in execution.

Display area 54 shows the image of the active screen shown in illustration 21, while the list of the tasks shows which of the tasks have already been executed successfully, are in execution or still have to be executed. For task 1.1 the chronometer is measuring the execution time and at the "passed" column the box shows a colour or has an aspect corresponding to the status "in execution".

Once the software task in execution has been selected manually or via the active Business Process GPS function, it is possible to move on to displaying the list of the steps which form the activity connected to the task that is shown in illustration 24. A new display area 56 is opened with its own icon bar 57 which makes available all the support media formats generated automatically by the skillEditor^® during the procedural recordings. This allows in particular for displaying the list of steps in sequence, identifying the active step, a detailed version of the steps including screenshots and descriptive notes, a video version which shows an audiovisual trailer of information regarding the steps to be performed, and finally the virtual replications of the software task which may be used by the user in training mode, test mode with active tracking and/or overlay mode on the real application. Further icons on the bar 57 allow for activating functions which allow for practicing the execution of the specific step without producing effects on the specific task or step and even launching a tracking activity for measuring one ' s progress in terms of learning in relation to the execution of the step.

Illustration 25 shows the screen generated by the activation of the test mode. Thanks to the selection switch 58 it is possible to perform the test (as an untracked training exercise) both on a replication of the software application, that has already been defined in the previous description and for which the generation and editing module skillEditor^® will be described hereinafter, and in overlay mode on the actual application.

When the test or the exercise is performed on the real application, the skillTab^® masks the interface of the real application making only the parts of the interface which must be used for performing the current step available to the user. At the same time if performed in tracked mode, the exercise activates the chronometer and on completion signals that the step has been performed setting the process status at the relative column, in this case "passed" .

It is important to note that in the case of overlay mode on the real application, as in the case of illustration 25, the user is allowed to perform only the activities that are functional and that are provided for the selected step, while the interface shown is inactive for the other actions. This is made evident by the partial darkening of the inactive parts of the interface of the application or the replication. In illustration 25 the active part is indicated with 59. Instead in the case of use with the system in replication mode, the user is free to navigate the whole interface, exploring also the parts which are not relevant to the progress of the relevant task, while the progress however occurs only when the correct step is taken in the sequence provided for. Illustrations 26 and 27 show how the interface changes at the end of step 1 and during the execution of step 2 and at the end of step 2 and during the execution of step 3 again in the execution of the test function with the real application. The completion of each step is signaled with the chromatic indicator 60 that will contribute, at the end of all the steps provided for, to the setting of the task status (set at "passed" in the example in the previous illustrations) , according to the "roll up" rules defined in the editing part; while this occurs the windows marking the active areas of the interface of the real application corresponding to the step in execution change.

Illustration 28 shows the interface during the execution of the function "exercise" in combination with the execution of the real application. The interface is substantially identical to that of the test function. Only the tracking functions are missing and thus the indications of the chronometer and of the completion indicator are absent. Also in this case, in the "Real App" mode, the guide is in overlay mode in the real application and the part which is not relevant is not shown, that is, the parts which are not necessary for the execution of the selected step are made inactive and only the part or parts which must be used for the performance of the selected step are left active.

The tab interface also remains substantially identical .

Illustration 29 instead shows the execution of the test function on the replication of the application programme ("replicator") . In this case an interface replicating the application is launched and displayed as indicated by window 61. This is completely identical to the interface of the application and the individual active areas for selecting, controlling and displaying are perfectly functional according to the modes provided for in the application programme, but the actions on the interface generate only interface reactions, but not the functions on the database and on the application below, corresponding to the actions performed.

The interface tab in illustrations 20 to 23 presents in the primary bar, in addition to the Tasks function which shows the list of the tasks for the process selected or identified automatically via process GPS, also the Library function for the display, which is contextualised to the process selected and to the task selected, of the knowledge database as well as the Notes function for displaying the relative notes posted by the community with reference to the active process and task.

As shown by illustrations 30, 31, 32 selecting the various items from the secondary bar 62 it is possible to activate the personal library of knowledge as indicated in illustration 31, the list of the notes as indicated in illustration 32 that the user considers as relevant and saved in the personal area. Via the bar 52 it is also possible to print and post emails of specific information.

The knowledge and training information libraries and the notes are also monitored and managed with the management programme skillBoard^® described with reference to the management module as according to illustration 3 to 19. Illustration 33 shows the list of tasks performed by the specific user provided by the "my tasks" icon on the bar 62. Here listed are all the tasks performed and the results in terms of time and success thanks to the chronometer and to the status indicator which takes on different aspects depending on whether the task has been performed successfully, is in execution or has not been performed successfully.

