The Future of CBT

Part 2 of our look at a new computer based training model reveals a major opportunity to improve accuracy and profitability in produce-- if the commitment is there.

The Future of CBT

(©Supermarket Business, October 1997)
by: Richard Shulman

It's not often, but every once in a while I see something so compelling that it is crystal clear to me that it will create a new technological dimension for food retailing.

Last month I wrote about a pioneering computer-based learning project, called Apricots (Advanced Produce Interactive Cashier Off-line Training System) that was developed by a group within NCR called the Human Interface Technology Center (HITC). This group has the corporate mission to make computers and computer systems easy to understand, easy to use and effective in accomplishing tasks. Its goal is to create computer-based systems so intuitive that intended end users can rapidly learn to operate them by just studying the features of the interface.

HITC works with companies it refers to as "Lighthouse Customers," innovative industry leaders. In the food industry HITC has worked with some premier retail organizations.

Apricots is an experimental PC-based project that was implemented in a joint effort by NCR with Balls Food Stores in Kansas City, which operates more that 20 outstanding supermarkets under the Balls, Hen House and Price Chopper names. Apricots is not a program product, and you cannot buy it for your stores. However, I believe it does set a new standard for training at retail.

This month I want to focus on the training material and the technology the HITC group used. From a technology perspective, Apricots includes full motion video, sound and voice response. The Apricots project built on an earlier project that NCR did with Kroger to determine the impact of voice response on front end training and performance.

Cashiers, as a class of employees, have the highest turnover in our stores and, perhaps because of the turnover, are not as highly motivated as the employees in other areas of the store.

Apricots embodies the latest theories of how people learn, and applies them to a specific class of store employees, cashiers. The objective was to teach cashiers the names and PLU numbers for the 70 product items that represent the highest gross profit contributors to the department. Prior studies have shown that cashier errors in handling these items represent the greatest impact on shrink and customer disservice.

Cashiers, as a class of employees, have the highest turnover in our stores and, perhaps because of the turnover, are not as highly motivated as the employees in other areas of the store.

NCR determined that to be successful the CBT process must firmly guide users through each step of the learning process. At the same time it must engage or involve them in a way that they find interesting. The training accomplishes this by using a touch screen monitor, full motion video, sound and voice response to enforce the strategy of "hear it, see it, say it" learning.

The training not only leads students through a structured process, it forces them to think and be involved by answering questions-- not merely by clicking an answer but rather by having to say the answer-- or to discriminate between pictures of different produce items that look similar.

Training Structure

Let's start with the structure of the training process. The cashier uses a PC that, during the Apricots project, was placed in an administrative area of the store. The system has nine components or steps in the educational process.

Figure 1.

Step one is to gain attention the first time the student uses the system. To accomplish this step the system uses a full motion video clip of colleagues at work. In step two the objective is to inform the student of how the lessons are put together, and to give him an overview of the training process. The educational process is self-paced, but the system tracks performance for a supervisor and for the student.

Figure 2.

In step three the student is given a reprise of the previous lesson. In step four new items will be introduced, and they will be compared to similar items that were previously learned. In this section the student learns expert tips about how to identify the item. Then there is a guided learning process that permits the student to review all of the products he has already studied, with an emphasis on relating the PLU to both the picture and the name.

First, as shown in Figure 1, the student sees a lesson plan that is a group of items scheduled to be taught together. Then he follows the process to the library (Figure 2), where he can learn more about each product and how to distinguish it from products that look similar.

Figure 3.

This is followed by an area set up to elicit performance. It includes the Produce ID and Pick the Produce exercises. In screens like the one shown in Figure 3, the student must identify products by speaking their name and keying in their PLU number. In Figure 3, the word grapefruit was spoken by the student. The software translates the spoken word to the word shown on the screen. The system responds by telling the student if he as correct.

Using speech is a critical part of the learning process, and I believe it will be a fundamental part of future training and POS systems. Within the last few months we have seen several new and very low cost PC-based voice recognition systems come on the market. These systems, while the forerunners of more sophisticated products, let someone dictate to a computer.

Reinforcing the Process

In Apricots, saying a product's name reinforces the learning process. Unlike many other multiple-choice computer based training programs, this one comes close to reality in how it educates.

Figure 4.

The Apricots use of voice recognition followed an earlier research project with Kroger Company in which the cashier wore a microphone and a headset. If he didn't know the name of a produce product, he could say what he did know, and the register display would guide him by displaying pictures of the possible products.

For example, the cashier could say "tomato" and the system would display all the different kinds of tomatoes that were currently on sale. Or he could even say "round, red fruit." The objective was to see if new cashiers could quickly reach the productivity of experienced cashiers, and those results were achieved with comparable accuracy.

Figure 5.

At the eighth step in the Apricots process, the student goes through a "4 Square" simulation of the POS experience. The 4 Square Game presents the cashier with a series of screens, on of which is shown in Figure 4. He must identify each product and handle it properly. The cashier says the name for the product and keys the PLU number. In the example shown in Figure 5, the correct answer is "Royal Gala Apple," but the student misidentified it as "Fuji Apple." The results are shown to the student as "shrink" in the final screen of the game sequence, shown as Figure 6.

Figure 6.

Finally, when the lesson is completed of the student has used the maximum time scheduled for it, he gets a printed report of his work. This report, shown as Figure 7, leaves the student with a record of every product he has learned and hose he has yet to master.

What makes this all so unique? Obviously the multimedia components are an insight into the future of CBT. What is also different is that this learning process was designed to capture the attention of its specific audience, young and low-motivated employees, and lead them through a learning experience.

Figure 7.

It forces them through a learning process that goes beyond the current "click your way'" training, in which all education is a series of multiple-choice questions. Too many CBT efforts don't make students "answer" questions the way they would in their job. Apricots addresses this issue in an outstanding manner.

What can we learn from NCR's Apricots research? First, there is a major opportunity to improve your store's accuracy and profitability if you would make a serious commitment to training. Like many people, I assumed that converting to the PMA coding standard would resolve most issues of produce accuracy. The Apricots project convinced me there is much more improvement to be gained.

ROI a Few Weeks

More importantly, the ROI is a few weeks Unfortunately, most retailers only give lip service to training. Some have a new employee training "budget," but his just gives the store manager a slush fund of hours that will not be included in his performance measurements. The budget does not insure that training will occur. What an opportunity is being missed!

The bottom line is I've seen the future.
Have you?

In Apricots I see a new approach that uses technology to enhance learning. In the voice recognition, I see a technology that in the future will appear throughout the store. In the NCR approach to developing the base case to measure produce PLU learning I see a process that creates a standard for those companies that need to measure the results of before and after learning, a standard that could be applied to other service departments.

The bottom line is I've seen the future. Have you?

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