A plan for user training

A new system succeeds when users know what to do in their own role. Training is often squeezed into the last week and becomes a general walkthrough that nobody can use. Here is a plan where training is built on roles, super users and exercises in a sandbox, so that users have tried their own tasks before they go live. It can be used for both small and larger companies.

Start with roles, not menus

Make a list of roles: accountant, purchaser, warehouse employee, sales support, controller and manager. For each role, write the five to ten tasks that take up the most time. Those are what the training should cover.

The roles can also be used for role centres and permission sets, so that users see the pages that are relevant and can do what they need to.

Super users and exercises in a sandbox

A super user is a colleague who gets deeper training and helps the others. Appoint one per department, and set time aside in the calendar. Without time set aside, the role is just a title.

Super users take part in testing, help write short guides and are the first point of contact after go-live.

Use a sandbox environment, which is a copy of production or a test setup with migrated data. Here users can post without risk. Microsoft Learn states that a sandbox can be created as a copy of an existing environment, and that jobs in the job queue are stopped in the copy.

Give each role concrete exercises.

Purchaser: create a purchase order, receive goods, post the invoice.
Accountant: reconcile the bank, run a payment proposal, close a period.
Warehouse: receive, pick, ship and count.
Sales: create a quote, an order and a credit memo.
Manager: find key figures and open a report.

Three phases and measuring

The first phase is the overview: why we are switching and what it looks like. The second phase is role exercises in the sandbox, where each user solves their own tasks. The third phase is help in operation, where the super users are present in the first weeks.

Spread the training over several short sessions rather than one long day. Fewer things at a time stick better.

Let users solve a task without help, and note where they get stuck. Use the result to fix guides and arrange extra training. Keep guides in a shared place, and keep them up to date when Microsoft changes pages in updates.

Materials that get used

Short guides of one to two pages with screenshots beat long manuals. Make them per task, and name them after what the user wants to do, for example How I post a vendor invoice.

Business Central also has built-in help and learning paths on Microsoft Learn that users can follow at their own pace. Use them as a supplement, not as a replacement for your own processes.

After go-live

Hold a fixed weekly hour for questions in the first weeks. Collect questions and add them to the guides. When Microsoft updates, pages and functions can change, so review the material after each major update and inform users about what is new.

Plan time. Users need to be released from daily operations for training, and super users need more. Expect the first weeks after go-live to be slower, and build that into your delivery plan towards customers and vendors.

Let management show that training matters by taking part in the first session themselves.

Where we come in

Addverk is a new Business Central partner with consulting at fixed prices. We can help create a training plan and run sessions. See our services and prices.