Pause.  (Thought bubble appears).

Why don’t I have access?  I used to be able to create purchase orders.  I need to be able to do this.  Why is my manager stopping me from doing my job?

(Sound of pencil snapping).

“Rob, can I borrow your SAP password to create this purchase order?  Need to get this invoice paid today, otherwise the vendor is not going to deliver the stock we need!”

Sound familiar?  Read on as we share our years of experience to help ensure that your organisation’s expenditure in SAP includes a comprehensive governance framework to ensure that this situation doesn’t occur.

Oh, and what’s the likely cost to your business if you get it wrong?

$3.08 million.

That’s the average loss to an organisation which experiences fraud, according to a recent KPMG report,[i] which also found that 91% of frauds are carried out by an individual with no known history of dishonesty, and 2012 saw an 82% increase in individual frauds exceeding $1 million.  And you’ve just spent how much on that SAP implementation or security remediation project?  Our tips below will help ensure that your investment is secure, so you’re less likely to become the next statistic in the news.

Tip 1: Integrate Security in every SAP project, from Blueprint onwards

Data governance is typically given top priority in any SAP project, and security is often the last thing to be considered (or sometimes even scrapped until after Go Live, which is painful!)  Yet it’s just as important, and should be integrated in every project, right from the Blueprint phase.  This requires executive sponsorship, team integration, effective stakeholder engagement and training, which are just as important as effective access control and risk analysis tools, such as SAP GRC.

Tip 2: Mix business with Security, consistently

It’s critical that SAP Security is not viewed as a technical IT function, separate from the business requirements…that inevitably results in “Damned security!” frustration.  Functional Consultants need to dovetail their design with the goals of Security, then work with the business to ensure that practical solutions result, meeting the needs of the business while providing the required governance.  This is where expert change management guidance will help bring the parties together effectively, and assist with facilitating quality process mapping and business validation, and role design and role mapping that everyone understands well before the access is provisioned.

Ultimately, proper security governance facilitates Best Practice business processes, and ensures that these are sustained, which results in your SAP return on investment being realised over the long term.

It might sound obvious, but don’t forget to engage with the Internal Audit team also!

Tip 3: Test effectively

Security is often overlooked during the Test phase of a project (or unable to be tested, if the role design was not considered early enough).  SAP Best Practice is to conduct User Acceptance Testing with the security roles which will be used in Production, to provide a comprehensive testing regime (both positive and negative testing) which will minimise the number of unexpected access restrictions (or segregation of duties risks) arising at Go Live.

Don’t compromise your SAP system

Case study:

A greenfield implementation was running behind schedule, with process mapping and security role design partially incomplete when UAT commenced.  As a result, testing could not be done with the final roles.  The result at Go Live?  A large number of users could not perform key tasks, so the decision was made to drastically broaden the Production roles to allow the business to function.  This in turn exposed the business to high fraud risk for the interim period.  The resulting role re-design, re-mapping and re-provisioning into the Production environment consumed time and energy which should have been spent bedding down the system.  The total costs subsequently blew out.[ii]

Nobody likes to have something enforced which they don’t understand the rationale for, yet security is often imposed as a “rule” without explaining the reasons why.  This is a critical piece of the engagement exercise, which should commence early and ideally expand to an organisation-wide cultural acknowledgment of security principles and their practical application, in the same way that safety awareness is embedded in today’s organisations.  Executives and the governance team should also be included, to drive engagement and demonstrate commitment from the top.

Furthermore, cultivating a culture of awareness among staff enhances even the best system controls.  In Australian organisations, 35% of fraud is detected through a tip off, both by internal and external sources and through formalised whistleblower programs.[iii]  Training staff in what to look for and identifying the ‘Red Flags’ of fraud is an invaluable fraud mitigation and detection tool. All organisations, regardless of size, should consider a security awareness training program, including:

Educate staff to build vigilance

• Fraud awareness
• A whistleblower program that staff trust
• Maintaining and promoting fraud reporting channels
• Data security

It’s not just about fraud.  The Age of Data is by definition also the Age of Data Breaches.  The average cost of a data breach to an Australian enterprise increased to $2.72 million last year,[iv] and if your business is managing sensitive customer data with SAP CRM, your security framework can’t be limited to the SAP ECC system.

