Digital transformations in the public sector have a reputation for often being challenging and somewhat time-consuming as operating in a local government requires more capacity for swift change while rigid policies are in place.
An example of one organization that required help with its systems change is The Vale of Glamorgan Council, a local government office serving one of Wales’ most diverse local authority areas near the capital, Cardiff.
With nearly 5,000 employees, the UK council faced a new challenge as after a lengthy period of using Oracle EBusiness Suite, it decided to move to Oracle Cloud (Fusion) Applications. Due to the nature of the Fusion Project and the tight timelines imposed on the team, its limited resources and Oracle experience meant its organizational development (OD) function was being challenged.
Seeking the help of Fudgelearn, a training company for ERP end-users and technical teams, The Vale of Glamorgan Council needed “a fluid, consultative approach to support the OD function and the project deliverables in a timely, effective manner,” the trainer, said.
As a response, the council’s teams were supplied several training manuals and familiarization recordings for training purposes, produced by the System Integrator.
As the training videos used prior were not sufficient, Fudgelearn chose a more qualitative approach with a training refresh also included for key users. Another consideration was
the variety of training needs across user groups as some key users needed training support, while others required formative training – with assessments to measure the effectiveness of the training.
Supporting with pre-go-live and post-go-live training
As part of its approach, Fudgelearn engaged with the council on a consultative model by providing two expert trainers working closely with the functional SME’s and the OD function to support any internal training material creation. One trainer focused on Oracle HCM and Payroll and another on the Procure to Pay stream. Training needs per stream were validated with relevant stakeholders and a training plan was agreed along with timelines and modalities.
Fudgelearn then leveraged its pre-existing content and domain knowledge to support pre-go-live and post-go-live training. The trainer then recorded several learning videos for the Self-Service Procurement and HCM users, crafting easy-to-absorb training sessions useful for a remote and sometimes hard-to-reach workforce.
Alongside this, Fudgelearn helped the payroll team with learning experience provided by a virtual Fudgelearn trainer across several weeks, to understand the new payroll system and the payroll processes to be adapted after go-live. This ensured that the team has a lot more confidence in the use of the system and the processing of complex payroll for all employees.
Despite the challenging nature of facilitating digital transformations in local councils, responsible for providing service to thousands of people, such transformations show that leaning on targeted and specialized learning can make a tangible difference while embarking on a new system with minimal disruption and financial impact.