Illustration 34 shows the general list of notes activated for a process selected from the bar icon 52. On this interface it is possible to respond to a note personally or publicly, attach materials, follow a particular note writer, vote the note, etc.

Illustration 35 shows an important contextualisation step for the notes in the interface "my notes". During the execution of a training exercise or of a test both on the real application and on the replication, and in the course of a normal exercise of the software application, skilltab^® allows for adding notes to specific interface areas automatically identified and indexed by skilltab^®. Doing so, when another user navigates the same interfaces, activating the skilltab^®, the notes added by other users regarding the step to be performed and the interface areas considered important are automatically highlighted, as highlighted by note 64 placed on the active area 59 indicated in the interface for creating notes illustration 35 by the arrow.

Finally, illustration 36 shows a screen for selecting a bibliographic source quoted in the list which is accessed via the library icon of the bar 52 of the tab and which is relative to a document with a certain relevance indicated by an indicator such as the well-known star indicator seen in the tab beside every source listed. Selecting and retrieving the source, the file is automatically opened using the relative display application as indicated in the window 65.

When the documentation is operational documentation of the software task created automatically by the procedural recording performed with the skillEditor^® using the DITA standard, as described in the relative section, the document is opened and positioned at the paragraph of reference for the step in progress (according to the DITA terminology, at the "TOPIC" of reference for the step in progress) . This contextual positioning is represented by the red box in the area 65 of illustration 36.

Illustrations 43 to 47 show the interfaces of the module for generating and editing the replication of the software applications named skillEditor^® for creating all the training and documental contributions for the software tasks. And that are then further managed by the management module according to illustrations 3 to 19 and that are retrievable and usable by the users via the tab module according to illustrations 20 to 36.

The system according to this invention provides for a module for recording the procedural software tasks with the relative automatic creation of functional software application interface replications relative to the various tasks to be performed, of technical support documentation in XML DITA format, of audiovisuals and grids for identifying the active areas of interface which can be used both in standalone mode and in overlay mode on the real application providing contextual localisation for notes, communication channels and/or social networking.

The stand alone replications are completely functional but only in relation to the interface functions, but they do not perform the functions of the real application controlled by the interface itself.

There are different state-of-the-art interface languages and methods for detecting the aspect and the functions of the application interfaces which may be used for the creation of functional replications. This application uses an integration of open UIA and XAML protocols provided by Microsoft^® with ad hoc software hooking and screen scraping algorithms. Regardless of the type of method and/or creation system used, the interface replication generation module has specific, innovative particular features.

The interface creation and editing module according to this invention controls the activities of the software for creating replications and configuring replications, transforming the input of the interface reconstruction systems and their configuration into a sort of recorder and reproducer, which allows thus for generating the replication of the interface of the real application in execution and recording the series of steps which must be performed by the user performing the step or task which the application is dedicated to along with the image of the interface both as regards the interface control activities regarding the active zones which represent data input or controls and as regards the reactions of the interface to the data input and/or controls, that is, the responses displayed by the interface following said actions, the connection with the functional part of the application which executes the instructions entered with the controlling activities performed by the user is not recreated.

For every step or partial series of steps, a screen is generated. The series of actions of the user on the interface and of responses of the interface is memorised as a series of actions, each series of actions changing the aspect of the interface with reference to the action performed and each interface being connected to the previous by a series of user or interface activities. The series of interfaces, actions and sequences are recorded in a proprietary format expressed in XML. The series of approach, input and output protocols and techniques used forms an innovative skillaware system method defined "screenflows"©.

In addition to the representation of the action performed via screens and actions in the interface, there is a timeline which allows for reproducing the procedure at the speed with which it was performed or at a faster or slower speed to see the important actions of the procedure favouring the times necessary to the operator.

The author module skillEditor^® also includes various post production editing functions which allow for reorganising, resequencing, re-editing the texts and the layouts of the screenflows as well as how it will appear afterwards, it is possible to modify the aspect of the interface displayed and add contextualised notes and control or checking icons according to needs. The module also allows the possibility to associate to various activities, relative to the recorded user actions and/or the areas of the interface, the materials included in the knowledge database in the training information database with specific reference to the process, task and/or step to which the application, whose interface has been replicated, is dedicated. Similarly to that displayed for the previous modules it is also possible to highlight relevant areas to which the skillBoard^® and/or skillTab^® users can associate the community of qualified users, the notes and the communication connections between them.

