Pfizer

Global drugs manufacturer Pfizer was implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 with a pharmaceutical ISV in a multi-phase deployment to unify business processes, analytics and reporting across all sites in the USA and UK.

The new system, an upgrade from Dynamics AX2012, would bring major change for a wide range of audiences in manufacturing, quality control, dispense, labelling, packaging and distribution. Success hinged on winning early end user buy-in so bespoke, role-based training was critical.

The Challenge:

The pharmaceutical group outsourced the creation of courses and materials to Optimum, as they lacked the skilled resources internally in the time required.

The consultants had to be flexible, designing the first phase training programme while the parts of the system was still being built.

The Solution:

Optimum’s team planned the training early, visiting the client’s manufacturing sites in the US and UK, with face-to face and remote knowledge transfer sessions.

Adjusting their working hours to align with the US, they created 29 courses plus detailed reference guides, quick cards, on the job training eLearning modules and trainer packs.

The training documentation was updated with new content in both implementation phases to incorporate changes to business processes and enhancements to the system.

Nicola Barnes, project leader for Pfizer, explained the importance of the existing relationship, following Optimum’s support on an earlier Dynamics ERP project. “It was quite easy for us to go back to Optimum”, she said “we worked with some of the colleagues that we’d worked with previously”.

Optimum trained the client’s internal SMEs and super users to deliver all the pre go-live training face-to-face in a classroom setting. Competency quizzes, tests and multiple-choice questions built into each training session measured the learner’s understanding of the topic.

The Result:

The accuracy and effectiveness of the training courses and materials won positive feedback from the end users, the internal training team and the project leads. There was an overall pass rate of 98% in the consolidation competency tests and there were minimal calls to the helpdesk after go-lives.

Business as usual is supported by the super users delivering ongoing training with updated materials across all the firm’s operations.

In summary, Nicola Barnes was full of praise when discussing the relationship with Optimum. “They customised training materials but also worked with our end users who are SMEs to ensure they had the right knowledge.

“There was an extra layer of effort, it wasn’t just the end product; it was the journey of gathering the information from our business users. That was really beneficial.”