System migration to SAP & knowledge transfer

During my time at one of the “big six” energy suppliers in the UK, I was responsible, as a Senior Trainer (L&D Consultant), for overseeing a SAP upskill / knowledge transfer between our sites in Leeds and the Midlands.

This was during a time of significant change for the company, where our legacy billing systems were being migrated to a new system, the popular SAP platform. My initial remit as project lead for the knowledge transfer, was to learn the new system at our site in Leeds, along with the large scale project approach / methodology being used, and the e-learning development methods, then transfer all this knowledge to several teams of trainers. This was to support a large scale system migration involving training thousands of staff over a short period.

What did I deliver?

A series of train the trainer events, project briefings and updates to all trainers, managers and other stakeholders involved.

I developed a number of e-learning software simulations, which formed key parts of a large blended learning programme to re-train several thousand staff across multiple sites.

Note: As the software has changed significantly since these were developed, and the original files were hosted on an internal server, I no longer have access to the files to provide a sample / example but would be happy to answer any questions you have on the development of these packages. Feel free to get in touch with any queries!

What job roles did I perform during this project?

• Training lead / project manager
• Senior Training Consultant (leading and designing the training solution)
• E-learning Developer
• Trainer (delivering a series of train the trainer sessions)

What software did I use?

• SAP IS-U and CRM
• RWD U-perform
• Key Microsoft Office packages, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Sharepoint, Visio

Who did I work with?

Key stakeholders included:

• Several teams of trainers and a variety of subject matter experts (SME’s) across several sites nationwide
• Internal operational managers at various sites
• External business partners (project managers and software developers)
• External business partners (contractors and developers)

How did I do it?

• Took opportunity to work with key stakeholders in the project and worked alongside external developers to gain an insight into how they worked
• Assimilated complex info into more digestible chunks – related it back to “real life” situations and decided on the best method to transfer knowledge
• Organised train the trainer events for 2 sites to attend – show the trainers how to work within the project and all the skills they would need
• Established myself as single point of contact for all project related training queries, regarding setup of work on u-perform – the platform we publish training material to, obtaining and managing training data for migration courses, and how to produce material in the “style” and method required
• Built training material to support all the above, including on course material which the trainers used afterwards

What was the outcome?

The full migration was able to go ahead due to several thousand staff being correctly trained. This was all made possible due to the work I did to setup the teams of trainers to deliver on such a large scale.

I led the way in which we structure courses – with a module re-structure – and a more linear approach to updates which made efficiences in our management of training material

What did I learn from the project?

This was a great project to expand my network and provided some real challenges in stakeholder management on such a large scale, both geographically and size wise. I enjoyed the opportunity to work with such a wide variety of people and influence so much change in a positive way. I learned several new ways of working with external contractors, and the approach in software development, aswell as the e-learning development itself using a new tool (U-perform)

I went on from this project to become a single point of contact between the ongoing project and various training teams. I established new ways of working which involved updating all our training documentation, and supporting e-learning software simulations. I also lead a follow on project to convert and update all our existing material in line with the new business requirements.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have on this project or any other featured on this site – just get in touch! Please take a look at the rest of my portfolio…

Cheers

Jon