Automated training clears last hurdle to successful implementation

Getting users up to speed on new applications often is the final hurdle to system implementation success. Now a company called RWD Technologies says it has a solution to clear that hurdle—at least for companies using SAP and Oracle enterprise applications.

Called Info Pak, the solution simplifies the process of creating employee training documentation by automatically recording and converting an executed task into a formatted document that can be used in multiple types of training materials.

According to Eric Bruner, a director in RWD's Enterprise Systems Division, Info Pak is the standard automated training and documentation software product for more than 400 SAP-based corporations worldwide. And this past January, RWD used the setting of Oracle Apps World to introduce Bethpage, N.Y.-based Kravet Fabrics as one of the first companies to deploy Info Pak to train users on Oracle applications. Bruner says roughly 20 companies are using Info Pak in conjunction with the Oracle suite.

"We wanted to create online training modules that could be accessed remotely, as well as simulations that provide the employee with real-life training situations," says Jonathan Lazarus, director of operations at Kravet Fabrics. "RWD Info Pak makes it possible for our people to engage in self-paced training that leads up to an online test that we can review and measure how well they have mastered the task."

Bruner says companies can save time and money by using Info Pak to train employees in business processes in the Oracle environment—including purchasing, customer service, and order entry—instead of taking them away from work for training.

In a worst-case scenario, Bruner says, employees walk into work on Monday morning to a new operating system without having received any training at all. At other times, a project team leader pastes screens from the application into Microsoft Word documents and hands these homemade manuals to the end users.

Using RWD Info Pak, a content developer executes a task in any software application to record the entire procedure. The recording is automatically converted into a professionally formatted document that serves as the basis for varied training materials, including end-user procedures, graphic screen shots, quick references, test scripts, training exercises, and online help. The training materials can be printed, published to the Web, or distributed via online help.

With Info Pak, Bruner says, a content developer—who typically is a project team leader—can run through 20 different processes in an hour as opposed to creating one document all afternoon. "All they have to do is what they know. They already know how to use [the applications], and Info Pak records their actions for the training documents."

RWD Info Pak Simulator, similar to Info Pak, records the developers' actions as they work through a task and creates a physical software simulation. Four training simulations can be created from one recording. The various simulations allow end users to watch, try, and test their skills on the task and give the training manager an opportunity to review and evaluate end-user results.

After doubling its workforce over a decade, Kravet—a leading wholesaler of designer fabrics used for upholstered furniture, draperies, and wall coverings—decided to replace a legacy system with the Oracle enterprise suite.

Kravet also wanted to institute a better means of documenting processes and training employees on the new system. "Many of our practices and procedures worked adequately in the past, but we realized that there were tools available that could save us both time and money," Lazarus says. "When we saw how well RWD Info Pak worked with Oracle applications, we came to a quick conclusion that it had the features we wanted."