Manufacturing Insights

An ERP blog from MAX

Training Tips for Your New ERP System

Posted by MAX on Oct 8, 2013 10:30:00 AM

erp-trainingOne thing that can easily make or break any ERP implementation is the quality and quantity of user training. To make sure that your company doesn’t make the mistake of skimping on training, check out these tips.

1. Use your vendor’s resources as much as possible

Educators know that people only retain about 50 percent of what they learn in classes, and they lose the other 50 percent very quickly. If you only send a few people to training with the vendor and rely on those people to train the rest of the team, you will miss out on a lot of the ERP system’s capabilities and best practices. Have as many people as you can trained by the vendor to maximize your in-house knowledge.

2. Refresh training at least annually

People lose more knowledge over time, so if you rely on power users to train new employees, make sure they get refresher training at least annually. They may not have to attend classroom training for the refresher. You may be able to use online training or training at the vendor’s annual user conference. You should also plan on training people with each upgrade to ensure you receive the benefit of new functionality.

3. Train as close to your planned go live date as you can

The best way to help people remember what they learned is to put the new knowledge into practice right away. Although power users and the implementation team should receive training early so they can plan the implementation properly, try to schedule training for the bulk of your users close to your go live date to minimize the knowledge loss.

4. Ensure that power users have exposure to the entire system

Sometimes companies try to save money by only training users on the parts of the system they use on a daily basis. This may be fine for the typical user, but power users and the implementation team need to understand the entire system to ensure that you use your ERP system in the best way for the overall company.

5. Use a training database with your company data

It’s hard to learn a new system’s navigation, new screens and new business processes quickly, so don’t compound the problem by using a generic training database with unfamiliar data. Take the time to set up your company data so users can test scenarios with information they know and feel comfortable with. This simple step can improve the quality of your educational efforts immensely and help users to retain what they’ve learned because they can relate it to things they already understand.

6. Don’t neglect the shop floor personnel

Many times people hesitate to train shop floor personnel because the transactions are simple and they don’t want to adversely affect manufacturing efficiency and throughput. This is a huge mistake because errors in shop floor transactions affect inventory accuracy, delivery dates and costs. Time spent training up front will avert much greater time losses in the future while you track down and correct errors.

7. Train on company time

Some companies try to save money by requiring employees to complete training on their own time after work or during lunches and breaks. This is a sure fire recipe for disaster, because employees will resist training and resent the incursion on personal time.

8. Use training teams

Always try to train people in small groups or teams made up of people from various areas of the company. Aside from the team building aspect of this tactic, it also helps users understand how their actions affect other parts of the business.

Use these techniques when you plan your ERP training and you will have a faster and smoother implementation.

The right ERP implementation will help you cut costs through continuous improvement.

Topics: Training

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Insights, opinions and news relating to the world of manufacturing and ERP software. Read the full introduction here.

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