Strategies for Effective Training

Presented by David Bercovitch ThoughtCorp Davidb@thoughtcorp.com 416-591-4004 ext 300 www.thoughtcorp.com

Agenda
A little on ThoughtCorp and myself What is Effective Training What can you do to improve the training classes in your organization Questions

ThoughtCorp Details
Specialists in Information Lifecycle Services Company specifics 14 employees 100+ projects, including at least 60 BI implementations Established in 1995 Multi-million dollars of revenues A wealth of experience in dealing with major Canadian corporations Microsoft Certified Solution Provider Cognos Premier Business Partner Data Warehousing Institute Member

Member

Premier Partner

Information Lifecycle Services

Cognos Specific Services

Full BI implementation services PowerPlay Impromptu Web Products Training Introduction level Advanced level Administration Support Tune-up services BI implementation strategy Data analysis services

Cognos Qualifications
Over 60 implementations In a large number of industries In a large number of departments With a large number of data sets Numerous certified consultants 24 person-years of combined experience Premier Partner designation A proud member of the Cognos community here in Toronto

ThoughtCorps Training Qualifications

Have run hundreds of BI training classes Over the past 7 years With dozens of clients including:
Sun Life CIBC Mellon Trust Manulife Financial The Citadel
Playtex Molson Breweries J.M. Schneider CIM

Thomas Cook Eli Lilly Peel Board of Education TD Bank Imperial Oil Scotiabank
Zimmer

McNeil Consumer Products HJ Heinz

And lots of teaching experience in general Cognos Microsoft McGill University Have developed a host of courseware for Cognos training

Effective Training

What is Effective Training?

Teaching people how to use the Cognos technology Taking a complex series of instructions and turning it into a memorable set of experiences Ingraining not only how to use the tools, but why you would use the tools Benefits: Improved utilization Improved effectiveness in analysis Reduced support costs Effective training boils down to 7 key principles 1. Use your own data 2. Concentrate on key features 3. Study your students 4. Keep it fun 5. Summarize, summarize and summarize again 6. Never stop teaching 7. Deal with remote users

1. Use Your Own Data

Users can relate to a training class better if they are using their
Own data With their own examples In their own environment

Great Outdoors training is OK, but not as good as using your own data If its familiar, then its easier to learn No leap of faith required Reason Why: it removes one distraction that of understanding a whole new data structure
All hierarchies are already known Examples are specific to solving one of their business problems

2. Concentrate on Key Features

Software today is extremely complex, and contains a tremendous amount of features Normally, only a small subset of these features are geared at the average user Effective software training strongly emphasizes these critical features, and de-emphasizes the less relevant features Communication of content must be business first, technology second Reason Why: Removes clutter and allows the trainee to concentrate on whats important Examples of key PowerPlay topics
Drill-down and slicing-and-dicing (cube navigation) Building simple and nested reports Calculations Rankings Housekeeping (saving, exporting, printing, etc.)

3. Study Your Students

User training must target the needs of the participants in a given class Each class must therefore be different in terms of content The best way to accomplish this is to know your audience What should you know?
Send out a pre-class questionnaire Ask them at the beginning of the class Skill sets Length of time with the company Level of expertise with the technology Expectations

Keep classes homogeneous in terms of demographics Reason Why: Training classes are forced to target the average user in the class. Better the variance in user skills be low so as not to
Bore the advanced people Lose the less advanced people

4. Keep it Fun
Software training can be dull unless classes are informal, fun, and example oriented The trainer should tell the people something about themselves Give the participants some insight of your background Tell the participants something about your personal life Tell jokes and poke fun of yourself Make them believe that you are more than a trainer Walk around the class dont be the talking head Students take risks when teachers create a comfortable environment Great teachers exude passion as well as purpose Turn your classes into as much of a multi-media experience as possible Slide shows Demonstrations as well as trials Discussions Have only 1 person per machine, in order to minimize the boring watching time Reason Why: Software classes are generally boring, so keeping it interesting keeps it memorable, and keeps people from zoning out

Grouping Grouping

Dayna Dayna Sari Sari David David Calex Calex Ryan Ryan David David

Product A Product A

400 400 300 300 100 100 500 500 400 400 200 200

Product B Product B

5. Summarize, Summarize, and Summarize Again

Keep it simple there are 5 things you need to know Tell them what you want to tell them, tell them, then tell them what youve told them Keep it clear even if you can't keep it simple Repeat the important points The first time you say something, it's heard The second time, it's recognized The third time, it's learned Good teachers ask good questions Training should be complemented with summary exercises After topics After the entire class

