How to build an effective ERP learning environment

Overhead view of an auditorium showing a vast array of different people | CloudRock Workday Learning

Key Takeaways

Effective ERP training requires a tailored teaching method to avoid overwhelming users and ensure efficient learning, particularly after the system goes live.

CloudRock emphasizes the importance of understanding client-specific challenges—including cost, reputation, and performance—to create a customized and effective training plan using the Workday Learning platform.

Success in digital transformation hinges on four key factors: defining clear objectives, strong leadership, effective planning, and good change management to facilitate adoption and maximize business value from new technologies.

It’s all well and good to have access to a comprehensive ERP training program, but without the right teaching method to guide users, a massive font of ERP knowledge and teaching programs have the potential to become overwhelming, confusing and ineffective.

Specialist in financial and human capital management, Workday, has its own educational platform, Workday Learning, designed to help new users get to grips with any updated systems. While ERP platform providers can excel at replacing old legacy tech with the latest and greatest, the real challenge comes after the go-live date. Is the learning platform adequately preparing and training a workforce for the operational changes induced by a transformation? Can it be better utilized by someone outside the original platform provider?

It’s in this part of the transformation journey that third-party support could provide an effective solution. CloudRock, experts and consultants for digital transformation journeys and certified partners with Workday, can apply the services available on the Workday Learning platform to specifically cater for an educational journey to become as effective and impactful as possible.

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According to CloudRock, an effective training plan can be created after identifying and addressing the unique challenges a client firm may face when looking to fill a skill gap. CloudRock split these initial challenges into three key pillars: cost, reputational and performance. Having a deeper understanding of a client’s budget can better contextualize how and where a firm should invest in training programs. For example, a manufacturer looking to streamline shop floor processes won’t need to waste any time and money into learning how to automate HR processes.

An inconsistently trained workforce can damage the reputation of the training provider and could also impact compliance standards across an organization’s different systems, slowing down the chance of a rapid ROI. Performance challenges like inconsistent tracking of employee progress, an inability to identify a skills gap and a limited insight into how effective the training is could be a sign that the training program needs to be rebuilt.

Through CloudRock’s use of the Workday Learning platform, the exact catered training program can be selected for individual users. By having all the needed content available through a single platform, training progress can be monitored and tracked for effectiveness and employees won’t face confusion as they ping between several different training methods.

CloudRock’s implementation of Workday Learning with its clients focuses on four different factors for success. Defining clear objectives needs to be a priority – without a clear goal in mind, it can never be achieved. According to CloudRock, translating the objectives into guiding design principles can help maintain focus. Without the addition of the second factor, strong leadership, CloudRock says organizations could face uncertainty and conflicting priorities.

The third factor, effective planning and project management can lead to a collaboration with a partner that understands the client’s business best. CloudRock’s planning can result in a minimization of last-minute scrambling and ensure accountability to deadlines, while also allowing more control over resources.

The final and, according to CloudRock, most important factor that contributes to a better learning environment is good change management. Prioritizing adoption rates among a workforce can be the key to a digital transformation’s success and a quick route to realizing business value out of the new tech.

On adapting teaching and learning methods for the digital age, Carla Costa, senior Workday consultant, CloudRock, said: “In today’s dynamic business landscape, we know that learning and development are imperative for organizational success. As the world evolves, so must our approach to learning. Organizations must embrace and integrate the digital tools for learning as technology continues to shape the way we work and acquire new skills, and need to foster an inclusive learning environment, reflecting the diverse perspective and experience [available].”