Sparrows Group

A global provider of oilfield engineering services has utilised the ERP training consultancy Optimum to train staff at its Aberdeen, UK headquarters on a new Epicor ERP system.

Epicor’s flexible and scalable ERP software is industry-specific and offers capabilities focused on reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving customer responsiveness across an enterprise.

The group has offshore equipment service and engineering centres in the Middle East, Africa, USA, South America, India, Indonesia and Australia, as well as a rentals division. Its business is, therefore, heavily project-based and Epicor, along with implementation partner Dot Net IT, created bespoke project elements to handle scheduling as part of the ERP system build.

The firm’s implementation team was facing constraints, in terms of both time and resource, and opted to outsource the user training on the system to Optimum, after they received a recommendation.

Optimum designed and developed lesson plans and exercises for a range of role-based user training courses. The training consultancy then delivered classroom training to around 100 staff, who were mostly project managers.

The consultancy also worked closely with Epicor and Dot Net IT to create a full suite of training documentation and materials. The aids included detailed user reference guides, interactive eLearning platforms and a series of quick cards on specific key processes such as time-sheet entry and uploading.

The firm has a small core finance team in Aberdeen so that part of the end-user training was handled internally by the Epicor project manager using Optimum’s training pack and materials, with support from colleagues who had already undergone Optimum’s training.