Instructor-Led Training – Case 1

The Need

A defense contractor was planning a staged rollout of the Cognos planning and forecasting system. The company needed training for a core user group of financial analysts who had been involved in the application development and would serve as the trainers for the end user population. The project team asked Dashe & Thomson to create a custom training solution that would result in a high degree of user acceptance, while allowing the software deployment to continue as planned within its current timeline.

Solution

Given the timeline constraints, Dashe & Thomson needed to alter its preferred training methodology and provide a rapidly deployed training team to develop a scaled-back suite of deliverables:

• Role--based, process-focused instructor-led training.
• A train-the-trainer session that included facilitator guides and talking points as well as adult learning theory content, and tips and tricks for training the software end users.
• Job aids, including quick reference guides (QRGs) and frequently asked questions (FAQs).

In addition, Dashe & Thomson consultants supported the company trainers by answering questions and distributing answers to those questions most frequently asked. We also edited and distributed materials to bridge gaps and leverage best practices as they were discovered by the company trainers.

Results

Dashe & Thomson developed training for the company trainers that ensured the greater population of end-users would have a solid familiarity and understanding of the system. Our rapid deployment resulted in the train-the-trainer training being delivered according to schedule so the company trainers could provide training for these users prior to system go-live. The system and training were successfully rolled out to 10 corporate divisions across multiple US locations.