Picture this: your organisation’s long-awaited ERP project is well underway. One of the most important stages, though, is yet to take place: ERP training. Yes, while much of the focus of an ERP project is traditionally placed on the technical side of the ERP system, and its implementation, training is equally critical.

ERP training ensures that your staff are aware of what is to come. Rather than a sudden switch to a different business system, and, in turn, a new way of doing things, training eases in the new concepts and processes. This is often done in a way that encourages familiarity with the system and, more importantly, the reasons why the changes are being made.

More often than not, humans revolt against change. If employees can see that the short-term pain of changing the way they do their job roles will result in long-term gains, then they will be more likely to adapt to change. To make sure that they will be firstly comfortable, and secondly, ready, training is the only way to facilitate this.

Deciding upon the level of training, how in-depth and, importantly, how much is key. By implementing a rule stating employees must complete or attend several training sessions, you are only increasing the wider knowledge. By giving staff time to make mistakes too, they can come to an understanding of how they made an error, as well as the impact the mistake had on the wider company.

As the high importance of ERP training is becoming clearer, it is perhaps worth investing some resources into the location of training. By setting aside a distinct training ‘location’ away from the normal regular working environment. This will ensure training sessions start on-time and help maximise the time available to train. In getting staff away from their day jobs, it enables them to fully focus on training, and not become distracted by their day-to-day roles.

A range of training, covering a number of different, likely scenarios is essential too. Practice at taking in a normal order is all well and good, but dealing with a delivery that contains damaged goods is critical. Not only is it likely to occur from time-to-time, but it could cause a problem when it does come into play and the scenario wasn’t prepared for.

Timeframes need to be considered, as well. Make sure that there is not a large period of time between user training and your go-live date. If training is carried out too early in the implementation process, then not only could the system and processes change, but people forget! The sooner the training, the better. And it should not stop as soon as the system goes live, too. No, as the ERP system is rolled out, training can continue and even touch on problems that have been encountered in the early days of the system’s existence.

Want help with your own ERP training for your project? Contact the ERP experts at Neuways on 01283 753 333 or email hello@neuways.com.