Readysell Training Project Engagement Meeting

Overview

At the beginning of the project Readysell needs to agree on:

• the mix of on site, remote and self training
• a training budget
• a training plan
• your current business practices and how they can be improved
• which staff members are involved in each business process
• how much you want to be involved in the training process and how much support you expect from Readysell

This discussion could take between 2 to 4 hours depending on how many questions you have and how many transaction types and different procedures you have currently at your site.

Aims

The aim of the training element is to ensure both you and Readysell understand the process, materials and timing  to follow when training on Readysell.

The aims of the training engagement meeting are to:

• Define what procedures you and your staff are to follow when training in the Readysell program
• Demonstrate that Readysell 8 can satisfy all of the "day to day transactions" via collecting examples, demonstration or other means
• Agree on a training plan that includes some onsite face to face training where ever possible
• Agree on dates of contact for updates on how things are progressing and talk about any outstanding issues
• Agree on dates of when to audit how your staff are progressing with their training to see if Readysell is required to get involved and train them or take them through their steps
• Address any issues arising from training and get them resolved before your go live date.

Deliverables

By the end of the training project engagement meeting we will have:

• Taken you through how to access the training materials inclusive of how to documentation and opening, viewing and listening to the training videos. You need to be comfortable with accessing the materials and understand how they can be used
• A training strategy that uses a mix of Readysell training materials, remote phone to screen training and on site training. This will include decisions about:
  • How much of the training guide you want to use
  • Exporting your own 'cheat sheets' from the Readysell training materials
• Which Readysell features will be used on the first few days after go live, normally sales, (service if applicable), purchasing and customer payments. We need to focus just on the basics for the first few days. Training needs to make those first few days as smooth as possible. Some topics will not be covered by training, as they are best addressed after the go live date.

Attendees

• A senior support officer from Readysell
• A project leader from your business

When discussing training and how it could progress you may want to take into consideration the following:

Readysell training should use a range of training strategies:

Charge free strategies

• Self-training using our documentation linked to the key delivery benefits document. Eventually this has to be the primary approach we use. We can start you with the existing documentation right away. I will ask the documenters to make some pages that link the key benefits to our existing documentation. We will then send you a link to the relevant page on our help system. Readysell is willing and able to put a substantial effort to improving the self-help documentation based on feedback we receive from members.
• Visits to model sites. Visit another member who has already achieved the level 2 best practice targets. Readysell is actively seeking to increase the best practice levels at member sites. Please contact Readysell so we can help you organise a site visit
• State training roadshows. There will be regular training roadshow at least once a year.

Chargeable strategies

• One on one remote training sessions provided by our trainers. I suggest one hour per session. Please contact Sharon to schedule any required training.
• Training at Readysell. You could get just about all the training you need to implement all the Level 2 best pracice in a one/two day session at Readysell. This would give you the fastest results but may be the most expensive approach. There is room for a few members to get together and take part in shared training days at Readysell.
• Readysell onsite training day/s. This is probably the most expensive option. But gives our trainer access to your full team and could be appropriate where delivering results as soon as possible is a priority.

Deciding on the right mix of training strategies for your business

You should plan on:

• Having a trainer from Readysell on site at your business early in the project if possible. This can be expensive, but can give your training program the best possible start
• Breaking up the training programs into modules. For each module in the training program, run a serials of training "sprints" of around one week in duration. Plan on:
  • A remote screen to screen training session with Readysell as you start each module
  • Three days of internal training using the training guide to assist with self training. You should be entering transactions into Readysell as you work through the training material. Don't just read the material, put each thing you are learning into practice as you go
  • A remote screen to screen training session with Readysell as you finish your self training using the training materials. During this session we will audit your progress and help you plan the next training "sprint"

You need to consider:

• Using self training alone or training by Readysell alone is probably not the best solution. You need to find the mix that suits you
• The size of your business, self training saves you more money as the size of your team grows
• Be honest about available time, the more time you can allocate to the project on a regular basis, the better self training works
• Be honest about your skill set, younger/more tech savy people get more out of self training

Self training using the training guide is recommended, but letting Readysell do all the training is an option that costs more but works better for a few sites.

You will be training yourself in how to use the Readysell system using this training guide. This has many advantages in terms of reducing the cost to you by requiring less Readysell training hours. Also once you know the training materials, you are in a good position to use those materials to train new staff or implement new features in future. But some sites find that self training does not suit their business. While it is more expensive and not as well suited to ongoing training in your business, you may decide you want Readysell to do all the training by remote dial in. 

