The state had committed to implanting a new ERP system to replace multiple old, vulnerable, nonintegrated, and inefficient systems. I was a new hire for the highly regarded ISG based on my experience with the state of Colorado implementation. For many of the steps outlined below, I used one or more Agile strategies to ensure an efficient and effective outcome. Not much was in place in the new training department; the first step was to develop a training plan for Supply Chain, Finance, And Budgets that integrated with the existing Change Management strategy. The plans included onboarding training, role mapping, integration with a Learning Management System, and a schedule for ensuring all the end-users got the training they needed to do their old job in the new environment.
Once the plans were completed and signed off, the next step was to set the standards for all of the training material that included branding, introducing the new language with a crosswalk to the old systems, and educating the state Subject Matter Experts and the implementation teams on what was needed for an effective outcome. A course catalog was developed and the initial standard courses were developed with Instructor-Led courseware, companion exercises, and datasheets, instructions for staging data, end-user evaluations, and in some cases videos illuminating the more difficult tasks.
As other course developers and trainers were included in the project they were all provided with the same onboarding to ensure consistent language and high-level concepts were communicated. Course development, signoffs, and updates were systematic and versioning was put in place to avoid confusion. The training environment and equipment was put into place and tested, and the end of course evaluations were used to improve the courses and provide feedback for instructors to become more effective.
A year later I moved to the next project confident that I had prepared the new users at the state of Alabama well to work with their new system. I had used Agile methodology whenever possible and navigated the politics of multiple competing state agencies to make certain everyone had the knowledge and hands-on practice they needed to succeed. I left a team of solid trainers with training materials and systems in place that would be used for new employee onboarding as well as retraining.
