SAP End User Training

Inauguration Day - What Does This Day Mean to You?

Sean Oberholtzer — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:32:00 GMT

January 20th 2009 marks a day in today's history that makes me proud to be an American, but more importantly, to be a human. Regardless of political viewpoints which may affect the true perspective that we should feel on this day, you have to feel proud of the abilities of us as Americans and where we have come in our short history.

It was just a year ago that I spoke with the father of an African American friend, who spoke of the hardships and racism that he experienced growing up in the 40s and 50s. How he fought in WWII for a country that would not even allow him to obtain a job upon his return because of the color of his skin. During that time, I felt a tremendous amount of both sadness, and respect for the man that I was privileged to meet that day. It was his perseverance that contributed to the society that we all live in today.

As I reflect on that conversation on the day when the United States swears in the first African American President, I would like to share with you a new perspective. A thought of pride in all Americans, and all humans worldwide. While the struggles and heroic efforts of individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Robert Kennedy, and many others turbo charged the advances in the civil rights movement in America, it is the American society that was able to change and become a greater nation and contributor to the worldwide society of the human race that makes me most proud and fills me with hope.

If our society can make strides from an accepted social norm of segregation to a day when we have elected Barack Obama as the President of the United States in less than 50 years, then I believe that we as a society can accomplish anything. Hope! Hope is what I have for the future of this world, and especially for my children as they grow up in a society that has many problems, but also many solutions.

If humans can overcome the barriers that we as Americans have in the past 50 years related to the prejudices of our ancestors, then I believe there should be tremendous optimism throughout the world. Palestine and Isreal, Arab and Western worlds, all humans can come together, and today should symbolize the efforts of our society. Not just the Dr. Kings of the world, but the continuing open mindedness of parents, and our society to continue to educate our children on what is right in the world, the right things to do, and how every individual on this planet can achieve the society that we all want to be a part of.

I look forward to tomorrow, and the next day, to be privileged to bear witness to the greatness that the human race can achieve throughout the rest of my life, my children's life, and my grandchildren. I would like to encourage everyone today, regardless of your political viewpoints, to share with someone in your life, your thoughts about our societies accomplishements and what today symbolizes. Many of you will disagree with the viewpoint that I have stated here, but discussion and education have been great contributors to the reasons that we are witnessing President Obama's Inauguration Day today.

ASTD International Conference and Exposition

Sean Oberholtzer — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:50:00 GMT

This past week I attended the ASTD annual conference at the San Diego Convention Center. I found the conference a very useful place to attend sessions on the latest thinking in the training and performance industry. The most interesting topcis that I could not pull myself away from were:

Learning 2.0
Web 2.0
HPI (Human Performance Improvement)

The links above are to the Wiki pages for each of the topics I listed. Wiki pages were brought to light for me in a session by Tony Karrer. His blog is very interesting, fun, and informative. I suggest you check it out at http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/.

Although ASTD has never been a society that has focused a lot of attention on ERP training, it does bring a lot of us old time training professionals back to our roots, as well as keep us forward thinking. I remember how frustrated I was after attending the ASUG/Sapphire annual conference back in early May with the subjects and educational sessions that were presented. How stale can the state of the SAP Training Industry get??????

I am not one to endorse change for change sake, but innovation is something that we cannot do without.

This conference got me thinking about the topic of my last blog regarding Training vs. Performance. I started doing some front end research on the differences between Human Performance Consulting, and training. In the sessions that I attended this week, the people that I talked with, and the books that I read (I was energized to read HPI Basics on my flight home), I could not find any information on how the HPI process map from ASTD can be applied directly to event based situations such as Technology implementations. Frustrating at first, but then I see opportunities.......

The SAP Training Industry needs to find a way to tie training objectives to more tangible business results. It is the focus of my previous blog, but I am continuing to do research on how to best go about it. I plan to work on integrating the HPI model into the ASAP Training Methodology to find a way to absorb traditional SAP Training into SAP Performance. It may need a new title, but it is the concept of ensuring a comprehensive people readiness program that goes beyond training users on a system. To truly gain expected business results from an investment the size of an ERP software, it makes sense not only to train users, but to study potential barriers to performance that may exist other than the need for new system and process knowledge and skills.