The above is shown in detail in the interfaces of the skillEditor^® module for creating and modifying the interface replications. In this context it should be noted that as in the previous modules, knowledge libraries and/or training, communities of users qualified for performing the process and also lists of notes can be provided not only in relation to the replications, but also specifically in relation to the replication creation module for training, tutoring and performance support for people who are to create the interface replications.

Illustration 37 shows an example of the initial screen 70 of the SkillEditor^® module for the creation and the modification of documentation and functional application interface replications both on an individual task level and for the whole process selected.

The screen of the skillEditor^® module is divided into different areas for displaying different types of information and the main and secondary icon or control bars. The left area 71 shows the list of Screenflow or recordings which regard the project.

The main display area 72 has a diagram structure which shows the various Screenflows (or recordings) : if the recording has not yet been performed in 72 there is a list of active applications in the user's work area which may be recorded. This work area may be local to the author user ' s computer or remote on a third server where a recording "thin client" is installed. The interface reproduction resolution which is generated in the recording can vary depending on needs. In the area between the others is the chosen application (e.g. "notepad") which is opened for the execution and the recording in the same dimension of the real application which is shown in the same position in which it has been recorded.

The control 76 starts the recording procedure. When this procedure starts, the application shown in illustration 38 shows, identified with number 77, the SkillRecorder^® component while in the section 72 the messages "Waiting Recording", "Recording" and

"Building" are displayed in succession .

The tasks are recorded activating SkillRecorder^® on the real application and generating the relative functional screenflow from which the system automatically generates the selected output. The activity is performed on the real application and during the execution the actions performed by the user on the interface and the relative reactions on real system user interface level are recorded.

Illustration 39, after the recording has been performed, shows within area 72 screen 2 that is a reconstruction of the real application and that can successively be post-produced with added visual effects, automatic text to speech transformation and/or added tracking information regarding the performance of the operator. In area 73 there is the "Outline" window which shows the features of the replication displayed and more precisely the elements which compose the reconstructed screen. In this area it is possible to select these elements which form the interface and make them active, inactive and modify their properties.

Again in illustration 39 in the section 74 there are "Properties" where it is possible to configure or modify different settings of the replication as regards its aspect.

The type of documental output to be generated is identified with the icons 78 and 79 within the "Training Material" menu as shown in illustration 40. The generation of the documentation in PDF format regarding the process as a whole, generated automatically assembling in a single documentation (the structure on a MAPPA level in the DITA specification used) , the individual paragraphs (Topics in DITA terminology) regarding each software task, possibly using the relative XML DITA specialisation most suited (for example, the DITA's "Technical" specifications which provide a structure for technical steps within each topic) for the description of the individual software steps.

Illustration 40 shows the reproduction of the replication via the "Video" icon 80. In particular the only linear version of the sequence of task steps is represented from the opening of the "notepad" application to the completion of the list of names and the saving to the file, the whole thing being recorded as a screenflow and reproduced with interfaces and user actions in the succession of steps which provide different screens connected by actions. This screenflow structure is shown in the display area 72 with a graph that shows reconstructed images corresponding to the different screens detected or replicated and connection "Steps" which represent the activities that have led to the interface aspect modification from one screen to the next .

Illustration 41 instead shows the associations to the replication of the same elements of knowledge, information and training which may be associated in the skillboard^®. That is, skills and documents relative to the task to which the replicated application refers may be associated. Similarly, the knowledge, information and training libraries may be associated as well as the community and the connections of users who are qualified to perform the corresponding task and the access to reading and generating notes, as well as measuring performance parameters and calculating KPI as already described with reference to the previous modules in the description of the Skillboard^®.

The Business Processes are downloadable on SkillEditor^® only from Skillboard^® , it is thus not possible to create them from scratch with this editor tool. Thus, after importing the Business Process, that is represented with a tree structure displayed in 81 in the illustration 41, it is possible to associate the Screenflows to the Business Process elements with simple drag and drop operations.

Another interaction between SkillEditor^® and Skillboard occurs when the Screenflows are saved on the Skillboard^® so that they can be retrieved by other users in order to in turn be modified and re- edited.

Although for simplicity the examples reported in the various modules refer to activities which are not completely technical and to simple applications such as "notepad" or similar, it is important to consider that the activities provided for the system according to this invention are destined mainly to the training, tutoring and documental, performance and decision-making support of client/server and web systems, which may be complex, such as those relative to systems for line, installation and industrial process running and control with the objective of transferring the general concept of industrial process standarisation and management and to support the evolution towards business process management systems within the company. Thus the task recording part is performed by expert department technicians for example involved in the management of complex production installations, such as an energy generation installation, but also manufacturing product production installations, downstream of a company process standardisation process managed upstream by process experts using the skillboard^® system to which then the skilleditor^®, and the specific expert of the application to be used, connects for the individual recordings. The interface replications can then be anonymised and generalised for other clients, projects and processes of the same sector and field of application creating templates of sector company process.

