System Rollout - Training before implementation

Training needs
Here is a typical project scenario...
Project development is done. Your policy and claims systems are fully configured, tested and are nearing deployment. The Client Organization has spent lots of money in developing the system. The Early business testing event that was sponsored for the end users, business users, agents, adjusters etc made them feel comfortable with the application and its features.

Their feedback so far -
- System looks good, why would i need training?
- I know what i need and how to get there in the System.
- I will look for training needs as and when i require.
- I don't think its worth the time and money to train other people especially after receiving good feedback from this focus business testing group.
These and some other similar responses is what we hear when we talk to busines users about training.
Of course, this is not the case everywhere, some users know the system better than others, some know all the quirks and work aorunds that exist in the system,but overall, somewhere at the bottom of their heart this is the common feeling with most of the business users.
There are some organizations who are fully and completely aware of the importance of training needs.

Training Advantages
Why do we need to get trained on the system
Similar understanding
When the project implementation team lays out the project roadmap, it plans for requirements, design, development, testing and implementation phases. It is equally important to have a training milestone in place, with the objective that all users are on the same page wrt system usage, understanding the attributes and functional quirks.

Change Management
Training forms a very important component of change management. It helps cultivate the importance of the implementation at the grass root levels and helps bring a feeling of oneness within the organization by addressing the issues, problems faced and the solutions proposed therein.

Benefit bottomline costs
Last and most important, Project success is dependant by the success of the implementation and the use of the application thereafter.
If the system implementation involves improvements to the business process and operational activities then training will help increase this awareness, bring a common understanding of the whole process.
It will also help strengthen and highlight the executive direction and perspective behind the implementation.
Training will thus improve the overall efficiency of the end users. This definitely will help to improve your bottomline benefits.

Training Objectives
What do we wish to attain from the training. The Objectives should be clear. Some examples
 - It should address the training needs and issues faced by each and every user per the job functions.
     To absorb and implement the functionality useful for your day to day operations (e.g. corresponding using System activities/dairies/notes rather than communicating via other time consuming and disconnect methods like hard copies, emails - which are outside the system)
    
 - Make sure that the training is scalable in terms of the organization size
 .
 - Ensure the trained colleagues understand and propagate the platform and application features to their peers and try to answer their queries. If a question cannot be answered by them, let it be directed to members of the training cell or to the right personnel

Plan and prepare
There is no one size fit all solution here. For example, for a policy implementation you will need separate training modules for customer service, operations, underwriters, managers and supervisors so that each group can perform their job functions efficiently and effectively.
Along with having a separate training module, the training should be such that it meets requirements for candidates for all levels of understanding. e.g.
 - Some users may not know the difference between backspace key on the computer vs the delete key
 - Some users may understand bits and pieces of the application functionality, but not end to end
 - Some users may be used to navigating through, by having worked on similar such applications in their prior jobs or past life
 - Some users may just not want to change from System A to System B - reluctance to change
Hence there is a big component of change management that goes hand in hand with training
Before preparing your training material have one on one sessions with each groups of users as identified above and understand their specific training needs and requirements. Come up with a script that actually answers their questions.
The training sessions once done should be followed by a brief Q&A or if it is online have an assessment at the end to make sure the general understanding and the average grasp of training by the audience.

Training Methods
 The various training options can be
 Online training
 This is an online computer based training. It serves as a self paced learning module where the trainee will study the application features as and how they find time and at their own pace and speed.

 Hands on or classroom training with a fixed schedule
 This is an instructor based training where people will sit and gain hands on experience of the module with instuctor guidance.

 Learning using training material 
 This is also a self paced training where training material is shared with the attendees. This includes material explaining the system and usually followed by step by step screenshots.

 Training on the job 
 i.e. Having the person work as a shadow or apprentice/intern and gets mentored or guided by a senior member on the job. The trainee will face real life scenarios and will use the application to work those.

 Make sure you as the training lead or instructor has done a dry run using a sufficient number of people and ironed out all the difficulties and issues present. After all the planning, prepare a proper training schedule, have a concise and clear agenda and propagate it to the attendees as required.
Organizations can benefit by having a well planned training scheduled. Resources who get trained using the methods identified above, not only help themselves by making their jobs easier, faster and error free, inturn they also help improve the organization bottomline who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in developing the system
So in all to ensure that your project actually hits a homerun after implementation, it is necessary to have a proper training module near the end of the project.

