JDE End User Training

[KCurley13]

For those JDE World implementations that have been established for 5 + years
or more, how are you handling the training of new employees and the changing
roles and responsibilities of the existing workforce that use JDE. Most of
the people originally trained at implementation are no longer here and since
they left the knowledge has continually slipped away over the years. What
tools and methods are you using? What are you using for end user
documentation? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[martin_thomas]

The basic problem here as far as I can see is that you have not kept up-to-date with proper training. I would suggest that you are now also not using JDE to it's full capabilities and that users are now doing things because "we have always done it this way". It could be that your company needs to do a complete review of the processes that it uses and align that to the functionality in JDE (and vice-versa), particularly new functionality that may not have been available when you originally went live. I know a company called GL Associates can do this process. They are based in Jersey City NJ and there web site is www.glassoc.com.

 

[tgore]

I can reply to part of your question; end user documentation. Part of our "go live" checklist is to prepare end user manuals. Each department has the manual(s) that pertain to them (A/P, G/L, sales, etc).

 

[andyklee]

You have highlighted a very common problem. Most clients struggle with knowledge transfer as the original implementation team gradually disperses to new jobs, new responsibilities, etc. By the time several years go by, the people who are training the new staff are generations removed from the original team. Couple this with the fact that in the rush to go live most companies only implement about 50% of the functionality they could use--and one can see why many say that companies typically are only using 25% of the ERP package's functionality. So, what to do? The answer may be a mix of strategies (similar to those mentioned by others): developing end user documentation, power training for the functional and technical leads, etc. Do we need custom classes? Do the custom classes need to use our data? Do we need to train our power users first, and then have them train the end users? How can we avoid letting new manuals become dated and unused? At what point will we probably uncover some consulting needs? Are we doing a mini-reimplementation? The best way to start is with an internal assessment--where do we think we are weak? What are the issues we are struggling with today? What business processes need to be improved? The difficult part about doing this assessment with internal resources only is that you may not know what you do not know. Outside help may be necessary to help you identify what you do not know (and need to know). Overriding everything else should be your vision of how technology can further your business goals.