A growing American dairy company receives a cutting-edge learning strategy and training program to bring modern software and processes to its team members at farms and organic processing plants.
Opportunity
A private organic dairy with operations in two states supplies and packages products for many of the nation’s largest grocery chains. It needed help training and enabling end users with new workplace enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. While 150 users would directly touch the new software, almost all the company’s 700 employees needed to understand the related processes designed to better manage the business and automate certain functions through digital enablement.
Imagining IT Differently
The dairy had previously relied on “old school” peer-to-peer training without any formal materials. ISG’s organizational change management (OCM) team used next-generation tools to build courseware for a blended-learning approach of both instructor-led training and eLearning that let employees learn on the job and through instant “contextual” help online. Users could easily access the newly created learning materials – including e-books, simulations, printable job aids and PowerPoints outlining the new processes – through postings on the company’s content-collaboration website.
ISG’s end-user training team also interviewed the company’s subject-matter experts for information used in the design, development and implementation of customized tools for training their own direct reports and other future users of the Infor M3 food-and-beverage solution and supply-chain-management software. ISG led personalized train-the-trainer sessions with individuals from across the company and then provided instructor-led training for small groups to use new “just-in-time” learning tools on the job. The company leaders were so pleased they asked ISG to help with the opening of a second plant.
Future Made Possible
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The project launched on time and slightly under budget.
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The company is already using the new software and processes to run its daily operations, with end users adapting well to the new ERP. The company now has better customer-order management, warehouse management and supply-chain solutions.
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The business learned how to better harness the knowledge of its own subject-matter experts and drive adoption for new communications channels/social-collaboration platforms to help educate employees about new processes in the future.
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The dairy company benefitted from next-generation training tools, including Infor’s Enterprise Performance Accelerator Kit – or EPAK (which is also sold as Oracle’s User Productivity Kit – or UPK – and provides similar functionality to ANCILE uPerform and SAP Enable Now).
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Training materials about the new systems remain available on the company’s social-collaboration site for future employees.
