Essentra

Essentra, a global component manufacturer, has outsourced the development of its Microsoft Dynamics 365 end user training to the specialist ERP training consultancy Optimum.

The organisation is replacing a range of legacy systems with Dynamics 365 Finance, Customer Service and Commerce across its operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US over the next two years. The move is part of a phased business process redesign programme to standardise best practice, improve reporting and customer experience.

Essentra changed its approach and brought Optimum on board to design a bespoke end user training programme after the initial go live in Spain proved problematic.

The original plan was for Essentra’s business process experts (BPEs) to be trained by their D365 implementation partner and then take ownership of the system training, cascading their knowledge down internally to the different levels of users.

Simon Fawcett, a change specialist at Essentra, said: “We needed a different approach because while the BPEs were great, they just didn’t have the time or the expertise, either in D365 or in training. Optimum had both and we’ve now got a professional training programme and an excellent suite of materials going forward.”

Optimum’s brief was to design a global training template, with role-based courses and comprehensive documentation that would provide a consistent training programme for every location as they implement D365.

The deliverables include bespoke trainer packs, supporting end-user reference guides, quick cards and eLearning, all hosted on Essentra’s learning management system Thrive.

The lesson plans and materials have been designed to be updated and localised by Essentra for each rollout. Essentra will translate them into the appropriate language and appoint local contractors to deliver the training in each country.

Optimum’s consultants faced several challenges that demanded a very flexible approach. There were tight deadlines to meet but knowledge transfer was heavily constrained by the BPEs’ carrying out post go live work in Spain. Alongside, there was UAT and functional development for the upcoming rollouts firstly in France, then Germany and the Netherlands.

Fawcett said: “The BPEs time was at a premium so outsourcing to Optimum freed up a large part of their resource at a critical period. That was a huge benefit.”

Optimum’s end user training programme addressed all the issues that the experience in Spain had highlighted for Essentra. The training content had been inconsistent in terms of both materials and delivery, so best practice wasn’t always being passed down. Feedback was that the training was very functional and was delivered in silos, meaning that users didn’t appreciate how their work processes could impact others elsewhere. Training in English rather than Spanish was also a barrier.

Fawcett said: “Optimum did a great job of understanding our business and processes and of tailoring their ‘out of the box’ D365 training solution to meet our specific needs.”

He added: “We’ve gone from nothing to having a huge amount of material in a very short space of time and the quality and depth is brilliant. It’s way better than anything we could have produced internally. I wouldn’t change a thing.”