Maximizing Return on Investment Using ERP Applications

WORKFORCE EDUCATION

We have introduced through personal examples the need to engage in an educational program throughout a working lifetime, so that we can continue to learn about both the ERP systems that are being used and the business processes that determine business results; now let’s take a closer look at the components of education that are needed. We need to address what is needed in an enterprise, in training and education, to allow a business to make the most effective use of this extraordinarily expensive and powerful asset in the following areas:

• Transactional training
• Functional or technical training
• Business education in an integrated business world

Transactional Training

Although this level of training seems intuitively obvious, in real-life execution, it can be anything but. There are many instances of remediation activities at companies that were close to having to shut down because of inadequate or, in certain instances, a complete lack of initial training. In these cases, the consulting organizations that were responsible typically recommended a training approach for the workforce that was deemed “too expensive,” and consequently initial training was nothing more than “point and click.” Sometimes, the costs for that decision were nearly detrimental to the business.

As ERP business processes are designed and configured, many decisions have to be made on business processes, on organizational levels, and on how the required information is going to be collected. ...