The Challenges of ERP Training

February 17th, 2010

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite of applications, which support such functions as finance, materials management, purchasing, human resources, and other critical processes, are continuing to replace in-house applications that date back more than two decades. The increasingly popularity of ERP applications has created an enormous demand for training.

Companies working with ERP implementations acquire training directly from their vendor along with purchasing additional training services from consulting firms specializing in project management, instructor-led training, elearning, and blended learning. These companies continue to increase their ERP training efforts because ERP packages are not just another software application. ERP implementations are complex multi-faceted projects. The ERP package becomes the foundation for the business operations. Given this level of importance, training managers have an obligation to get involved in their companies implementation at the onset of the project. With the scope and impact to all business areas of a company, training is critical to the success of the ERP project. An inadequate training budget for such a project can result in costly delays, abandoned projects, skyrocketing budgets, and employee dissatisfaction.

Early adopters of an ERP implementation have discovered that most failures in the ERP world are due to companies underestimating the training of its people and the entire scope of educating their staffs.

One of the key steps to ensuring ERP success is to budget adequate dollars to the training efforts of the project. For example, a lead ERP vendor recommends that companies allocate 15 to 20 percent of the overall project budget to training trainers and end users to achieve success. It is also critical to have dedication from top management for an extensive training program; that is, dedication that is reflected in the budget.

Consider the following training tips to help ensure success when implementing ERP in your organization:

1. Make the internal training staff an integral part of the ERP team from the onset of the project. It cannot be an afterthought. It is difficult for end users to learn ERP applications let alone expect the trainers to learn it in a pinch.

2. Partner with your consultants for knowledge transfer. It is critical for the corporate training staff to work with the consultants as a natural transition throughout the project. It is impossible to expect the in-house training staff to learn the experiences and knowledge of the consultants’ project efforts in two weeks when realistically it may have evolved over a two year cycle.

3. Provide hands-on experience to the end users. Test them on their newly acquired skills to ensure transfer of knowledge to their jobs.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate! It is critical to keep your employees continually updated on the ERP project and impact of change on their roles within your organization. Use newsletters, videos, and meeting formats to help with the change management process.

Keep in mind that your employees need to learn how ERP is changing their current processes, not just how to apply ERP to their jobs. The mindset of “we’ve always done it this way” definitely changes with the scope of an ERP implementation project. With ERP your employees are not just learning new keystrokes, they need to learn and understand how ERP “thinks” when they use it and how it impacts and changes the way they perform their job processes.

When planning your ERP project, the one constant factor you can always count on is change. New releases and major enhancements with ERP applications become a way of life and your training team needs to be prepared to handle the training needs of the end users. It’s the ongoing challenge of ERP implementations.

To learn how Total Training Solutions can help you with your next ERP implementation, contact us at 630.585.1168.

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Difficult People – What To Do???

February 17th, 2010

Do you know an employee who seems to see only the worst in every situation, whines about their work responsibilities, resists engaging in a conversation, or chronically exhibits behaviors that others find difficult?

Employees who are difficult to manange exist in every work setting. They may be difficult to manage because they are hostile, silent, negative, or chronic complainers. Their behavior and manner of relating to co-workers and supervisors causes stress in work relationships, interferes with productivity, and undermines the morale of co-workers. Encounters with the difficult employee may leave co-workers feeling angry, helpless, hopeless, or de-energized. These difficult to manage employees are often assets to the organization because of their skills and knowledge, yet as they attempt to fulfill their work responsibilities, their behavior becomes increasingly more difficult for co-workers and supervisors to manage.

What do you do to manage these difficult employees in a manner that allows the organization to benefit from their skills and knowledge?

While it is not possible to change the difficult employee, it is possible to change the reaction of those who are at the receiving end of the behaviors. Implementing new responses to the behaviors of the difficult employee allows the opportunity to create a dialogue that contributes to cooperative working relationships and the completion of work responsibilities.

Changing the response to a difficult employee begins with identifying the specific difficult behaviors of the employee. While each difficult employee has their own individual personality and behaviors, there are indicators that allow them to be grouped into six types.