For $100: What was Backpacks revenue in Q1 1996?~*1883~4950~29079~880452~a~b~d For $100: What was Backpacks revenue in Q1 1996?~*1883~4950~29079~880452~a~b~d For $200: What was Sports Chains' revenue in 1996 in North America?~12345~64455~*34924~1~c~a~d For $200: What was Sports Chains' revenue in 1996 in North America?~12345~64455~*34924~1~c~a~d For $300: How many Tents were sold to Mountain Madness (Mass Marketer) in all of 1996?~4144~22~13~*8~d~c~b For $300: How many Tents were sold to Mountain Madness (Mass Marketer) in all of 1996?~4144~22~13~*8~d~c~b For $500: From which Channel did the most revenue come from in 1997?~*Camping Chains~ Sports Chains~ Independents~ Jewelry Shops~a~c~d For $500: From which Channel did the most revenue come from in 1997?~*Camping Chains~ Sports Chains~ Independents~ Jewelry Shops~a~c~d For $1000: What share of revenue came from Outdoor products YTD?~12.54%~*33.58%~98.54%~45.45%~b~a~d For $1000: What share of revenue came from Outdoor products YTD?~12.54%~*33.58%~98.54%~45.45%~b~a~d For $2000: What was the average price of tents sold to Mass Marketers in all of 1996?~*450~199~299~499~a~c~d For $2000: What was the average price of tents sold to Mass Marketers in all of 1996?~*450~199~299~499~a~c~d For $4000: Which Tent is most "over developed" in the far east in 1996 for revenue?~ Star Gazer-2~ Star Gazer-3~ *Star Dome~Star Lite~d~a~b For $4000: Which Tent is most "over developed" in the far east in 1996 for revenue?~ Star Gazer-2~ Star Gazer-3~ *Star Dome~Star Lite~d~a~b For $8000: Which channel is the most "under-developed" in North Amer in 1996 for revs?~ Sports Chains~Idependent~*Camping Chains~ Mass Marketers~c~b~d For $8000: Which channel is the most "under-developed" in North Amer in 1996 for revs?~ Sports Chains~Idependent~*Camping Chains~ Mass Marketers~c~b~d For $16000: Which store declined the most between YTD and Prior YTD in terms of revenue?~ Stop Outlet~ Ten City~ Wally Mart~*Ultra Sports~d~a~b For $16000: Which store declined the most between YTD and Prior YTD in terms of revenue?~ Stop Outlet~ Ten City~ Wally Mart~*Ultra Sports~d~a~b For $32000: How fast did the Independant channel grow between YTD and Prior YTD for revenue?~*41.34%~-56.44%~32.99%~156.55%~a~b~c For $32000: How fast did the Independant channel grow between YTD and Prior YTD for revenue?~*41.34%~-56.44%~32.99%~156.55%~a~b~c For $64000: Which Country sold the most Outdoor products at low margin (under 20%) YTD?~ *United States~ Canada~ Mexico~ Sweden~a~c~d For $64000: Which Country sold the most Outdoor products at low margin (under 20%) YTD?~ *United States~ Canada~ Mexico~ Sweden~a~c~d For $125000: Who is the best customer (revenue wise) YTD?~Vacation Central~ Wally MArt~ Ultra Sports~*Go Outlet~d~a~b For $125000: Who is the best customer (revenue wise) YTD?~Vacation Central~ Wally MArt~ Ultra Sports~*Go Outlet~d~a~b For $250000: Who is the best sales person (revenue wise) YTD?~Dave Mustaine~*Kurt Gruber~ Greg Torson~ Jane Litrand~b~c~d For $250000: Who is the best sales person (revenue wise) YTD?~Dave Mustaine~*Kurt Gruber~ Greg Torson~ Jane Litrand~b~c~d For $500000: Who is the sales person with the largest % growth (revenue wise) YTD vs Prior YTD?~Kurt Gruber~Dave Mustaine~ Greg Torson~*Matt Casgot~d~a~b For $500000: Who is the sales person with the largest % growth (revenue wise) YTD vs Prior YTD?~Kurt Gruber~Dave Mustaine~ Greg Torson~*Matt Casgot~d~a~b For $1000000: Where is David's Dad's Cottage?~Montreal~ *St. Agathe~ Muskoka~Tremlant~b~c~d For $1000000: Where is David's Dad's Cottage?~Montreal~ *St. Agathe~ Muskoka~Tremlant~b~c~d

6. Never Stop Teaching

Effective training involves effective follow-up marketing Marketing initiatives Newsletters Web pages of tricks and traps Shared analyses Contests Give homework Regular scheduled courses Schedule classes for sign up People could attend as they wish There should be no negative consequences even if a person takes the same class several times Hold advanced level courses (1.5 times principle) Hold Effective Analyses courses

7. Strategies for Remote Users

Conference call training Video Taped classes Effective training guides Web based presentations

Miscellaneous Tips
Defer the unknown Limit long sidebars or discussions Never touch the student's mouse or keyboard, no matter how badly they are struggling Make yourself available during breaks, and before/after class (including email contact information) Use analogies wherever possible using a cube is like eating an orange Keep a running list of Questions that you haven't answered Topics that students want to cover right now, but appear later in the agenda Topics that students want to cover, but only can be addressed if there is spare time at the end of the course Take feedback at the end of each course

Summary
Using the 7 key training principles will improve your training classes 1. Use your own data 2. Concentrate on key features 3. Study your students 4. Keep it fun 5. Summarize, summarize and summarize again 6. Never stop teaching 7. Deal with remote users Effective training has many benefits Improved utilization Improved effectiveness in analysis Reduced support costs With practice and by trying new things, you could develop effective training courses within your organization

Strategies for Effective Training

Presented by David Bercovitch ThoughtCorp Davidb@thoughtcorp.com 416-591-4004 ext 300 www.thoughtcorp.com