April Favara, Training Consultant, iLearnERP

Upgrades and new implementations are not just IT projects. Focusing on the people and the organizational culture of which they are a part is a proven way to ensure the success of a go-live. Modern training in the workflow supports the people and the processes that make new and upgraded systems a success.

Not Oshkosh B’gosh

Oshkosh Defense is part of the larger Oshkosh Corporation, which includes a full portfolio of brands, from JLG, the makers of elevating work platforms, telehandlers, and low-level access solutions, to LONDON concrete mixers and refuse collection vehicles. Oshkosh Defense, one of the 10 leading brands under Oshkosh Corporation, manufactures best-in-class military vehicles, keeping troops safe with advanced technologies and fleet readiness.

A long-time JD Edwards customer, Oshkosh Defense needed to upgrade their JDE environment from World to E1. Previously, Oshkosh employed Oracle’s User Productivity Kit (UPK) to develop training and make training available to JDE users in-application. With the uncertainty of the future of UPK, now planned for sunset in 2022, Oshkosh Defense realized they needed a modern solution that could grow with them beyond their use of JDE to all the applications they employ to do business.

Two Simultaneous Implementations

While the process of upgrading Oshkosh Defense from World to E1 got underway, we partnered with them to begin tool selection. This tool selection process included evaluation of existing tool requirements and current upgrade needs to ensure that employee performance was maximized with the new investment. For instance, key functions were reviewed such as whether training could still be made available in the workflow, the ability to auto-record process steps interactively, and the ability to report on employee training progress.  After live demonstrations and review, Oshkosh Defense chose tt knowledge force as its next generation learning tool.

With the tool chosen, there was still a process of discovery and partnership needed to define learner curriculum and delivery needs. The training plan was developed to align with change strategy and communications programs; an audience and impact analysis for job roles and JDE tasks was completed along with course and topic outlines. To keep topics and training development consistent, we developed standards and customizations that were unique to Oshkosh Defense, but also considered learning best practices. For example, every course provided the estimated learning duration along with a clear learning objective so that employees knew exactly what they would accomplish by interacting with a particular topic.

Supporting SMEs for Project Success

In addition to partnering with Oshkosh Defense to help find a new training tool and to determine training standards and curriculum, we also developed and delivered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) training program. During training, SMEs learned how to use the tt performance suite to record system processes. The recordings were then updated with learning best practices and repeatable standards, and immediately made available to learners in the system. The workflow options in the tt performance suite enabled us to easily partner with Oshkosh Defense to track topics from an unrecorded state, to recorded, produced, reviewed, and approved. Once the project was complete, the SMEs completed over 400 recordings that were available to employees in the form of click through tutorials, training guides and job aids.  The SME program continued with a train-the-trainer curriculum to support the teams as they rolled-out learning to their process communities.

A Little Bit About iLearnERP

Whether you use UPK, need help evaluating UPK-like options or already have an employee performance support tool, we can support your training goals and objectives. From assistance with early project development, to methodology and best practices to maximize your internal talent, we can also blend employee performance support solutions with live training, video recordings, exercises, and a variety of documentation. Check out our other training success stories here or contact us for a personalized discussion of how we can partner with you.