Understanding what motivates each of the six types of difficult employees is the next step in successfully managing the behavior. The motivation provides clues for the next step in successfully managing the difficult employee, learning the appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses.

There are specific phrases, questions, and non-verbal cues that increase the likelihood of a productive interaction with a difficult employee. When co-workers and supervisors learn and implement these responses, they are in a position to build a cooperative working relationship with “their” difficult employee.

To learn more about managing difficult people, contact Total Training Solutions at 630.585.1168.

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Total Training Solutions Develops First Responder Compliance Training

January 10th, 2010

To meet the growing demand for web-based training, Blue Line Learning Group selected Total Training Solutions  to develop a comprehensive web based learning solution for first responder compliance training programs for the topics of Bloodborne Pathogens and Hazardous Materials. The project included the development of two web-based training courses to support the mandatory compliance requirements by OSHA for first responders within emergency agencies throughout the United States. The training courses were designed to adhere to web-based training principles and installed into a custom designed learning portal that provides for agencies to administer and track training events. Trainees can access the training any time day or night from any computer with internet access. Features of the courses include bookmarking, learning quizzes to confirm learning transfer, branching to supplementary reference materials, charts and documents and a final certification test with a printable Certificate of Completion.

As a result of the new web-based compliance training courses and the 24/7 learning portal accessibility, Blue Line Learning Group has continued to experience exceptional business growth as well as a streamlined sales and order process.  The President has stated that “not only did our sales immediately begin to increase, but the time and effort neccesary to process and monitor orders has dramatically decreased. Orders are up and staff time and expenses are down. What more could you ask for?”  The learning portal course completion tracking system has proven to be a significant enhancement to the course offerings for the public agencies as well.

During the redesign of the web-based courses, Total Training Solutions also redesigned the client’s website incorporating a more user-friendly interface and a professional introduction and overview of the services offered. On an ongoing basis, Total Training Solutions provides Blue Line Learning Group with technical and maintenance support allowing Blue Line to focus its efforts on its clients’ needs and the expansion of the course offerings to additional public and municipal agencies.

To learn more about how Total Training Solutions can help you with your next web-based learning initiative, contact us at 630.585.1168.

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The Growth of Training Outsourcing

January 10th, 2010

In this economic downturn, training outsourcing is becoming a viable alternative to staffing an internal training department. Prior to the onset of the economic crisis, training outsourcing was perceived as another means to a cost-cutting measure as its primary benefit. However, with the ups and downs of business, training outsourcing provides businesses with staffing flexibility that benefits the company as a whole during both good and bad economic times. Training outsourcing presents real value and benefit that companies are increasingly re-evaluating as a result of the demand for practicing a leaner business model.  Flexibility is the key benefit to enlisting in training outsourcing resources. Businesses need to be agile with the ebbs and tides of the economic impact. Training outsourcing provides that agility!

Let’s look at the transformation of training outsourcing. Initially the perception may be that when a business engages in outsourcing its training needs and eliminating its in-house training staff that the business is undertaking serious cost cutting measures or has elected to move the training responsibilities offshore, again for cost reduction purposes. But that may not be the case at all. Training outsourcing is a means to a smart business practice. When things are tough and cost measures need to be implemented, typically companines find that they must reduce current staffing. When the economy improves and business increases, then those laid off employees need to be rehired or replacements hired. The lay-off and re-hire and re-train staffing model can become quite costly. Just consider the process to rehire an employee…..more than likely, the process will incur additional recruiting costs as well as required job specific training. On the flip side, when a business engages the services of a training outsourcing vendor, this re-hire and re-training process is eliminated. The training outsourcing vendor bears the responsibility and manages all resources and risks needed to support the business’ training needs.

As we all know, training projects are all contingent on business initiatives undertaken and budget allocations. With outsourcing your training needs, businesses gain the flexibility of having a training staff “on demand” to meet the flow of projects and funds. The climate of the business is constantly undergoing change and businesses need to position themselves to be able to quickly react to its needs. Employing a flexible and scalable staffing model such as that offered by training outsourcing, businesses gain the flexibility of rapid turnaround and afforable specialized training expertise.

To learn more about how Total Training Solutions, Inc. can help you with your learning and training outsourcing needs, contact us at 630.585.1168.

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