Work hard for the money. Show me the money. Follow the money. There must be hundreds of popular catch phrases using the word "money".  Like me, you've probably discovered certain truths regarding money. First, money is hard to come by. Once obtained, money is even harder to keep. What does any of this have to do with SAP training? Read on, o' curious one, read on.

As a veteran of many training initiatives, I can say without hesitation that the primary reason training initiatives fall short of their goals is lack of funding. Most SAP projects begin with a bold plan, establishing an ample, perhaps even generous budget for training and documentation. However, as the project progresses and development costs run over budget, you can count on the fact that monies will be diverted from the training and documentation budget.

This is more predictable than the weather. The project manager has committed to delivering functionality that is his first goal. Typically, he will feel that monies must go to complete development. Certainly, users can't be trained on a system that doesn't exist. The project manager will borrow from the training account with a promise to repay it later, after further budget appropriation meetings have taken place. The repayment seldom occurs. However, the expectation for the training deliverables does not adjust in kind.

If you are responsible for training users in an SAP implementation, here are some hard-won suggestions that will help: 

1)     Work hard for the money!

a)     When the project budget is being evaluated, work hard to ensure that an ample amount of the budget goes to training (and documentation). If you are preparing the training budget, you may want to build in some "cushion" to protect you when the training budget is cannibalized (and it will be). As a benchmark, you should know that the Gartner Group found (in a year 2000 study) that "Companies that met goals for Enterprise Resource
Planning projects spent 17 percent of the budget on training." (Additional information regarding training budgets as a percentage of the entire implementation project can be found at: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=119896.)

b)     Stand firm when the training budget is threatened due to development overruns. Remind the "check-signer" that the most efficient software system in the world is useless if no one understands how to use it. Suggest scaling back on some development initiatives for a later rollout to ensure dollars to train users on functionality that can be achieved on schedule.

c)     Recruit stakeholders (department heads, etc.) to support your fight for budget dollars.

d)     Consider reasonable substitutions. For some reason, executives seem to have a mindset that a subject matter expert (programmer or configurator) will be the best trainer since they understand the system logic. However, this does not make them a good trainer. Your training dollars may be more wisely spent on an experienced courseware developer, who will need only small segments of the subject matter expert's time and is probably a lot less expensive.  

2)     Plan for the best, but prepare for the worst.

a)     Unless you have a lot of clout in the company, or you have a sympathetic CIO who has seen the "fallout" from past implementations, you should plan to suffer budget cuts in training as the project moves forward.

b)     Learn the virtues of single source documents. The optimal scenario would be to have training courseware AND reference documentation, but if your budget is cut in half, you'll need to develop creative strategies to make one set of materials serve both purposes.

c)     Investigate resources to help you through cutbacks. Figure 1 lists some resources that are often overlooked, but may be helpful in developing user training. 

Figure 1:  Potential Training Resources 

3) Become a pack rat.

a) As the system definition and design phases begin, collect anything you can get your hands on that describes the "as is" or "to be" system functionality.

b) Be on the lookout for documents that list "as is" transactions and what their "to be" counterpart will be. As the project progresses into the testing phase, verify that these are still valid.

c) Identify existing reports and their SAP counterparts. If you are responsible for training all end users, you will probably have to collect this information from each functional department. Create a cross-reference or cheat sheet.

d) Enlist a functional tester to assist you in capturing screen cams of important processes. This may become the core of your training material.

There is no substitute for good training. The tactics described in this article may help you survive until additional training funds are available, but are no substitute for a well-designed training program. Your best tactic is to procure and protect an ample training budget. Launch a campaign for training dollars at the earliest opportunity and continue singing the same song until the last user is trained and confident. You'll have to work hard for the money, but you won't regret the result.

Cheryl A. Cave, Managing Editor, SAPtips. Cheryl has acted as project manager for several multi-million dollar SAP training initiatives throughout North America. She has been in I.T. management for more than fifteen years, including data-center management, project management, change management, systems analysis, data modeling, quality management, and business process reengineering. The bulk of her career has centered on Information and Training design and delivery.