ECM-systems: is it possible to master playfully, or five kopecks in defense of gamification

The theme of gamification has been raised on Habré already several times. Different opinions were expressed on how to correctly understand it, where and how it is applied, and in general whether it is a worthwhile undertaking. Our colleagues from the DOCFLOW project undertook to find out whether gamification can help ordinary users to master electronic document management systems (as practice shows, usually simple users in companies do not like to learn new complex software, and if they have studied, then not all of its capabilities are used). This topic was devoted to the recent webinar “Corporate games - the possibilities and difficulties of gamification of ECM systems” .

Gamification is the use of approaches characteristic of computer games in non-game processes with the aim of attracting users and consumers, increasing their involvement in solving applied problems, using products and services.

In order to understand whether this works in practice, an expert from the SED developer company, which recently conducted a gamification experiment on its employees, was invited to the webinar. What was it?
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At some point, the company DIRECTUM had the idea to develop a gaming module for customers, which should help users quickly master the product - the corporate content management system (ECM system). To find out whether it is possible to use the gamification method when deploying to customers, in DIRECTUM they decided to make a prototype of such a game module and conduct an experiment on real people - their own employees.

The company uses an ECM-system of its own production and, as is often the case, employees are familiar with the product, but do not use all its capabilities. Therefore, the goal of the experimenters set themselves this - to expand and deepen the knowledge of users of the implemented ECM-system. First of all, it was necessary to understand how to properly build a gaming system, from which elements should it consist? According to the author of the well-known course on gemification, Kevin Verbach , when developing a game module, you need to take into account three "layers": game elements, its mechanics and dynamics. What is meant is shown in the diagram.



As a result, goals, missions, tasks, points for achieving goals and awards appeared in the game system in question. Not without medalek.



Tasks were of different levels of complexity and are designed for different categories of players (about categories - below). Here are some examples of tasks:

• sign the document with a digital signature
• change document or folder access settings
• set up folder auto cleaning
• create a document with versions in different formats
• make any version of the document hidden
• restore the document from the shadow copy

Some tasks were unique and became available only on a certain day, some needed to be completed at a specific time. For the successful implementation of such tasks relied unique encouragement. If the user carried out this or that task faster than all the other participants in the game, then he received the status of “pioneer”. Total creators of the program came up with about 50 tasks. Thinking over the content, we tried to choose the functions of the system, which are usually rarely used. With due diligence, the player moved from the initial level to the middle level, and from the middle level to the advanced level.



The mechanics of the game was thought out in such a way that the idea was interesting for all types of players, and there are four of them, as the modern science tells us. The first is the researchers, their motivation is to learn something new; For the second category, achievements are important - their own achievements and the realization of the fact that they themselves can do something; players of the third category (they are conventionally called “killers”) value not only achievements and points, but also the number of competitors that they managed to leave behind; the last, fourth type is “sociophiles”, it is not so much the game itself that is important for them, but communication in the process. All these psychological features were taken into account when developing the game module. Those who are important achievements and victory over colleagues, could observe their own and others' successes in the summary table of results, and their own - on a special page.



Those who are interested in socialization could discuss the game and express their proposals to its creators in a special forum that was created on the internal portal DIRECTUM. The forum was popular, and some of the ideas expressed by the players were used in the gameplay. The system also implied the ability to share their achievements in external social networks, but almost no one took advantage of this.

A separate question is to attract participants to the game. How did you manage to ensure that serious adults do something for game icons and "candy wrappers"? In DIRECTUM the process of attraction was divided into several stages. At first, they invited employees who use the system for less than two months to join the game (they could agree or refuse, participation was voluntary). At the second stage, experienced users were invited. At the third stage, players were given the opportunity to send invitations to colleagues directly from the system. As a result, 40 people took part in the experiment (about 400 people work in the company. Of course, enthusiasts and people who are loyal to the company are involved in the process. In the future, the employees pay attention to the game, who are interested in what colleagues are so actively discussing. to the participation of absolutely everyone - the goal is unattainable, but it was not intended by anyone.

The game was designed for a month, but lasted a little longer - 37 days. On the first day, the interest was very large (see chart), the second peak of activity was associated with inviting a new group of participants. In the future, interest declined and it was necessary to stimulate it - on the 17th day, a new interesting goal was hooked up, all participants tried to earn a “medal”, and in the future interest in the game slowly faded away.



Well, some more statistics. The average age of participants is about 25 years, the most points were scored by people at 21 and 30 years old. According to the organizers of the game, at the age of 21 people have just graduated from the university and they still have strong cravings for everything new, the thirty-year-olds are more focused on achieving goals.

According to the results of the experiment, DIRECTUM concluded that gaming was well suited for training purposes - they did not make special measurements, but judging by the participants' feedback, they managed to learn a lot about the ECM system and it became easier for them to work with it. Now the company-developer plans to make a full-fledged game module and sell it along with the main product.

As for the conclusions on the elements of the game, they are as follows. Appeared to be necessary: ​​a variety of game objectives and goals, socialization, immediate and visible encouragement, regular updating of goals, increasing complexity. Without invites and integration with social networks could do.

That turned out to be an experiment. If in your company there was an experience of using gamification - successful or unsuccessful - come to the comments, it is interesting. And if you are close to the topic of workflow and a variety of practices related to it, you can subscribe to announcements of other DOCFLOW webinars here .