I have often stated that if someone says “I know everything there is to know about our ERP system” they’re lying. ERP systems are so feature and function rich, it would take one to focus solely on getting educated in order to know it all.
It’s a huge challenge for any organization to balance billable hours with time spent on education and training. It’s that double-edged sword where time spent being educated and trained, required in order to learn about new features and functions, takes consultants away from servicing customers or employees away from doing their daily tasks.
As an entry level employee, you have to invest time into learning the basics and building a foundation on which to build further product knowledge. It would be unfair to expect “the new guy” to just pick things up here and there. So how do we get those experienced consultants/employees to keep current without eating into multiple working hours?
I am sure you have heard the KISS acronym, Keep it Simple…. It’s not an elegant saying but given that it is a design principle noted by the US Navy, you can understand why. Put simply (wink), it means that simplicity should be the main objective in design. To borrow from our seafaring fellows, let’s think of KISS as “Keep it Simple and Short.” This is where micro-learning comes in.
In the e-Learning Industry, the term micro-learning is not a new one, but it does present challenges on how to get it right. Micro-learning is providing content to learners in small, very specific bursts whereby the learner determines what and when they learn. Generally, the aim is to complete a learning task in under 10 minutes (some say it should be less than 5 minutes). So essentially, you can learn something new from your device while eating a sandwich. As long as your education provider develops micro-learning type lessons, there really is no excuse for not keeping current.
At SYSPRO, we have designed short courses which focus on major enhancements that have been released in each quarter. These courses are focused on audience (Sales or Support) as well as area of interest (Finance, Administration, Manufacturing, Distribution). They are available in the catalog which learners can access anytime, anywhere via our Learning Management System. This makes it much easier for our community to stay up to date and informed without taking them away from their everyday duties for extended periods of time. All they need is 10 minutes a day. So here are 4 steps which you can take to master the new stuff, whether you are in the SYSPRO community or not.
- Prepare: at the beginning of the week, plan which topic you will cover. This means you will access content quicker to save time, rather than perusing the catalog. SYSPRO learners can do this by self-enrolling in a course.
- Schedule: Add 10 minutes a day to your diary or set a reminder to learn (perhaps your sandwich can be a trigger). Two days can be content based and one day can be application.
- Learn: Work through the course and complete any assessment.
- Apply: After seeing new features and functions, make time to go into the product and use the feature (not on a live system though).
It really couldn’t be simpler.