Tip 5: Finish strongly

As Go-Live approaches, project teams have to set up new users, provision access and perform final checks, and ensure that user accounts activate on day one and not before.  These activities all need to be perfectly timed to ensure minimal disruption to the business, and if security is understood and integrated with the project team’s objectives, success is far more likely.

Tip 6: Ensure that the security model is sustainable

After Go Live, there are inevitably alterations to roles required, so all changes must go through a rigorous risk analysis and acceptance process to ensure that the good work done in role design is not unwound.  A sustainable governance model should include regular “Working Group” meetings, with Role Owners, Risk Owners and Internal Audit involved.  The SAP GRC toolset provides ample reporting capability for review of risks and mitigating control compliance, but this only yields value if the information is reviewed regularly.

Case study:

An operational manager of a large manufacturing company had detailed knowledge of the invoicing systems which enabled them to create fraudulent invoices inflating the costs of regular supply of goods and services from a third party. In addition, the employee had responsibility for the management of asset disposal, and had the ability to write down stock to minimal value. This stock was then sold on the secondary market for a significant profit.

The total estimated loss was in the range of AUD 8 million. [v]

In an era of exponentially increasing data and interconnected IT systems, the potential for misuse of data is increasing correspondingly.  Likewise, there are more and more technical and consulting offerings; some tried and true, others recent and untested.  Recognise the limits of your expertise and engage trusted help early, where you need to.

With the correct application of the latest risk analysis and management tools, combined with a strategic and practical change management program to achieve implementation and sustainability, not just installation, you’ll achieve the best possible security outcomes.

Don’t think of it as money spent; think of it as $3.08 million saved.

The post Effective SAP Security through Engagement appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

This article is featured in the InsideSAP Autumn 2013 edition (p. 43) – Click to view

The Death of Email.

That’s the provocative title of a recent article which caught my attention, the main premise of which was, of course, that the continued uptake of social communication tools in our personal lives is seeing a fairly rapid end to email, and this will be mirrored in corporations.  Now, before getting too excited about the demise of this ubiquitous but much maligned tool, remember that we have been here before.  Remember Google Wave, which promised to reinvent electronic communication, yet was quietly euthanised by Google by early 2012?  Remember the French CEO who issued a ban on email in 2011?

This time it’s different – there is something to actually take its place. Enterprise Social Networking, or ESN, is here, now, and over the course of the next five years, it’s going to revolutionise the way we work.

The Social Boom

Enterprise Social Networking is going to be huge.  According to Deloitte analysis[i], more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies will partially or fully implement an enterprise social network by the end of 2013, a 70% increase on 2011.    Gartner predicts that by 2016, 50% of large organizations will have internal social networks[ii].  Little wonder then, that SAP, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce and Microsoft are investing billions of dollars to make sure that they get a decent slice of what is going to be a very large pie.

How can we make workers as communicative, engaged and connected as they are in their personal lives?

So, is it just Facebook for business?  For some of the software available, you could say Yes, and all of them have a lot in common with the social behemoth.  They are almost universally designed to be highly intuitive, encourage networking, and have feeds and groups, messaging and notifications.  However, the more mature Enterprise Social products have a focus on file sharing and collaboration rather than games and photo tagging.  Getting stuff done, rather than just updating people.  We are now seeing streamlined integration with other software, such as learning management systems and Sharepoint, and feeds from the organisation’s ERP or CRM system, meaning that you can not only follow people, you can also follow analytics and sales opportunities, for example.

All for as little as $3 per user per month[iii].