Claims

1. Method for the generation of a contextualised training and performance support system for company control processes, in particular production and control processes where the method provides in combination the execution of a process management programme in which the said processes are described and codified according to standard notations, they are gathered in a process database and are organised and activated and synchronised according to pre- established sequences, that is, according to pre- established workflows of the processes and activities relative to the said processes, that is, so-called tasks and activities relative to said tasks, that is, steps and characterised by the fact that

they further provide for the following steps: the control of the workflow via the identification via software sensors;

the decomposition of each individual process into task components, into rules of sequencing of the execution of said tasks and into software applications to be performed for the execution of the individual tasks;

the possible further decomposition of the said tasks into individual steps and into rules of sequencing of these;

the generation of a task database and possibly of steps with associated rules of sequencing of their execution and associated relative software application; the generation of library of information of knowledge relative to the performance of the specific task and/or step;

the generation of a library of information relative to the execution mode of the specific task and/or step;

the generation of a library of documents relative to the mode of execution of the specific task and/or step;

the selection of a process and the generation in the correct execution sequence of the list of the tasks of the said process, the selection of a task and/or of one or more steps and the automatic retrieval for the process and the task selected and/or the step of the knowledge and the information regarding the performance mode;

the possible identification and the retrieval of the software application necessary for the execution of the task selected in the process selected.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, in which the step regarding the importation or generation of a database of taxonomies of skills for each process and each process task memorised in the relative database and the association via tagging on the relative task of the skills necessary for performing the same and in which a community of users qualified to perform the task is generated on the basis of the skills of each user.

3. Method as claimed in claim 2, characterised by the fact that there is a social network communication system between the components of the community of qualified users.

4. Method as claimed in one or more of the previous claims, in which an interface replication of the software application necessary for executing a specific task is realised, this interface is functionally active but does not communicate with the operational layer of the application and whose replication may be launched in parallel with or replacing the software application to be executed for the performing of the task.

5. Method as claimed in claim 4, characterised by the fact that the interface replication of the software application of a task is associated with the knowledge library regarding the task and/or the information library regarding the mode of execution of the task and/or the social network communication system between the components of the community of qualified users.

6. Method as claimed in one or more of the previous claims, characterised by the fact that it provides the steps for measuring the performances of execution of the tasks in relation to the speed of performance of the tasks or of one or more steps which form these tasks and the number of mistakes in the performance of the tasks and/or of one or more of said steps, that is of so-called KPI defined in accordance with the processes, tasks and skills.

7. Method as claimed in one or more of the previous claims in which the detection, via systems of software and/or environmental sensors ("context sensors"), of the conditions of execution of the processes and of the tasks is provided for as well as the automatic indication of at least one of the active processes and of at least one of the tasks to be performed and/or in execution to the qualified user(s) of the community of qualified users.

8. Method as claimed in one or more of the previous claims, characterised by the fact that it provides for the graphic display of the measurements of the context sensors and of the KPI in a control dashboard.

9. Method as claimed in one or more of the previous claims, where the method further provides for organising the users with the respective skills for the execution of process tasks, the interface replications for executing the execution applications for the tasks or steps, and at least the communications between the users of the community of people qualified to perform one or more tasks in the context of said project, measurements of context sensors and KPI in the form of role play possibly in teams competing against each other and where the measurements of the context sensors and the KPI form the evaluation metrics of the result of a person and/or a team in the role play.

10. Method for the generation of a contextualised training and performance support system for company control processes, in particular production and control processes where the method provides in combination the execution of a process management programme in which the said processes are described and codified according to standard notations, gathered in a process database and organised and activated and synchronised according to pre-established sequences, that is, according to the pre-established workflows of the processes and activities relative to the said processes, that is. so-called tasks and activities relative to said tasks or steps and characterised by the fact that

said processes and/or said tasks and/or said steps are formed at least in part by processes, tasks, steps performed by non-human automatic units provided with hardware units, functional control software and signal generation software which describe the functional state and at least in part by processes and/or tasks and/or steps performed by human staff.