Without addressing other performance factors and potential performance barriers, it is impossible to determine the true benefits and ROI from not only the training program, but the software and process redesign efforts as well.

I am very anxious to hear other's thoughts on this.

Moving forward, my blogs are going to be a mix of articles (such as my previous postings), random thoughts and ideas (such as this posting), and links to other information and worthwhile sources that I've come across.

SAP Training: Training + X = Performance

Sean Oberholtzer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:42:00 GMT

In the current issue of SAP Insider, Katharina Müllers-Patel, PhD Senior Principal, Value Engineering for SAP America, Inc. participates in a Q&A session on the topic entitled How to Escape the Financials Transaction Processing Quicksand. The point of the article is to discuss how the new financials functionality in the SAP ERP 6.0 release enables companies to automate more transactional processing activities, which in turn can free up time and resources to focus on expertise based-business support and strategic decision support.

When asked how an organization is able to create value through strategic decision support, Ms. Müllers-Patel states “The best companies look beyond traditional finance metrics, such as costs or headcount versus revenue, and focus instead on business value. Areas such as strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, risk management, and even talent management become much more the focus, as these areas impact enterprise value as measured through shareholder value or operating income, for example.”

The entire article was an exciting vision into the world of the potential of increased business values from finance organizations through the use of SAP. But is the availability of the functionality the whole story?

Think about how you as a Training or Change Management professional might be approached to develop a training program to support an upgrade to SAP ERP 6.0 Financials. What would the business goals be? What would your training goals be? Are they the same? If not, you need to ask yourself whether the business and project leaders expect them to be the same, or what in fact, their expectations of your training program are specifically.

The title of this blog entry suggests a math problem that we won’t completely solve, but rather discuss the impacts of validating the following statement:

If Training + X = Performance, then X ≠0.

If we can, for the purposes of this discussion, agree on this statement (I will discuss this more later), then we also discuss the importance of yelling this from the proverbial mountain top.

To begin, let’s first define performance, or rather successful performance:

Successful performance is the efforts and activities of individuals to achieve common goals and objectives. In the context of an SAP Implementation, those goals and objectives must not come from the Training Program goals, but rather from the organization’s overall strategic and financial goals for the entire project. It is then the responsibility of the project to ensure that the performance of the organization can be successful and achieve the business goals. This does not happen by simply designing and implementing a training program to provide users with the knowledge and skills to use SAP.

If we use the typical finance organization as a point of discussion as we did earlier, do you think that finance users that used to perform receivables, payables, and G/L reconciliations are capable of adding value to the business through strategic planning and risk management after completing the training program that you designed?

The truth is, there are many other factors that must go into successful performance, which we have termed “X” in our equation. To determine the value of our “X-Factor”, we must discuss some common causes for performance problems, such as:

· Lack of knowledge and skill needed to perform

· Process and procedure inefficiencies

· Lack of information

· Lack of tools, resources, equipment, etc. to perform

· No consequences for poor performance

· No incentives for successful performance

· Lack of motivation

· Non-reinforcement of good performance

In the above list, only the first bullet point can be directly impacted by training, however, many SAP implementations rely solely on a training program approach that teaches the new business processes and SAP modules. Even with a complete and exceptional training program approach and execution, your program scope may not be enough to provide all of the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the business goals. An example os such a situation can be demonstrated by the finance organization example that we discussed. Any number of issues either in the list above, or lack of knowledge and skills outside of SAP process and procedures can cause a failure to meet the finance organization’s business goals in the timeframe established. In many cases the cause of the unrealized business goals is determined to be the fault of a failed or underachieving training and organizational readiness program.

The common mistake by SAP programs is to assume that the processes and technology will achieve 100% of the goals if the affected employees are adequately trained. This is often the assumption of the program leaders that establish the goals, decide the fantastic SAP technology will create tremendous efficiencies, and plan for enough training. The mistake is in missing the X – Factor. What is the value of X that represents the gap between training and performance, and how do you ensure that X happens.

