At one time using a computer system required training. Not everyone will remember what older mainframe/terminal systems were like but user-hostile doesn’t completely convey the response. Here’s an example of how to add a frequent flyer number to your itinerary, from the old character-based Sabre airline booking system from American Airlines (and others): Using the abbreviated entry, add the FQTV (code for a frequent flyer number) number NW 759964796 to the PNR for the second…
Training for enterprise systems like TimeControl is never really complete because the organization adapts and evolves as it uses the software. Training for such systems is best done in layers or phases.
Over the years, one of the most challenging changes to the success of project management software has been the lack of training and training materials that are included in any deployment. I wrote about this time ago in an article entitled “Batteries not included”. Organizations used to allocate a portion of their implementation budget to training and, as the price of project management software has dropped to a fraction of it used to cost in…
Article: Batteries not included When people used to buy large-scale project management systems, buying the training was just part of the cost of doing business. The cost of training compared to the cost of the software was a fraction. You might spend only 10% of your software investment on training of your personnel on the proper use of the project managemnet system. As project system have become cheaper the percentage people expect to pay on…
Usually the engineering-oriented mind of project management people would never even consider the role of salesperson as part of being a project manager but the truth is, we’re selling all the time. Project Managers must sell their projects, their planning ideas, the impact of any changes and, even themselves. We’ll look at the various salesperson roles and their potential ‘clients’ in this article.
By: Chris Vandersluis I had the unfortunate experience lately of working with a very unhappy group within one of the federally funded agencies. As usual, I won’t bore you with who it was to protect the guilty but the experience has become so common around here that I thought I’d share it with you in this column. The situation starts out like so many organizations interested in enterprise project management. Project management personnel and IT…
Article: Project Management System Training Wheels When we talk about project management systems, we tend not to talk so much about the training these systems will require. Vendors don’t help by advertising “Easy to Use” and “No training required”. Project Management includes complex concepts and these are not all taken care of by an easy to use interface. This article talks about considerations for training in any new EPM system deployment.