We suggest you start out using the recommended self training program. But watch results at each weekly progress review meeting. Self training requires more planning. If self training is not working for you, it is better to recognize the issue and swap to using more on site training and/or remote screen to screen training by Readysell early in the project. 

Responsibilities of your team

• •  The project leader must :
    • work with the Readysell training team to get a feel for the training material and to decide which parts of the training guide are relevant to your business
    • make extensive use of the Readysell training guide
    • become sufficiently trained by completing all key segments of the training guide relevant to their business and practice each of the skills until they are proficient
    • needs to be aware of the day to day work and the depth of understanding required by all users.
    • work with Readysell to develop a training program for your business. Then plan, with Readysell's assistance, which of the training guides below and what in hours training might be required for each user. This results in a daily training plan for the whole business for the entire project 
    • train your team members using the training program you have developed
    • work with Readysell to take action based on training audits conducted by the Readysell training team
    • work with Readysell to develop a post implementation plan around how to apply all the best practice guides in your business over a number of months once the initial conversion is complete
  • Power (key) users in each area of the business must:
    
    • be trained by the project leader using the training program developed by the project leader
    • be trained by Readysell where the project leader needs some training assistance
    • make some use of the Readysell training guide
    • Complete some parts of the Readysell training guide, being those parts listed for them in the training guide prepared by the project leader
  • Operational users involved with processing work:
    
    •  need to be trained by the project leader in how to perform day to day tasks
    • don't normally need to use the training guide. The project leader will provide all the hands on training required 
    • can often perform their day to day work if they are just being shown how to do their job with Readysell
    • Depending on the project leader and power users confidence in their own training of the operations staff. The operations staff
    • may sometimes benefit from completing all of the Readysell overview training guide. But normally this is not required.
    • may sometimes benefit by being shown the relevant parts of training guide segments and skills tests that apply to their day to day work. But this is a judgement call, you may find this is not required
      

Ensure success by following the following recommended training procedure

Training Strategy

Deciding on how many hours Readysell will spend on site is the most important thing you do at the start of the project. Don't forget that:

• All prices are quoted ex gst
• Flights, accommodation and meals are also charged for time on site
• It is your responsibility to stick to the training budget. If  you ask Readysell for more days of on site or remote training may incur additional charges, Readysell will not check the budget. We will do our best to provide the training you request
• Readysell's day rate is contained in the "Readysell Service Fee Policy - Office Brands" that you would have been sent as part of our "Welcome Pack" email. Make sure you read this document and know the ex GST Readysell day rate for staff visiting your site.
• Make sure you multiply expected days on site by Readysell's ex GST day rate to get a estimate of on site training charges!

Readysell will help you design a training program using a combination of the following available training strategies. The strategy chosen will effect your training charges. The only way to minimize the change of unexpected training charges is to plan and budget your training hours at the start of the project:

• Self training using text and videos in the training guide, not charged
• On site training by Readysell training team members, charged at our day rate during training, during the conversion weekend and after conversion
• Remote screen to screen training, charged at our remote training rate, you may have a number of included free hours
• You can have Readysell staff on site to give you a premium experience. But Readysell staff on site are charged at our day rate ex GST plus travel and accommodation
• You need to balance Readysell staff on site with self training. You can save yourself some charges by conducting some of the training yourself.

See Also: How To Run Your Readysell Training Program

Preparing a training budget for your project

To avoid surprises you need to budget Readysell training hours using the table below. Then lookup our standard fees and charges to work out the budgeted costs. Readysell's day rate is contained in the "Readysell Service Fee Policy - Office Brands" that you would have been sent as part of our "Welcome Pack" email. The final charges will not be exactly the same as the budget. But the budget gives you a working estimate. Don't forget that:

• All prices are quoted ex gst
• Flights, accommodation and meals are also charged for time on site
• It is your responsibility to stick to the training budget. If  you ask Readysell for more days of on site or remote training may incur additional charges, Readysell will not check the budget. We will do our best to provide the training you request
• Readysell's day rate is contained in the "Readysell Service Fee Policy - Office Brands" that you would have been sent as part of our "Welcome Pack" email. Make sure you read this document and know the ex GST Readysell day rate for staff visiting your site.

The first step in your training program should be to work through the draft training budget below and adjust it to suit your site.