And it means that email, which has essentially remained unchanged since the first networked message was sent in 1971, can finally be ditched. Sure, email is great for one-on-one, formal correspondence.  For collaboration, though, instant messaging and wikis, which allow for real-time communication and centralized information sharing, are far superior.  Furthermore, one of the benefits of ESN is their ability to unlock the rich veins of information normally locked in email inboxes, making relevant content accessible and searchable for the entire company.

Knowledge sharing at the next level

A lot has happened in six years

The global ESN market was led by IBM’s Connections for the three years to 2011, though the situation has been changing rapidly, as a raft of mergers and acquisitions have taken place and other large vendors have made significant releases.

Yammer, a fast-growing networking and micro-blogging platform launched in late 2008, has claimed that 85% of Fortune 500 companies use the product; local customers include Deloitte Australia, NAB, VicRoads and Westfield.  The developers made use of the application programming interfaces (or API) from SAP to offer their customers a direct feed from SAP ERP and CRM, without asking (or requiring) permission[iv].  An Open Graph link (Yes, the Facebook API protocol!) allows the user to click on the update notification in Yammer, which will then display the relevant SAP screen in a separate tab.  Yammer was bought by Microsoft in June 2012 and it should be integrated with Sharepoint 2013 and Office 365, with single sign-on, by mid-2013.

Jive has been a serious player for a number of years (and even powers the online SAP Community Network), Salesforce’s Chatter was launched to the public in mid-2010, Oracle launched its own Social Network in late 2011, and LinkedIn has announced[v] that they are working on their own version of ESN.  It’s fast becoming a crowded space.

Enter SAP’s Jam.  Launched in October 2012, it’s a new product yet comes with the pedigree of Success Factors Jam and SAP’s previous ESN software, Streamwork, heralding a serious move by SAP into the enterprise social space.  SAP started with the principle that Social should be “something that shows up when you need it, enabling and enhancing something you are already doing.”  What SAP did was form a co-innovation council of 20 customers from different industries and worked through “day in the life of” scenarios for many different roles.  This feedback was used to embed Social into business applications where it delivers results, such as CRM, finance applications, learning and talent management.

SAP claims that their approach will solve the two key problems currently facing ESN, namely:

1. Vague return on investment figures, inhibiting sponsorship at the executive level, and generating skepticism; and
2. Lack of business context, leading to low adoption.  The majority of organisations are finding that only 10-20% of their eligible workforce are actively using the networks[vi].

In addition, SAP has added a series of more structured collaborative tools, such as dynamic meeting agendas, pro/con tables (to rate feedback from others) and a decision sign-off tool.  And the video capture tool means that anyone can capture and share video from a smartphone, webcam or screen recording and share it in seconds – perfect for informal learning.

Benefits for SAP Projects

At Adapt2 Consulting, we see tremendous potential to take communication and engagement to the next level for SAP projects using ESN software; in particular:

Boost collaboration on SAP projects

1. Knowledge sharing.  Imagine being able to cultivate effective Super User Groups from project inception through to the BAU environment, to create solutions, share best practices and embed process changes through continuing group sharing.  And project updates without Yet Another Email; the information you need when you need it.
2. Engagement.  Deloitte reports a turnover rate for active ESN users one tenth of those who don’t use it, which they attribute to employees feeling more engaged and recognized for their work.  Apply that to involving your project team or business users in the process change and solution design throughout the project and you have a winning formula.
3. Onboarding.  SAP project environments are pressure-cookers at the best of times, meaning the onboarding process is often suboptimal.  ESN turbo-charges onboarding – new team members can be provisioned with the groups, connections, conversations and files they need to get cracking on day one.
4. Learning.  Materials can be easily reviewed, kept up to date, and shared.  Trainees can be connected with key course information and the instructor before, during and after face-to-face sessions, from any device.  Groups are perfect for asking questions or sharing expertise with others.