where the method further provides the following steps:

identification via software sensors of active processes and/or tasks and/or steps in execution;

the definition of parameters of characterisation of the execution performances and in particular of the execution speed and/or possibly the execution quality and/or so-called KPI;

the measurements of said parameters of characterisation of execution performances and in particular of the execution speed and/or possibly the execution quality and/or of the so-called KPI of the active processes and/or tasks and/or steps in execution;

the definition of average values of reference for the said parameters of characterisation of the execution performances and in particular of the execution speed and/or possibly of the execution quality and/or of the so-called KPI on the basis of which the workflow of the global production process is planned;

the determination of the differences between said average values of reference for the said parameters of characterisation of execution performances and in particular of the execution speed and/or possibly the execution quality and/or the so- called KPI and said measured values;

the modification of the time sequence of the execution of the processes, and/or tasks and/or steps provided for in the initial workflow on the basis of the said differences between said average values and said values measured in order to consider the variations of the execution performances of the individual processes, tasks or steps provided for in the workflow with respect to that defined initially and harmonise these variations with the sequence of successive execution steps in the workflow in progress and/or modify the workflow also for future executions of the production process.

11. Method as claimed in claim 10, characterised by the fact that it includes one or more of the features of the method as claimed in claims 1 to 9.

12. Contextualised system of training and performance support for company control processes, in particular for production and control processes whose system is computer implemented and provides a control software for said processes executed or executable by a processor such as a computer or similar and formed by a process management system in combination with a database of processes which are described and codified according to standardised notations and whose execution which is synchronised in sequence or in parallel, is defined according to the workflow rules, a database of activities relative to said processes, that is so-called tasks and possibly activities relative to said tasks, that is, steps, corresponding rules of sequencing of the execution of said tasks and/or steps and the corresponding software applications to be executed for the performance of a task and/or step;

said processes and corresponding tasks being relative

to both productive processes and tasks executed by non-human operational units, such as individual automatic operator machines or groups of automatic operator machines, in the form of production lines or automated operation execution lines, whose non-human operational units are provided with functional control means with an operational status signal output interface and operational status setting/regulation control input interface,

and to processes and tasks executed by human operators included in the same global operational and production flow as those executed by non-human operators;

while said control programme includes software or environmental sensors for identifying processes and tasks in execution in the workflow of the global process;

Task and process execution performance measurers regarding the execution times and the correspondence of execution result parameters with values of reference, that is, KPI measurers;

A comparator for the KPI of processes and/or of individual tasks in progress with KPI of reference provided for the said process and/or the said task and a recalculation and redefinition programme for planning the time sequence of the processes and/or tasks on the basis of the variations in terms of KPI and/or execution speed of the processes and/or individual tasks detected by the comparator.

13. System as claimed in claim 11 in which there is

a library of knowledge information relative to the performance of the specific task and/or step;

a library of information relative to the execution mode of the specific task and/or step;

a library of documentation relative to the execution mode of the specific task and/or step

an interface for displaying and selecting:

a process from a list of processes

a task and/or step from a list of tasks and/or steps relative to the selected process;

a software engine which automatically retrieves the knowledge and of the information regarding the mode of performance for the process and the task selected and identifies and automatically retrieves the software application necessary for the execution of the selected task in the selected process.

14. System as claimed in claim 11 in which a database of taxonomies of skills is provided for each process and each process task and/or step in the relative database and tagging means on the relative task of the skills necessary for performing the same as well as a community or a domain of users qualified to execute the task on the basis of the skills of the individual users.

15. System as claimed in claim 11 in which there is an interface with systems of communication for members of a community or a domain whose communication system is that of a social network.

16. System as claimed in one or more of the previous claims 10 to 13, in which there is a replicator and an editor for the realisation of an interface replication of the software application necessary for the execution of a specific task and/or step, whose interface is functionally active, but does not communicate with the operational layer of the application and whose replication may be launched in parallel with or replacing the software application to be executed for the performance of the task.

17. System as claimed in one or more of the previous claims 10 to 15 in which there are sensors which measure the performances of the execution of the tasks in relation to the performance speed of the tasks or of one or more steps which form these tasks and the number of mistakes in the performance of the tasks and/or one or more of the said steps, to determine and display the KPI of said measurements.

18. System as claimed in one or more of the previous claims 10 to 16 in which there is one or more context sensors for measuring the conditions of execution of the processes and the automatic indication of at least one of the active processes and at least one of the tasks to be executed and/or in execution to the qualified users of the community of qualified users (method defined Business Process GPS)

19. System as claimed in one or more of the previous claims 10 to 17 in which the data relative to the users with the respective skills for the execution of process tasks, the replications of the execution interfaces of the task or step execution applications, and at least the communication between the users of the community of people qualified to execute one or more tasks in the context of said project, the measurements of the context sensors and of the KPI are organised in the form of a role play programme possibly also in teams to execute a process flow managed by Business Process Management (BPM) system and in which the measurements of the context sensors and of the KPI form the evaluation metrics of the result of a person and/or of a team in the role play.