We were engaged to work with their team to do an end-to-end process, implement the Oracle system; getting the business ready to adopt the technology, managing the effects of a new system and implementing new ways of working. A large focus was training the entire merchandising team in the new system, which consisted of around ten heads of department and over 100 merchandisers.

A large focus was training the entire merchandising team in the new system, which consisted of around ten heads of department and over 100 merchandisers.

Approach

The Oracle software was implemented by a joint team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), comprising of Oracle experts from CMG and merchandisers from the client side.  Together, this SME team were responsible for designing, testing and rolling out the software.

The CMG training team performed a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and decided that the most effective way of training the merchandising team would be for the actual implementation team to present the training.  This was because they were closest to the software features and benefits so they would be able to deliver the training in a fashion which was both technically correct and also relatable to the existing merchandising processes.

Once the TNA was completed we created the training strategy and training collateral, both online and offline, including user guides and e-learning modules.

Before roll out to the end users we ran a series of pilot training sessions where the SMEs presented to the Heads of Merchandising, who gave their feedback upon both the content and also the manner of presentation.  The CMG Training team also coached the SMEs for combined feedback.

Once the pilot was approved and the SMEs were confident in their training skills, the training was rolled out to over 100 end user merchandisers over a period of three weeks.

Outcome

The training was very successful, with positive feedback, and the software implementation rolled out smoothly.  We ran a ‘four-stepped approach’:  the Big Picture, followed by a Demo, then Hands-on and then asking questions and quizzes.

In all we developed and trained four different courses which was the equivalent of 40 days’ worth of training.  We ran three Training Sessions in three different Training rooms at the same time.  With 11 people in each room, being trained by two Subject Matter Experts in each room, we trained a total of 109 people on their associated courses.

At the end of the training we developed a multiple choice quiz which was carried out by attendees straight after training to act as an assessment which gave an indication their understanding.  Aimed for a 75% pass rate and the attendees averaged over 89% which was a very positive outcome.