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The Snowball Effect: Documentation and Training for Global ERP Systems

The Snowball Effect: Documentation and Training for Global ERP Systems

by on March 14, 2012 in ERP Training, system implementation training, Training Development

Once upon a time, a major manufacturing company implemented SAP to handle all of their North American operations. Several years passed and the company implemented new SAP modules and fine-tuned existing modules. Everything was working well and they were getting a good return on their system investment. Finally, it was time to start bringing the wonder of SAP to the company’s global operations.

The company was smart and planned a phased global implementation over several years. First they went to countries south of the border where a different language was spoken by many. So, the company scribes (Instructional Designers and Documentation Specialists) and their SMEs created materials in their native tongue and sent them along to another company to translate into the 2nd language. But alas, the screen shots were still in the 1st language! The translators did not know SAP and the scribes did not know the …

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Persuasive Technology Could Be Key to Gaining User Adoption

Persuasive Technology Could Be Key to Gaining User Adoption

by on June 15, 2011 in eLearning, Innovation, Organizational Change Management, performance support, system implementation training, user adoption

We know that user adoption is critical for major software implementations to be successful.  There are dozens of case studies and reports that illustrate how it’s not enough to get the technology working.  If users aren’t trained properly, or don’t accept the value of the system – the project will likely fail.

Change management and learning professionals have known for a long time that the behavior barriers to user adoption can be grouped into two major categories:

1)      Can’t do behaviors

2)      Won’t do behaviors

In the past, the traditional approach was to have the trainers handle #1 and the change management types to handle #2.  Now, a new discipline – Persuasive Technology – has come along to help both the training people and the change people.

Loren Baxter has written an excellent post about persuasive technology, in which he outlines the evolution of web and software design.  The …

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If You Keep Practicing, You Will Get the Hang of It (or Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll!)

If You Keep Practicing, You Will Get the Hang of It (or Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll!)

by on June 10, 2011 in Informal Learning, Instructional Design, performance support, social learning, system implementation training, Training Development

 

For the last couple of summers I’ve played in an “over 40” adult soccer league. Last summer, I scored my first and only goal. It’s not that I’m skilled by any means; I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time and had the presence of mind to aim and kick toward the goal.

Unfortunately, the rest of the time I run around the field like a chicken with my head cut off (a metaphor that I can picture all too well after spending summer days as a youth on my aunt’s farm).

I can’t attribute my lack of soccer skills to being unfamiliar with the game. Over the last 18 years (the age of my oldest daughter), I’ve seen over 500 games and watched countless practices. I’ve seen highly-skill players and coaches demonstrate core foot skills.

I’ve just never practiced.

Anyway, I signed up …

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Organizational Change Management Cited – Again – as Key Contributor to ERP Failure

Organizational Change Management Cited – Again – as Key Contributor to ERP Failure

by on April 5, 2011 in ERP Training, Organizational Change Management, Project Management/Project Delivery, system implementation training

In his IT Project Failures blog, Michael Krigsman frequently discusses the importance of change management, communication, and training in successful ERP implementations.  In a recent post, he cites a recent poll by Panorama Consulting, in which IT executives are asked about the “deadliest sin” of ERP implementations.  Organizational change management, as usual, is right near the top of the list:

A major contributor to the importance of change management stems from the impact on workers’ job roles, and the degree to which those changes can affect their careers.  In another post, Krigsman writes:

Communications in [the context of ERP implementation] means explaining the business impact of technology decisions to a non-technical audience. That impact likely includes process changes that may affect employees in a variety of ways. For example, a new CRM or ERP system can change workers’ jobs, roles, and even dictate future employment status. Obviously, these changes have

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Supercomputer’s Win on Jeopardy: Little Comfort to Those Implementing Enterprise Computer Software

Supercomputer’s Win on Jeopardy: Little Comfort to Those Implementing Enterprise Computer Software

by on March 1, 2011 in ERP Training, system implementation training

IBM’s supercomputer Watson made big news last week by defeating two of the world’s best-ever Jeopardy contestants, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.  In fact, the competition wasn’t close; the computer came away with nearly four times as much money as the closest nearest competitor.

I don’t think I’m alone, however, in being unimpressed with this development.  The fact that a computer can win a trivia contest that relies on fast reflexes and fast information retrieval doesn’t seem much like news to me.

A lot of people, apparently, agree.  Matt Blum at GeekDad wrote an article this week called Why Watson’s Jeopardy Win is Mostly Meaningless saying:

IBM’s supercomputer software Watson’s win on the game show Jeopardy! is little more than a publicity stunt. Its value as a scientific experiment is roughly on par with grade school students showing what happens when you soak a tooth in Coke or add salt to a plant’s

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