In a press release issued June 6, 2008, SharePoint 2007 was stated to be “Microsoft’s fastest growing product ever.” It has been widely deployed throughout many companies and organizations. Typically, many IT departments spend a significant amount of their budgets on obtaining the latest and greatest software. It is no doubt that SharePoint is one of the latest and greatest software products in recent years. SharePoint investments have contributed to the acquisition of over 100 million licenses, resulting in more than $1 billion in sales for Microsoft. While offering innovative software solutions is a crucial element in the success of any IT department, an important factor in software implementation that is often overlooked and undervalued is the training initiative that should coincide with initial software rollout.
Organizations have seen a surge in Managers and IT Departments that often roll out software without the proper planning for end user training; thereby compromising the understanding, proper use, and capabilities of the software. These compromises are made in exchange for another “successful software implementation.” The question then becomes, what constitutes a “successful software implementation”? Is it the fact that software has only been made available to end users? Is it the fact that as long as IT understands how to utilize the product then there is no real urgency to share the knowledge with other company employees? Is it the fact that the software is simple enough or user-friendly enough that others will eventually catch on?
In my opinion, software, SharePoint included, is only as good as the users using it. If users have not been properly trained and introduced to the software from the beginning, then typically, the software either is not used as intended or it is not used to its potential. This could cause a myriad of problems such as:
· Improper use of the software
· More maintenance, administrative, and technical support from IT staff
· Decreased productivity
· Decreased cost effectiveness of the software, and
· Unmanageable software solutions
These problems represent the exact opposite of what a “successful software implementation” should exemplify. Rather, in many cases, instead of considering a software rollout to be a “successful software implementation”, a more suitable embodiment would be a “successful software installation.” And at the end of our extremely productive days, what good is a successful installation without anyone to take full advantage of the software’s capabilities and functionalities?
Listed below are possible company-wide training strategies for any SharePoint deployment:
· Computer Based Training or E-learning – I recommend: http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=SLK.
· Training Manuals
· Corporate, Instructor-led Classroom Training
· Group Demonstrations
· Screen Recordings (Screen Casts) for Online Demonstrations – I recommend the Camtasia Studio product.
It is important to assess what level of training is required for end users and structure the training classes accordingly. Some users may be more technologically advanced than other users or more familiar with the particular application. Therefore, a development of varying levels of the training documentation is warranted. In addition, with specific emphasis on SharePoint, it is not only important to train end users on how to use the software, it is equally important to determine how SharePoint can be made to work for company personnel. I like to think of this as performing a “SharePoint Readiness” evaluation. This involves presenting SharePoint capabilities and features to end users and gaining input from them as to how they could use this functionality within their everyday work routine or business process. This way, you can properly evaluate what features will be the most helpful to your users and ensure user adoption for your employees across your Enterprise.
Keep in mind that any training program should be scalable in scope. It should be designed in a way to reach users at an enterprise level and should also have a way to be incorporated into the existing training initiatives for new personnel.
So, the question remains, although SharePoint is an extraordinary tool in its own right, just how much of SharePoint’s features will be used regularly within any given organization? The responsibility lies on upper management working with IT Departments to establish, maintain, and enhance training initiatives to promote the need and value of software and application end-user training. So, let’s all share the point by providing necessary training for our end users in order to maximize software potential and cost effectiveness of our solutions.
Takesia Richardson, SharePoint Administrator
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