Challenges of Social

ESN comes with challenges, and of course, the software must be viewed as a tool rather than a panacea.  In particular, employees cannot be made to use Social; they must opt-in, and the benefits will only be achieved if uptake is high enough.  Traditionally, tech rollouts, such as SAP, followed a “push” approach – workers were trained on the product and then simply expected to use it. Social requires a “pull” approach, which is best supplemented by an effective change management program, characterised by visible sponsor-level support, explaining the Why? and articulating the “What’s In it For Me?”.

Security and control is a standard concern as soon as the term Social is used, however these tools are internally-controlled, and compliance and governance features typically come standard.  In reality, the risks are similar to that of email usage, which are mitigated with policies and common sense.

More threatening for some organisations is the flattening of the organisational hierarchy that results when shop-floor staff can view and participate in a discussion initiated by the CEO.

Social is Now

Enterprise Social Networking software truly heralds the next phase of the knowledge evolution for the workplace.  The early versions mimicked Facebook and permitted networking, micro blogging and not much else; now they are integrated with SAP, Sharepoint and can largely replace email.  What’s the next phase going to bring?  One thing is certain – it’s going to seriously shake up the way we work, and has enormous potential to help our workplaces to become more collaborative, engaging, creative and productive.

What’s not to Like about that?  

The post The Enterprise Social Networking Boom appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

With WPB you can push help content to the user, directly in SAP

What is it?

Formerly datango Performance Suite, the leading product in the workforce enablement space, SAP acquired the software (and staff) in February 2012 and had it re-branded for sale as SAP Workforce Performance Builder by March 2012.  Enhancements were swift, with 17 languages and other functionality added to customise it for optimal SAP integration.

It consists of 4 components:

• Instant Producer – simple, intuitive recording by any key user or SME
• Producer – enhanced content development
• Manager – content revision, versioning, and reporting
• Navigator – content-sensitive help pushed to the user directly in SAP

This video overview explains the product in more detail.

Why is it so promising?

• It’s customised for SAP, therefore has higher content accuracy and quality than other tools, which means less editing and lower development costs;
• It offers rapid content creation with more formats from a single recording than other tools;
• It has been built with mobile learning in mind – single source content can be used for both desktop and mobile playback without the need for a separate recording;
• It’s integrated within SAP, allowing field-level help to be pushed to the user, rather than the user having to open another application (which aligns with the way learning is headed, as outlined in this Inside SAP article on learning trends); and
• It’s excellent at creating content for other software applications as well, giving added value and facilitating consistent content across your suite of learning materials.

More importantly though, SAP has a brilliant roadmap for the product, so the functionality is going to get better rapidly. Major releases will occur every year, and support packs will be released quarterly.

The 9.2 release, due in March 2013, will integrate with Solution Manager, so that process changes recorded in SolMan can be directly exported to the Manager component in Workforce Performance Builder. Quicker updates and neat integration – nice.

Like to know more?

Adapt2 Consulting staff are certified to train SAP Workforce Performance Builder and we are very passionate about its potential.  If you are interested in learning more about Workforce Performance Builder, seeing a demonstration, or receiving training, contact us.

If you like the content on our site, use the LinkedIn Follow button at the top of the page to have our blog posts delivered directly to your feed.

The post SAP Workforce Performance Builder software is gaining momentum appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

– Anon.

This article is featured in Inside SAP magazine’s Summer 2012 edition – click to view the magazine

You’ve just started with a new employer and have had the safety induction, been introduced to the key people and have been shown your work station.  You’re excited, nervous and wondering what to expect next.  The company runs SAP, so applying your initiative, you search through the intranet for support content, but you are unable to find any online SAP training materials, guides or any useful information.  You have been assigned a buddy, Joe, who gives you some old printed materials, which he advises are about 40% out of date.  Your boss asks you to get going in SAP.  As you have no access yet, Joe lends you his user ID…and he lets you watch him, as part of the two-day handover.  Joe’s very disenchanted with the company, seems to be disorganised and does not seem to follow the correct processes.  You’re very nervous to transact in the live system, as you know that you will be held responsible for any mistakes, once Joe is gone.  The only form of support is an online Helpdesk service, but requests for help take days to be answered and only provide a transactional answer – without explaining the process.