The first possibility is that you cannot ensure that X happens. These situations do exist, but the missing X should at least be realized. In other words, it is important to reassess the organizations goals and and specifically ensure that the training program goals are not held to that standard. These expectations are important to determine, document, and communicate to project and business leaders.

The other possibility is that your organization will ensure that X happens, but cannot do that unless they know what X is. For a project to be successful, it is imperative to perform a Needs Analysis or Assessment to truly determine the current state of the organization and determine the gaps in performance to achieve the stated business goals. There are many resources available to assist you in this determination. I would suggest researching both the ASTD (American Society for Training Development) and the ISPI (International Society for Performance Improvement) websites and subsequent publications for many effective approaches to conducting a Training Needs analysis inclusive of Performance goals and objectives.

Determining the X factor that represents the gap between training and performance is only the first step. The big question you should be asking yourself is how you as a Training Program Leader can both “contribute” to greater organization performance, while in turn protecting your training team and reputation by executing a realistic plan to achieve your training program goals. You will need to be a contributor to achieving successful performance, not the sole owner.

You should be prepared to review your future or current training goals and objectives and ask yourself the following questions:

Are my training program goals the same as, or in support of, the overall project goals?
Have decisions been made on the project that have affected my team’s ability to achieve those goals, and if so, have the expectations/goals and objectives of the project changed? How about Training program ?
Does your training strategy detail additional needs (the X Factor)and dependencies to achieve successful performance as defined by the organization’s business goals?
Has the X Factor been communicated and accepted by the Program Leaders and/or the Steering Committee?
Are activities underway to complete the X Factor to fill the gap between training and performance, or have they been funded and supported?
If the answer to any of the above questions is “no”, then what are YOU doing about it?

Rarely does an opportunity come along that provides enough time, resources, and budget to accomplish everything that you know should be included in a project. However, it is your responsibility to:

· Evaluate what is missing, i.e determine the value of X

· Communicate the missing components be part of a proposed solution to close the X Factor gap

· OR, adjust your training program goals to what is achievable without the X Factor, and ensure that project and business leaders are fully aware and supportive of the scaled back training program goals

All questions and comments are very welcomed and encouraged. If you find this blog entry, or any of the past blog entries listed below useful and/or interesting, please drop me a note and share your thoughts, experiences, or requests for future topics. You can contact me at sean@shirleyhollywoodinc.com.

SAP Training: Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

Sean Oberholtzer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:41:00 GMT

We’ve all heard the expression “Pay me now, or pay me later”, but taken literally, and with a financial twist to it, I’d rather pay you later! And it’s become a problem for me when I find out “later” that I’m being charged 22% interest and late fees, etc. etc.

Recently, I got braces on my teeth for the first time. My brother in-law said to me “why in the world would a grown man want braces?” He’s right! The pain, look, and cost are all killing me! However, what I realized after visiting the dentist is that having straight teeth is not just about cosmetics, but about the health of your teeth as well. So not only am I now paying for braces, but a lot more dental fees to boot, and all because I didn’t have braces as a kid when most sane people do. These are costs that you just don’t see, but they come out of your bank account just the same in the end.

I mention this not to simply lament about my sore mouth, but to illustrate that well run projects always look for hidden costs when planning an implementation. One major area where costs are very well disguised is in the task of creating Business Process Procedures (BPPs) or system documentation. On the surface, all projects will look at the effort involved in writing BPPs as a necessary evil. They even spend very large amounts of money on accelerator tools such as RWD’s Productivity Pak to help create documentation quicker to “get it done”. But what most don’t realize, and cannot immediately quantify, is the hidden cost of creating “limited, generic, and incomplete” documentation.

BPPs exist to document not JUST “how” to execute a transaction. BPPs are a major source document for creating end user training materials. They are also the basis for online help, post go-live performance support, creating simulations, and Super User training. To be useful for all of these areas, they cannot simply be a recording of the SAP transaction with “generic” instructions.

OK, so I’ve used the term “generic” a few times now, so let me elaborate. If you ask most of the functional team members on your project, they will explain that their job is to use [Insert Recording Tool Here] to record the transaction and then save the document. The tools such as Productivity Pak populate step instructions automatically, and field definitions come from a centralized glossary.

