Application Training Part 2 : Navigating in New Tech

As part of our ongoing support for our customers, we provide both formal and informal training around the services and products we implement.  From a few recent experiences, I wanted to share some overall suggestions on how to plan and present a successful training session on technical topics. Over a series of blogs, I will share some of the planning and content suggestions that have worked well in the past.

This blog will focus on the navigational aspects of a new technology and also some suggestions for how to help your support team, help users to get faster and/or more efficient issue resolution. This is geared toward a technical system, but it can be modified to reference any new situation, where the audience needs to understand how to approach or navigate around something new in the business environment.

Access and Navigation:

• Show where to find the application and icon appearance.

• Walk through the login process.

• Explain security around the login so the users understand why they need to add the domain name or enter a code from a key generator.

• Once the app is opened, walk through the key features of the typical login area versus admin (if appropriate). Don’t point out admin features to users who don’t have access to them.

• Point out all ways users can search and find data within the application.

• Demo across different focus areas, i.e. Sales, Marketing, Service, Admin.

Support process for the new application:

• How to report errors – phone call, email, internal company portal. Provide an easy process for users to report errors in near-real-time, to allow admins to respond and track problems, and see larger-picture issues.

• What to include in error messages – screen shots, error text, an example of when the problem occurred. More information will decrease the time from report to resolution.

Take a look at the other blogs in this series for more suggestions for ways to improve your training process.

Beringer Associates, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is always here to provide expert knowledge in topics like these.  Please contact us with any questions you may have.

[code-snippet name=”blog”]