After a week, your level of confidence hasn’t improved. It seems like everyone you meet has their own system “workaround”.  People openly grumble about SAP, and the quality of data is poor and getting worse by the day.  Excel is being used to produce management reports. You are surprised that even the most basic tasks in SAP seem like an enormous challenge for people, and yet, you’ve seen the system work so well elsewhere. What makes the situation even most astonishing is that the implementation project concluded only a year ago, and was reported to have cost around $50m. You wonder whether this company is really for you…

Owning intellectual property is like owning land. You need to keep investing in it again and again to get payoff.” -  Esther Dyson

This all-too-familiar scenario arises easily, and it starts with the project handover.  Training is the item most often identified as the single greatest determinant of success, during post-implementation project reviews [i], yet it’s still the item which is most likely to have funds de-allocated during an implementation.  If training and change management is not done effectively for Go Live, the project obviously suffers.  However, it is the Business As Usual (BAU) training environment that is the key to realising the return on the investment over the long term.

Providing quality, ongoing training does not have to be expensive. By applying the latest learner-centric approaches, it costs less than ever before.  The ubiquity of screens (PCs, laptops, tablets and phones) in today’s workplace means that users are more comfortable with training content and support materials being accessed online and printed only when required, or never.  Content is thus more easily updated as the system is enhanced, compared to the “printed manual” approach of ten years ago.  The latest tools for recording eLearning simulations, such as SAP Workforce Performance Builder, are all about rapid development of content, requiring less expertise for developers, and also permit field-level, context-sensitive help and process guidance.  This means that process and business rule help is pushed to the user directly when they are populating fields in SAP, without having to invoke help menus.

Maintain your learning ecosystem to get the most out of your IT investment

The result is better training support for learners, integrated in the system, demonstrating the “why” and the “how”.  A linked LMS or training portal (such as KnowHow) further enhances the overall learning experience, delivering relevant courses directly to users, and participation and completion can be easily monitored. And by capitalising on the use of social media, wikis and forums, users can generate and update shared materials; such as a user forum where upcoming changes can be announced, or questions asked.  This enables self-help and cultivates engagement, while ensuring that the management team has visibility of process adherence.  It’s cheaply available, now.  And rather than incurring the overhead and inefficiency of permanent training staff, expert trainers can be called in for on-demand sessions only as required, for example, when there are multiple new starters or a process has changed.

The result of all this is a training ecosystem which is targeted, easily accessible and up-to-date; as a result, users will use it and be effective in the system.  Calls to the helpdesk go down, user productivity goes up, data quality is retained, and you have a platform for future enhancements.  In short, the very benefits the project was intended to deliver.

The right training keeps a business running smoothly

Clearly, the maintenance of BAU training content and business processes is critical to achieving the return on your SAP project spend.

At Adapt2 Consulting, we believe that attending to the upkeep, using the latest approaches, will deliver years of productivity gains from your systems and people, at a fraction of the cost of inaction.  Need help?  Ask us how.

The post Maintaining your SAP Investment appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

Could this be love?

Apparently, over 60% of songs are about love and relationships. Love is certainly something worth singing about, especially if you are in love. But what if you love SAP…what do you listen to then? There are no SAP love songs, are there?

Well, actually, Yes there are. As the year draws to a close, and everyone is starting to think more about Christmas parties and summer holidays than work, and perhaps, after an arduous year, questioning their love of SAP, I thought it would be timely to dust off and share a couple of rather obscure tracks which you may not have come across before.

The first is a lovely ballad called SAP Is What You Need, by the curiously named Me and the Heat, (who are, according to their Facebook page, one of the most successful bands in Germany). The Germans may have cracked the ERP market worldwide, however, the same cannot be said for their music industry. Still, it’s a pure love serenade… best enjoyed with a glass of red wine, a fireplace, and a well-thumbed copy of something thick from SAP Press, it really has the power to bring a tear to your eye…

“….You are so proud to appear, now, in the world wide web….”

