overcoming sap training challenges

Overcoming SAP Training Challenges

A live discussion withThomas Michael

Michael Management Corporation

www.michaelmanagement.com

Copyright © Michael Management Corporation - All rights reserved

Meet Thomas Michael

• 20+ years SAP experience(technology consulting, SAP, eLearning)

• CEO Michael Management Corp

• ASUG volunteer – MarketLeader Asset Accounting

• NYC-based

• Follow me on Twitter

@ListenToThomas

© Thomas Michael – all rights reserved. www.thomasmichaellive.com

Copyright © Michael Management Corporation - All rights reserved www.michaelmanagement.com

• Leader in SAP eLearning + online training

• 100+ certification courses

• 35,000 training sessions to 8,000 students

• 250+ corporate customers

• Approved CPE sponsor

ABOUT MICHAEL MANAGEMENT


LEARNING POINTS

� Available learning options

� Challenges & Expectations of SAP Professionals

� What SAP professionals really want

� The future of SAP training

� How to deploy a meaningful training program

� Q & A


RETURN ON INVESTMENT

� IDC: the most successful companies spend at least 7% of their implementation budget on training

� Knowledge leakage (when users quit, retire, transfer, etc.) is as high as 25% per year


TRAINING LIFECYCLE

� Training is not an event, it’s a process

� It has a defined starting point, but no end


TRAINING LIFECYCLE

Time

Tra

inin

g n

ee

d

Initial implementation /

project team training

Go live / end user training

Ongoing training (new users, new functionality, process changes, upgrades, etc.)


AVAILABLE TRAINING OPTIONS

Online Offline

Self-study

Instructor

- eLearning

- Webinars- VILT

- Books- Documentation

- Classroom- Peer-to-Peer


TRAINING OPTIONS PROS / CONS

eLearning

� Pros: instantly available, self-study, self-paced, short duration, repeatable,scalable, knowledge retention checks, lowest cost, training ROI measurements, most favorite option (and trending)

� Cons: no instructor present, significant development effort for custom training



Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT)

� Pros: short duration, best used for focused training, easy to deploy, scalable

� Cons: must be scheduled, hard to keep students’ attention, typically no knowledge retention checks or other measurements



Books, Documentation & Manuals

� Pros: widely available, broad topics, best used for personal / individual learning, inexpensive

� Cons: doesn’t provide a corporate training option, typically no knowledge retention checks or other measurements



Classroom

� Pros: formal setting, instructor present, 2nd most favorite option (although waning)

� Cons: must be scheduled, logistics, not repeatable or scalable, typically no knowledge retention checks or other measurements, travel expenses & absences, most expensive delivery option


LEARNING POINTS






� Q & A


COMMON REACTION


WHAT SAP PROS REALLY WANT

2015 MMC SAP Training Survey

� 1430 respondents

� 78 countries

� 80% work with SAP on a daily basis:

� End / Power users

� Business / IT analysts

� Consultants

� System Admin / Technical

� Download: michaelmanagement.com/survey


CHALLENGES

� I have received enough training to perform my job responsibilities.

Source: 2015 MMC SAP Training Survey: www.michaelmanagement.com/survey


CHALLENGES

� Within the last 12 months how much SAP training have you received?



CHALLENGES

� How much training do you think you should have received to do your job?



CHALLENGES

� The SAP Training Gap



CHALLENGES

� What are your biggest SAP training challenges?



EXPECTATIONS

� What is your preferred training method?


LEARNING POINTS






� Q & A


The Future of SAP Training

� Several new & exciting developments in recent years – ready or not, they’re coming:

� Gamification

� Social Learning

� Micro Learning


Gamification

� Increase student engagement through elements of gaming theory, including:

� Earn points, miles, tokens, etc. for activities we want to encourage

� Earn awards and badges

� Reach higher levels & prestigious rankings

� Turn quizzes into games

� Provide tangible rewards


Social Learning

� Leaderboards / Rankings

� Competitions

� By social circle (i.e. your company, your department, etc.)

� Allow user-to-user connections


Micro-Learning

� Gone are the times of 5-days, 8-hours-a-day, in-classroom training sessions

� Trend towards much shorter, more focused training sessions:

� 30 minutes (i.e. for CPE credits)Kor even

� 5 minutes micro-sessions


Micro-Learning

� Increases user adoption

� Decreases training/change resistance


LEARNING POINTS






� Q & A


DEPLOY TRAINING

� Remember, 7% or more of your implementation budget spent on training will significantly increase project success

� Give the people what they want (don’t assume though, ask them first!)

� Develop a training delivery mix

� eLearning is the most popular optionKfollowed by

� Classroom trainingKfollowed by

� VILT

� Forget documentation/manuals (least favorite)


DEPLOY TRAINING

� The more we think we’re differentK

� Kthe more we are the same

80

20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Generic Custom

SAP Skills


DEPLOY TRAINING

� Pareto principle = 80/20 rule

� Avoid creating custom training content for generic topics or transactions

� Instead, leverage ready-to-go content that’s based on SAP’s Best Practices


DEPLOY TRAINING

� When creating your own training material:

� Go beyond Word documents, PowerPoints, PDFs –they are not popular training material and do not provide any training KPIs

� Consider various online options (eLearning, VILT, etc.) as the main delivery method

� Supplement with traditional classroom training where possible / appropriate No cheating! PPTs with

audio are not eLearning.


DEPLOY TRAINING

� Start with the end in mind:

� Define and track keyperformance indicators:

� Completion percentage

� Most/least favorite topics/content

� Exams & quizzes

� Hall of fame / Wall of shame


DEPLOY TRAINING

� Define and track training program ROI

� How will you know if the training investment will have paid off?

� Track $ spent per student, Number/$ spent on help desk tickets, consulting hours, traditional classroom training, etc.


LEARNING POINTS





� Q & A


KEY LEARNINGS

� Knowledge leakage can zap up to 25% of your SAP skills per year

� Replenish with a comprehensive SAP training program

� Develop a training delivery mix that meets your customers’ expectations

� Focus on eLearning and classroom training

� Don’t reinvent the wheel – leverage ready-to-go training content


Download complete survey:

www.michaelmanagement.com/survey

www.michaelmanagement.com

DOWNLOAD


Q & A

overcoming sap training challenges

Technology

training sessions

custom training

focused training

available training options

training vilt pros

future of sap training

corporate training option

training knowledge leakage