Monmouthshire County Council

Optimum, the ERP training consultancy, has designed and delivered upgrade training for the 800 users of Monmouthshire County Council’s (CC) Agresso finance and procurement system.

The authority called in Optimum, an experienced Unit4 ERP training provider, in the face of growing time and resource constraints plus a recently expanding user base that extended from the core finance team at County Hall to requisitioners and approvers around the county.

A Unit4 ERP (formerly known as Agresso) system user since 2002, Monmouthshire CC used the major system upgrade as an opportunity to re-design and re-align many of its core processes and procedures, particularly around procurement.

Finance manager, Lisa Widenham, said: “Our super users, system manager and corporate IT trainer had done our previous training but we wanted external help this time to reinforce our policies and make sure everyone knew exactly how we wanted the system to be used and why.”

James Webb, Optimum’s lead consultant on the project, noted: “Training around a major upgrade is very different from ongoing ‘business-as usual’ training because of the levels of change involved. There can be a lot of resistance to new business processes but because our training is very specific and role-based we find we can get users to ‘buy-in’ to the system.”

Optimum worked alongside Monmouthshire’s team to design, develop and deliver up to six sessions a day of classroom-based training at various locations around the county.

“The way Optimum handled the complicated training schedules and bookings was particularly helpful,” said Widenham.

The consultants also produced a complete new set of training documentation to support users back at their desks.

“It really was a partnership,” said Widenham, “and we were very pleased with how it went. The Optimum team was totally flexible in meeting our specific objectives and tailoring and adapting the courses and materials to our needs and budget.”