“But where the hell’d you get your business…… intelli-gence…?”

Indeed.

Now, if syrupy lyrics are not your thing, fear not, as I have another gem for you, this time a snappy little rap number called ERP of the Century. Brought to you by a creative agency called Morsekode, it went straight to the top of the charts worldwide. Or should have….

“…1972, five crazy cats sprung a rung from the big blue….”

“…Netweaver..? You best believe ‘er…she’s bringing it together cleaner than beaver cleaver”

On that note, I’m signing off for the year. Wishing everyone a safe and happy festive season from Adapt2 Consulting, and a very successful 2013. If you find yourself having any doubts, just remember, SAP is what you need.

- ERP of the Century used with the permission of Morsekode – thanks guys. Lyrics by Angelique Mastoroudes.

The post From the Archives – SAP Songs appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

Thanks to modern neuroscience, we now know that the human brain is naturally wired to receive and remember experiences within the structure of a story. And nowadays, we keep hearing again and again that effective learning materials must include stories, but how often does it? Think of training materials you are familiar with and ask yourself – are they evocative, visual, detailed enough to draw you in, and contain an introduction, body and conclusion? If so, good for you – your instructional designer has done (at least part of) a great job. Most times though, from my experience, the concept is known but under-employed.

Now, you can’t expect to enchant your adult learner the way Pop did to me… in fact, it’s more than likely that the adult learner has more life experience than the trainer, and if it’s system training, may even know parts of the system better than the trainer. Nonetheless, the principal still applies – let me give you an example of how I went about it on one occasion.

I was given training materials for system training (SAP) which consisted of an activity guide, data set and a long slideshow. Do this transaction, do that transaction, click here, save there. If we were teaching robots it would probably be fine, however it wasn’t really flowing sequentially and more importantly, it didn’t tell the story through a scenario. I set myself to restructuring it to add a story and make it more compelling.

Firstly, I scrapped most of the slides. Pop never needed Powerpoint to show me how to bait a hook or get on a horse, and I can still remember how to do those vividly. Sure, slides have a place and are great as bookends and support material for classroom training, but not as training itself. “Learn by doing” beats “death by slideshow” for any content, any learner.

Next, I put the thinking cap on – I have to think like this end user to come up with the right story. Pop used to say that to understand someone you should put their shoes on and walk a hundred miles. Well I didn’t have that much time, and thankfully, I have the benefit of having been an SAP end user, so the job was half done – but if you haven’t, you could obtain the information you need by coming up with some typical scenarios which might fit with the learning objectives, and then running these past the trainees in advance, or their leader. They will surely appreciate the time taken to compose a realistic scenario for them.

Scenario chosen, it’s then a fairly simple matter of weaving the activities around this, ideally forming an end-to-end replication of the entire scenario (intermittently relating it back to the process flows, if you have them) complete with introduction (problem or trigger), body (the core processing steps) and conclusion (problem solved or process ended).

My trainees loved the training, because it was realistic, compelling and memorable, and left them with the skills to tackle similar situations on their own. Stories help learning stick.

Sounds simple? It is, especially if you think about telling the story at the outset of your content creation. Good luck, and I’d love to hear your opinions or experiences – go on, tell a story!

The post Effective adult learning – How to embed stories appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

a) A kind of deer, related to a Moose, but found only in China.
b) A mobile book, alternate term for an eBook.
c) Massive Open Online Course

Correct, the answer is c) Massive Open Online Course – a tool for democratising higher education. In the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing MOOCs as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree.

Have a look at Coursera, Udacity, and edX to see what’s on offer.

I have recently enrolled in a MOOC for Organisational Analysis presented by Stanford University delivered via Coursera. The prospect of having a closer look at eLearning content and the management of eLearning as delivered by top universities had my curiosity piqued.
Coursera offers 198 courses presented by 33 universities including Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Firstly, I was impressed by the massive scale of the course, judged by the forum participation with posts attracting more than 4,000 views from all over the world in the first week. This can only be an enriching learning experience with so many interested participants sharing views and insights.

