ERP Implementation: Training for Success

If you go to “Google” and type in “reasons for ERP failure” the search comes back with “About 1,650,000 results”.  There are literally thousands of blogs on the subject listing the reasons why ERP projects fail. The common factor, the one thing you will find in 99% of those lists is “inadequate training.” 

This is not a coincidence.

When it comes to ERP training, many companies just go through the motions and fail to revisit training each year to refresh everyone’s memory or update them on changes in the system. This results in employees using only a few of the features available in the system which keeps the company from recognizing the full benefits and ROI which were initially planned on; that alone is enough for many people to call the project a failure.

Below are 8 things (yep another list) you can do to ensure your employees are fully trained and getting the most out of your ERP implementation:

1. Dedicated enough time to training to handle learning curves great and small. Begin training roughly 60 says before go-live.
2. Training involves planning too! The project teams needs to plan enough time to conduct training, form a strategy and scope, and schedule resource requirements for training.
3. Always train end-users for the technical use of the system and in terms of business processes and how this ERP implementation will change the way they do their jobs. It is important to outline not just the fact that it will change the way they do things, but how this new process compares to the old one and why this change is going to be good and how it will help them to do their job better.
4. Train everyone! Many companies choose not to train their shop-floor employees because they do not want to pull them away and have them spend time training when shop floor transactions are simple. This is a mistake because errors made in those simple transactions can have a negative effect on invoice accuracy, delivery dates, costs, and cause other problems. The investment in time spent training will pay off in the long run when you avoid costly and time consuming errors.
5. Train in teams- training employees in a small group of people from different parts of the organization can help  not only from a team building perspective, but employees can see how their actions in the system affect other parts of the team. This can lead to a more in depth knowledge of the system, why certain things need to be done, and hopefully increase correct use of the system.
6. Refresh training annually! This is a huge part of where training goes awry. Annual training and retraining should be done to prevent your employees from losing knowledge of the system over time.  
7. Training after every upgrade is essential to ensure your employees know what has changed, why it changed, how it will affect their daily tasks, and how to use the changes to the full benefit of not only their individual job, but for the company as whole.
8. Train with your own data. Using your company’s data in the training programs will allow users to get comfortable with real-life scenarios and information they will face in their day-to-day lives which will help them to hit the ground running in the live system and give them an experience to reference in the future.

In your past experience, what have you don’t to help employees get the most out of training? What has worked, what hasn’t? Feel free to comment below!

e2b teknologies provides ERP, accounting applications, custom cloud-based software development services, accounts receivable management software, and calibration services through its three business units – e2b anytime apps is the publisher of Anytime Collect accounts receivable management software, Anytime Assets, Anytime 500, and related Anytime brand products. e2b enterprise develops custom cloud-based business applications and resells leading ERP accounting software and other enterprise business software applications from Sage Software, Epicor, Sugar CRM, and other publishers. e2b calibration is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration laboratory.

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By Jeanne Lee