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Users as "critical factors" for successful roll-outs

IT projects usually focus on two essential factors: first of all, successful, and usually also newly designed, processes that define how end-users should use IT systems. The next step is the systemic implementation of these processes in the software application. The second factor for implementing IT successfully is therefore the systems and their configuration, which are generally what make the processes usable in the first place.

Once these two factors have been handled, you will already have running IT systems. The temptation to then consider a quick roll-out is great. After all, there are no error reports, and the testing was successful.

But it is precisely at this point that many IT projects fail, because they have neglected the communication with end users and their timely training. For the fact that users can potentially use the IT systems is not the only thing of relevance. They also need to actually be able to do this, and to have been prepared for the new world with training. The third factor is therefore the users, who are unfortunately all too often forgotten during the stress of projects.

With their consulting methodology for sustainable and interlinked training, the experts at msg industry advisors help IT projects succeed by ensuring that target processes and their implementation in IT systems can be put into effect long term by company employees. The approach is interlinked with the overall project and is designed from the outset in such a way that process governance is also possible in practice once the project has been completed. To this end, msg industry advisors rely on industry-leading automation tools such as SAP Enable Now for their training and communication solutions.

Changing framework conditions, new processes, software updates or completely new software applications mean that companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries have to implement a wide variety of IT projects on an ongoing basis. A lot of time and money is invested in setting up new target processes, and a lot of work goes into implementing them systemically. But de facto, only about a third of all IT projects are actually successful, i.e. achieve their goals. Only in rare cases does a project actually fail due to technical issues, because the technology is usually well in hand these days. But you often come to realise that the processes you defined on paper do not fit into the day-to-day business activities of users or the market. Or IT users simply lack the knowledge and the ability to implement them. This situation therefore means there is a significant need for training.

According to the study Chaos Report by The Standish Group, 6 out of 11 reasons why IT projects fail are due to the human factor: lack of involvement of users (15.6%), lack of support from the company management (13.9%), no clear definition of requirements (13%), unrealistic expectations (8.2%), poorly trained personnel (7.2%), no clear visions and goals (2.9%).

However, if you include people in the calculation from the outset and train them using a high-quality training approach, you have three main advantages. On the one hand, this increases the probability that the IT project will be successful at all. This way, you can hedge your investment costs for designing the business processes and implementing them in the system. If nothing else, successful training is therefore a kind of "life insurance" for every IT project. And last but not least, IT can position itself within the organisation as a supporter of business success through good training and process governance. Training is the calling card of every IT project.'

"Proper" training

But how to provide the right training? On the one hand, long-term training success depends on newly learned content being able to be applied and problems being able to be solved independently. At the same time, a methodology is needed which those taking part in the training can use to effectively adapt to changes. This is where msg industry advisors come in with their consulting approach.

The problem with many training courses is that they are often not approached systematically and kept in mind from the outset. You build on the new processes and on the systems, have an eye on the go-live of the new system, and suddenly realise that you also have to take care of training end users. But then it is usually too late for well-substantiated training documents and programmes.

Defining what requires training at all is already a challenge. Here, subject matter experts (SMEs) differ from end users: what is self-explanatory for the one may not be clear at all to the other. However, in order to implement process governance, i.e., a controlled and uniform process design throughout the entire organisation, training must be closely interlinked with the target processes. This ensures that all process steps are also reproduced later in the training.

The demand from end users for systematic and structured training is getting even greater. They are accustomed to being taken by the hand and guided through new solutions in a structured manner. There is massive dissatisfaction when users feel left alone with a new IT system. In practice, this then quickly leads to them not accepting and using the new system and finding a workaround for the new target processes. It is, therefore, crucial to closely interlink the training with the project and to set up training courses that support the entire chain of target processes.

Partially automated creation of training materials via SAP Enable Now

When it comes to designing and implementing training, IT projects usually differ from other training projects just in terms of their sheer scope alone. At the beginning of an IT project, there is therefore an aspiration to use as many standardisations as possible. As far as tools are concerned, msg has explicitly specialised in working with SAP Enable Now, an SAP training tool for IT projects that can also be used to train non-SAP content. IT projects are complex and, in addition to the pure number of training materials, information needs to be conveyed at different levels: the process level, system level, data level, project level... This means that the volumes for training courses are extensive, and a lot of material has to be produced in a very short time, which, with conventional applications, can de facto only be achieved with a great deal of manual effort.

This is exactly where tools such as SAP Enable Now come in, which use a partly automated and template-based process for creating training materials. Training content that will guide end users step by step through the new processes can be easily created and edited. This content is created on the basis of a screen recording. The recorded content is automatically broken down into small content modules. On the one hand, this means that content can also be edited at a later stage and updated. On the other hand, several training formats can be obtained directly from a recording when the materials are exported. For example, interactive system simulations for self-study and PowerPoint slides for use in training courses can be generated in one step. PDF click guides can also be created much faster and more flexibly this way than with conventional and manual screenshots.

In a first step, the product & process owners receive a link from the training team to the Enable Now recording suite, a small screen recording tool that allows experts to record and explain the new processes in the system. The knowledge of internal and external employees can, therefore, be collected and made accessible to the entire organisation very easily. Subject matter experts can record the system and process knowledge directly when dealing with the system in question. The further processing and finalisation of the projects are then carried out by the training team in SAP Enable Now. This training suite is therefore the perfect tool for expeditiously storing the knowledge of every employee in high quality and passing it on at the touch of a button. Instead of delivering a rendered video, the recording tool intelligently breaks down the recording into individual modules and screenshots. While this occurs, artificial intelligence carries out semantic analyses in parallel. It is then possible not only to export several training formats from the recording as described but also to carry out translations in a partially automated manner. This is of particularly great relevance for large international IT projects. The creation of training materials is so much faster than when using conventional means, and subject matter experts can be easily included in this process.

Training materials are guaranteed to be current and up to date

Even if the training for the IT projects has been implemented in a well-structured manner, the challenge remains to ensure a transfer of knowledge over time and to preserve the created "wealth of knowledge" long term. With the described approach of early interlinkage with the target processes, training materials can be kept up-to-date in parallel to the process and embedded in change request processes, so that all changes made are reflected in the training materials and effective process governance is still guaranteed.

Quick help through performance support

In addition to a training portal that provides all the documents for the training sessions, Enable Now also offers a component for quick assistance and problem resolution. A so-called performance support tool can also display the created training materials in a context-sensitive manner, overlaying the real system. This way, discontinuity in media is avoided, and employees do not have to switch to a training portal for learning and for having to look things up ad hoc. Instead, they get help directly in the application, without having to do a lot of searching. The help function understands where the user is in the system or process, highlights the elements that are needed to advance and therefore leads them step by step through the process.

Co-evolution of IT and training

In summary, it can be stated that dynamic and knowledge-intensive contexts – and IT is undoubtedly one of them – must be thought of differently nowadays. Effective and efficient training should no longer be seen as a supporting measure or something nice to have, but as a central component of projects. SAP Enable Now offers exciting opportunities to shape the evolution of IT and training in unison, therefore ensuring that project successes will be sustainable.