I have worked through the first online lecture and was once again pleasantly surprised. The first lecture comprises of a rich case study presented by Associate Professor Dan McFarland introducing analytical features of organisations. The forum is used effectively with Dan responding to forum items with highest vote via screen side chat and blog post. I’ll be applying the latest learning from Stanford to our stakeholder analysis templates.

The course content utilises engaging eLearning features including quiz questions, notes template, reading list, course meet up and summary tables.

I’m enjoying the learning experience, so please join me in January. I have signed up for:

1. Fundamentals of Online Education at coursera.org/course/foe – 5 weeks duration, requiring study commitment of 5 to 7 hours per week. Certificate of Completion will be provided by Georgia Tech C21U.
2. E-learning and Digital Cultures at coursera.org/course/edc – 5 weeks duration, requiring study commitment of 3 to 5 hours per week. Signed certificate of completion will be issued by University of Edinburgh instructors.

Share your view on MOOCs – what are the benefits, application, limitations and future in your view? How about an SAP MOOC or School Extension Topic MOOC?

The post What is a MOOC? appeared first on Adapt2 Consulting.

Let me share with you a story about the first time I taught a room of budding SAP users who were aged almost exclusively under 25. I had a great set of training materials – brief but engaging slides, and realistic but not overly-complicated hands-on activities. Shortly after I walked into that room full of excited, boisterous, generation-Y trainees and commenced the learning, I sensed that I had to immediately adapt my delivery style if I was to survive the day. Almost instantly I noticed that they could not leave their smartphones alone, nor could they resist surfing the internet whenever there was a spare moment, yet somehow when I questioned them it didn’t seem to affect their learning or recall. They were lightning quick with the system, collectively chatty and relentlessly questioning me on topics other groups would typically just accept.

Let me also share with you some trends. Infographics are in; lengthy descriptions are boring. LMS2.0 is in; the old LMS format is dated. HTML5 is in; Flash is soon to be a relic. Hybrid learning is in; blended learning is old-school. And mLearning and social media-enabled learning platforms…well they’re just plain new!

This article is featured in the InsideSAP 2013 Yearbook (p. 42) – Click to view

The Digital Age is whistling us along at a phenomenal pace, making it hard to believe that most of the technology we take for granted today was absent 20 years ago. And it’s offering up new tools to dramatically increase the effectiveness of SAP learning programs, just as quickly. This article will explore how these advances translate into the latest developments in systems learning, and how these can be applied to SAP learning programs to yield optimal learning outcomes, and hence maximum success and cost-effectiveness for the project.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

A teaching revolution is happening in our schools and universities, as the recognition that Digital Natives – those who have spent their entire lives surrounded by all the toys and tools of the digital age – actually think, process information, and learn differently (Prensky, 2001). They like their information fast and furious, are prodigious parallel-processors, prefer to scan than focus, and prefer graphics over text (think Instagram, Pinterest and infographics). This generation is now entering the workforce in droves, triggering a corporate learning revolution, as I experienced first-hand. If you’re a Digital Immigrant (someone who has adapted to the digital environment) and have a stake in delivering training programs, it’s critical to be aware of the requirements of this group and provide suitable learning offerings, in the same way that you must if you are catering to a group of more mature users. The key is choice – providing learning options so that users can gravitate towards those which they find most enjoyable and effective.

The eLearning Evolution – good and becoming excellent

eLearning materials – developed for the large screen (desktop or laptop) – are becoming more powerful and widespread learning aids, as software providers compete to make the development of rich, interactive materials easier (and cheaper) to develop. Realistic, natural-sounding avatars walk the learner through engaging content which emulates a personal training experience, and can include content branching based on the (real time) assessed level of the participant, customised feedback, and game-like quizzes for effective assessment (which feeds directly through to a Learning Management System). For SAP end-user training, the future is very bright for eLearning, as most organisations won’t be doing away with desktop computers any time soon.