“How easy is that?” raves Jim Connelly of the CRM team! “What great value this Productivity Pak/Resite/OnDemand tool gives us!” lauds Project Manager Lou Tines. “Well worth the money!” says Team Leader Michael DeLeon.

The people above are about to experience a ton of problems with their teeth….er……BPPs that are going to cost them additional time, resources, and money during the always hectic testing phase of the project. To be of value, a BPP must include detailed directions that are specific to your company’s processes and configuration for EACH STEP IN THE PROCEDURE. This includes the following key pieces of information that must be documented:

An overview of the purpose of the transaction, including the answers to the questions of who should perform the transaction, when does it need to be done, and most importantly why is it executed
Step instructions that are specific and directive to the end user
Specific definitions for each field either in the centralized tool glossary or within each individual BPP.

A quick example to illustrate my point:

Field Name

R/O/C

Description

Order

Sales, production, process, purchase, internal, or work order number that uniquely identifies an object.

Example: 1000041

Any idea what you are supposed to enter in this field? Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler? Beuhler?

If I told you that this was taken from the Production Order Confirmation BPP, would that help? For a training team member with some SAP experience, it might, however, and end user is going to find this definition confusing and useless no matter the context. It is, in fact, generic to all fields in SAP that are titled Order.

Ensuring that your project creates quality documentation at the right time of the project requires early and ongoing involvement from the training team. They are either the major consumers of the information contained in the documents, or they represent the major consumers - the end users. They are in the best position to design and implement a process for creating awesome documentation. The training team MUST:

Define documentation standards and provide examples of quality documents. Review checklists will help.
Conduct training for BPP authors that is not limited to just how the recording tool works.
Design and implement a review process that includes sign off from a training team member.
Design, implement, and maintain a change control and document management process to ensure BPPs remain relevant and updated through the life of the system.

When documentation is lacking in completeness and quality, it is not just the training team that suffers. To create training materials and reference documents that are of value to the end users, it is necessary to get the type of information that we have been talking about in one fashion or another. If it’s not documented, then there are endless meetings, phone calls, emails, documented issues and risks, increased training material reviews, training rewrites, and on and on and on. Time is spent on this issue by nearly all members of the project team.

The worst part of the rework and additional efforts are that they occur with less and less time until go-live; and not just the system go-live date, but the real go-live date of a project……the start of Training!

You see now the reason for the title that I chose for this diatribe. Documentation is truly the epitome of “Pay me now or pay me later.” And don’t buy the argument from the functional team that “If they are training documents, why doesn’t the training team create them?” That is my second most favorite statement from our functional colleagues, only topped by “If you don’t have the system ready, you won’t have anything to train!” Now that will just get me started on my next article titled The Chicken or the Egg!

SAP Training: ASUG as a Model for Super Users

Sean Oberholtzer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:26:00 GMT

Anyone ever had any issues or challenges with Super Users? If you haven’t, then you fit into one of two categories: A: You don’t have a Super User Program OR B: You regularly lunch with Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny

In my opinion, a strong Super User program is a must when implementing AND supporting an SAP solution in both the short and long term. However, there are different critical success factors that should be considered depending on the stage of your Super User program; during implementation is different than Post Implementation support, and too often these lines get blurred. They get blurred because the easiest way to justify and sell a super user program to both project and business leadership is by emphasizing the “investment” during implementation for “Return on Investment” during post implementation support. And while this is true to a certain extent, it is also a short cut to a business case, and leads to a short sighted and incomplete Super User Program that will serve its purpose during implementation, but cannot last long. Boiling it down to its basic needs, a Super User Program needs commitment. Commitment from the following:

Business Leadership - to provide quality people to take on the role of a super user.
Project Leadership – to commit time and project resources to educate and train the super user volunteers.
Super Users – to commit to fulfilling the responsibilities of a Super User.