Project Manager as a Business Analyst

Project Manager and Business Analyst roles both require unique skillsets and are definitely unique specializations. The well balanced combination of the two is a key contributor towards any project success.
Sometimes there is a need for the same person to assume both the roles. When Project Managers assume the role of a Business Analyst (One of the reasons for this may be a small budget project), there are a lot of factors that come into play due to this.
In all these years working in the Insurance IT Industry, i have seen numerous Projects suffer when the role to person matching is not perfect.
Reasons:
As mentioned above some projects may or may not have the luxury of a separate role for a Business Analyst. This may be due to varying reasons based on,
1> Overall Project scope
2> Project Budget allocated
3> Available resource knowledge base
4> Most importantly, no clear understanding of the difference between these 2 roles by the stakeholders and sponsors

When the Project Manager assumes the role of a Business Analyst, there are some things he has to keep in mind to ensure success in the role. This BA role essentially fits quite snugly in the Project Manager's domain due to the fact that both the roles require managing client expectations and having clear and concise client interactions. One role is focused towards successfully gathering project business requirements (Business Analyst) and the other geared towards entire project success (Project Manager).

Common factors:
The skillsets that are common for both Project Management and Business analysis are,
1> First and foremost is Communication skills
2> Understanding the entire the project lifecycle
3> Strong Stakeholder Management skills

Specific skills:
Skillsets that are specific to the Business Analyst role are,
1> Strong business process background
2> Understanding of Business analysis as a work function wrt gathering, analyzing and documenting requirements
3> Understanding people management wrt Business Analysis
Certain things to be kept in mind by the project manager when assuming the role of a Business analyst.
Success Factors:
 1> Being completely aware of the business processes
    For the Project Manager to be successful as a Business Analyst, he has to understand the business overall, the business process flow, the business value chain. Without the knowledge of these process areas, the Project Manager will not be able to meet the expectations for the BA role.
    You usually acquire this knowledge by working for a number of years in the Industry.
    For example: In my case, being in the Insurance IT domain, interacting with Business people for over 12 years now, gives exposure to all areas of Insurance business processes like Policy, Billing and Claims etc.
    Along with this, having a Project Management exposure is a definite plus, as it gives you the overall 360 degree view of the entire project gamut and thus helps streamline your thinking process.
   
2> Complete awareness of the Stakeholders expectations from the project.
   Since both project Manager and BA role both deal with stakeholders, there is a big difference between the 2 roles. One role is more concerned with the overall Project success by meeting stakeholder expectations (PM role), whereas the other role (BA) is more concerned with the business process expectations that must be fulfilled on completion of the project.
   You have to be constantly interacting with the Stakeholders so that you understand their expectations, pain points etc
  
3> Ensure the Business SMEs and End Users are aligned and aware of the project goals and objectives, the high level executive direction outlined for the project.
   As mentioned above, since business stakeholders, Subject Matter Experts, End Users may be aware of a specific area of project objective (i.e. Project will help in enhancing and executing XYZ business process in a shorter time frame and efficient manner), but it helps them to be aware of overall project objectives (e.g. Project will help achieve XYZ functionality more efficiently based on the requirements gathered in next 2 weeks and developed over the next 6 weeks duration for a certain cost and resource outlined)
  
4> Project Business documentation expectations
   Project Manager may be aware of the overall Business Analyst Role expectations from the delivery perspective, he has to be able to create Functional requirements documents, Gap documents, Use cases, UI specifications etc documentation as the case may be.
  
5> Help Quality and Testing Team in their analysis and Q&A
   Business Analyst along with the business stakeholders also has to be cognizant of the other members playing specific roles attributing to project success e.g. Quality Analysis Team, Process Management Team, Testing and infrastructure Teams.
Also last but not the least, Business analysts have to be somewhat of a Techo functional experts meaning along with understanding the Business aspects of the project, they also have to understand the technical dependencies, implications, risks posed by certain requirements and thereby come up with possible solutions alternatives. Business analysts are essentially bridges between the End business users and development Teams. They understand and gather the business requirements and translate and transform them to Specifications, use cases and functional requirement documentations which will make it easy for the technical developers to follow and design and code accordingly. These documentation will then also be used by the Testing and Quality Team so they can base their Test Cases and Test scenarios off them.

So in essence, Project Manager is more concerned or related to the big picture and the totality to complete the project, while a Business Analyst is more closer to the requirement understanding, gathering and documenting tasks.  Both the roles have certain commonalities and some differences, but it certainly helps in the project success, if the 2 roles have a good background of the other role and its expectations.
If the same person fill in for both the roles, the necessary and required skillset to guarantee the project success would be balanced combination of Project Management, Business knowledge, Technical background of the development platform used etc.