The mLearning Revolution – a rising star, despite the challenges

Mobile Learning is where the real action is at, in terms of the latest developments and the potential for widespread adoption. The extraordinary advances in mobile devices in the last ten years have cemented their place in our digital future. We are at the very cusp of an mLearning revolution, due to the ubiquity of mobile devices (that is, tablets and smartphones), the fact that nearly everyone is “wearing” one at all times, and the huge potential they bring in terms of functionality. Think of apps for these devices, which make use of accelerometers, cameras, eye-tracking, geolocation, etc. and how the features of today’s mobile devices can be imaginatively applied to learning. They are allowing us to create entirely new ways of learning. This huge growth potential is the reason why software such as Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline is being rushed to market with new versions which can publish directly to HTLM5 (the latest version of HTML, which permits greater interactivity).

There are challenges, though – not all features of HTLM5 are supported by even the most modern browsers. Apple devices, which represent 35% of the smartphone market (Sadauskas, 2012) and 75% of the tablet market (Griffith, 2012), do not support Flash, meaning that shockwave (.swf) files, a common publish format from screen capture software, will not work – hence the rush towards HTML5.

Critically, mobile learning content must be created for mobile devices – it cannot be simply converted from eLearning content. From a technical perspective, this is due to screen resolution variance, the different interaction methods between mouse clicking and finger-tapping, and the size of finger tap areas. More importantly, mobile learning is a different learning experience, suited for shorter sessions which yield small chunks of information, accessed at the moment when it is required. It permits untethered, anywhere, anytime learning – perfect for recapping concepts while waiting for the bus or just-in-time quick reference on the job.

Social Learning – more pull, less push

While eLearning and mLearning are opening up new possibilities for training effectiveness, there is one key ingredient missing – other people. Informal learning, or social learning, is about the learning that goes on outside of formal learning, and involves reading, listening, watching, or talking to others. A good example of this is when you receive an error message when using SAP, and ask a colleague for help, to try to quickly resolve it. If a colleague is not available, you might Google the error message. The logical extension of this is to use the new tools available, such as wikis (for knowledge bases), Twitter or discussion forums (for information sharing and problem solving), or a dedicated social media platform, such as Elgg, to enable a more participative, social and collaborative learning ecosystem. New generation Learning Management Systems, dubbed LMS2.0, which are learner-centric, rather than provider-centric, integrate well with the tools mentioned above.

It’s about moving away from the classical “push” approach towards more effective “pull” learning styles, and empowering users to create support content and organise learning groups themselves. When this occurs, user engagement and adoption follow.

Bringing it all together for maximum benefit

Yet, nothing can enable and empower the learning experience like a great trainer. The technical tools and devices deepen the learning experience during delivery, and cultivate the learning once the classroom training is complete, but a great SAP trainer bridges the gap between people and systems, interprets all the information that’s ‘out there’ and contextualises it clearly.

At Adapt2 Consulting, we believe that there will always be a place for human interaction in training, especially SAP training, where the learning of particular transactional tasks is typically integrated with complicated processes.

Using great trainers AND the latest educational tools delivers more rewarding, engaging, efficient and truly hybrid learning experiences, as well as catering for a range of learning styles. This ensures engagement and adoption of the system by users, so that the capital investment delivers a prompt return on investment. If you are investing in the latest SAP features, such as HANA, portal-based ECC access, mobility solutions, and Business Objects, shouldn’t you be looking to complement that technology with the very latest in learning methods? Alternatively, you may be looking to run your Business As Usual training more efficiently. In either case, maximum benefit will be realised by those who can adapt to these new tools quickly and effectively. Adapt to the digital evolution.

1. Griffith, C. (2012, March 20). The Australian/AustralianIT. Retrieved from The Australian
2. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon.
3. Sadauskas, A. (2012, May 17). smartcompany/industry. Retrieved from smartcompany
    

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