While this seems like a large mountain to climb, and believe me it is, it can be done very effectively if you are able to design a program that provides “long term benefit” not to the three groups listed above, but to the company overall. To do this, begin by planning with the end state in mind. If you are able to create an organizational structure and ongoing maintenance plan for your super user program AT THE TIME OF INCEPTION, then you have created a common goal for all parties involved to agree to, buy into, and set goals against. So what should be the overall goals of a Super User program? How about the design and implementation of a Continuous Improvement Organization! Even better, a Continuous Improvement Organization that is independent of SAP and the project organization. Let’s look at a model organization, and see if we can draw some parallels to an effective Super User Organization.

ASUG is the world’s largest, customer-driven community of SAP professionals and partners. With more than 45,000 individuals and 1,700 companies represented, ASUG delivers value to member companies through access to a year-round community of unmatched intellectual capital, unparalleled networking opportunities, and a forum to influence SAP®.

The ASUG mission is straightforward and effective: to continuously educate members, facilitate networking among colleagues and SAP representatives, and influence future SAP product releases and direction. Take a moment and think about what you want your Super User Program to be as a lasting organization.

As a member of ASUG, I have been continuously impressed with other ASUG members’ commitment to the success of their companies, and also their own personal success. They use ASUG as a way to network, seek expert opinions, share ideas, and grow professionally. These are the types of people that I want to be Super Users in a Continuous Improvement Organization.

If we can agree that the goals of ASUG are similar to that of a Super User Program, then let’s examine some of the key success factors of ASUG, and how we can employ them to design and implement a successful super user program.

Organizational Independence - I don’t believe that ASUG would be as successful if it were a part of SAP. It is the independence that allows for the sharing of opinions and new ideas. It allows members to offer SAP the “word on the street” as a way to influence future SAP Products and Services. Does this sound like it would be beneficial to have an organization that could provide this perspective to either a Project Team or a Competency Center? The details of this idea are a topic for another time, but let me say this: I believe that it is critical for a Super User Program Leader or Leadership team to be independent of the project team and report into key business leadership.
Infrastructure for continuous communication and networking – There are so many ways to remain engaged and connected with a network of colleagues utilizing both in person conferences, web casts, and ASUG.com. Your own organization probably has a technical infrastructure already in place to support a dispersed community, but lacks the non-technical organization to make it effective.
Organization funded and supported by its members – ASUG is a non-profit organization, and must rely on membership dues, subscription fees, and VOLUNTEERS to sustain the organization. Super Users must be volunteers that share similar characteristics to ASUG members for the organization to be successful. I have had many discussions about how to compensate Super Users for their commitment and effort. My response has always been the same. If you want someone that is truly committed to being a super user, they must be driven by more than compensation.
Opportunities for members to grow – ASUG provides MANY opportunities for professional growth simply by its reliance on volunteer members to drive the content and goals of the organization itself. Most companies are always looking for ways to provide more professional growth opportunities for their high achievement people. If they are truly high achievers, then they are the Super Users that your organization cannot live without. They are motivated by personal pride, professional recognition, and a commitment to “do the right thing”.
Integrated with and supported by SAP – SAP views ASUG as a large asset to not only their customers, but to themselves. The feedback and growing support of SAP that comes from an organization like ASUG is invaluable to SAP. A successful project organization views a Super User program in the same manner. A Super User Organization is an invaluable resource to a project team if they are connected and support each other.

Now, where do you think SAP would be if they did not have a forum for their customers to share their experiences, ideas, and receive feedback on their products? Would we all still be implementing R2? Most likely not, and would probably all be making up fake meanings for BAAN!

My point is, a Super User community is NOT an organization to get additional resources for a project team. It must serve as an organization that supports new ideas, improved business processes, and performance improvement areas in staff and management. If this is sounding a bit like your reasons for being an active member in ASUG, then I’ve made my point.

Simple in concept, really, but not easy to implement. But there is precedence!!! I would start my efforts by taking the mission statement and modifying it to meet the Super User Program goals:

To continuously educate Super Users and from all areas of the company, facilitate networking among colleagues and Project Team/Competency Center representatives, and influence future SAP / business process changes and improvements.

All questions and comments are very welcomed and encouraged. If you find this blog entry useful and/or interesting, please drop me a note and share your thoughts, experiences, or requests for future topics. You can contact me at sean@shirleyhollywoodinc.com.