Building a learning and support strategy for Web-based applications

You�ve spent $100 thousand or more building a high-quality Web-based application tool for your organization. Though your business case claims it will pay off, there�s still one key obstacle to the coveted ROI: the folks you expect to use the tool on the job.

Baffled or even slightly confused users can kill a new app; unanticipated support costs can cancel out productivity gains. Just ask Al Salas, who put his budget into building an online curriculum database for medical schools � only to see his vision compromised by bottlenecked demands for handholding. �Our training and online help were inadequate, so we had to spend a lot of time with each individual school, which slowed the implementation,� says Salas.

One key to avoiding such debacles is to produce an up-front strategy for transferring knowledge and skills to the application�s audiences. Spending a week or two determining the who, what, and how of an training and support for an app can save IT both grief and cash later on.

Who needs to perform?

Targeting the application�s audience is the foundational step. For example, if you�re implementing a Web-based customer management system, obvious audiences include customer service reps, managers, and engineers (who might have to troubleshoot). Each of these audiences will approach the application from a different angle, so consider each one separately.

You should also be sure to identify audiences who may not �use� the application, but will nevertheless be affected by it. Users� managers should always make the list. �Managers need to have patience and empathy for their employees during the learning curve,� says Terese Coudreaut, who leads the Business Transformation practice for iReality Group USA, �so they need to learn about the application, even if they�ll never touch a keyboard.�

Once you�ve identified audiences, learn a bit about them: What is their level of experience and comfort with browser-based apps? How much training and support have they received in the past? What have they heard about the application at hand? How do they feel about it? What is each audience�s reading level or language skills? How high is the turnover rate for each audience group? You can answer these questions using methods such as surveys, focus groups, on-the-job observation, and interviews.

What do audiences need to do?

The next step is to identify tasks that each audience needs to perform using the application-related. A matrix can help you summarize your findings.� Take a look the one below. Numbers in cells indicate how often each audience performs each task:

4=daily or several times a day

3=weekly or several times a week

2=monthly or several times a month

1=annually or several times a year, or rarely

blank=never

Make sure your matrix focuses on recognizable business tasks (�Escalate a customer issue�) rather than arcane system functions (�Designate a trouble ticket�). Focusing on business goals during the strategy phase helps you plan learning and support that�s based on your audiences� actual jobs. �You have to speak the language of your users,� says Bob Petrie, a tech executive at Marsh, �Don�t just teach them to use the system; equip them to get work done using the application as a tool.�

How to transfer knowledge and skills?

Once you�ve established what each audience needs to do, decide how they�ll learn to do it: Identify strategies for education, training, and support.

First plan a support strategy: When users have questions, where should they turn? Your support plan should include some combination of electronic, paper, and live support, with first-line support provided by less expensive means (online help) and more expensive forms of support (anything live) as a last resort. Key support factors include audience preferences, types of tasks, and budget. Think through the major characteristics of each strategy; for example, will online help be context sensitive and searchable? Will it be organized around business tasks or functions or audiences?

Remember that trying to cut support costs in the short run can actually waste money in the long run. A user with no support paths will ask a colleague for help � which means lost productivity.

Once you�ve determined how support will happen, plan your training strategy. Training strategy should follow support strategy so that you can train the audience to use both the application and support tools. You can train synchronously (users learn together at the same time) or asynchronously (users learn on their own schedule). You can use good old instructor-led classroom training or a variety of technology-based techniques. Instructors should coach trainees to check the online help or quick reference guide, and set up some exercises that require participants to find answers for themselves.

Next, consider education. While training teaches how to do something, education teaches about something � what it can do, its benefits, the rollout plan. Education is the key to change management.

�The introduction of new technology often meets resistance from several established dimensions of the organization -- culture, processes, people,� according to Coudreaut. �The challenge is to anticipate that resistance and create strategies to address it.�

Every training and support tool should have education built into it � don�t tell users how to do something without explaining why they�re doing it. But, remember, you also need to educate audiences who won�t attend training sessions or read user manuals. Plan education that will disseminate information and influence attitudes, using audience-appropriate media such as memos, newsletters, demos, posters, or logo-emblazoned merchandise.

Integrated learning and support strategies

By strategizing learning and support beforehand, you create an integrated plan � in which the overall strategy is more than the sum of its parts. Training can help participants feel good about the transition and encourage them to use support tools. Support tools can reinforce the messages embedded in education efforts.

No cookie-cutter strategy will succeed with every system. The following strategies illustrate how learning and support techniques should be tailored to audience and application.

While developing integrated learning and support materials takes both time and money, it�s an investment that will pay off. By carefully considering the who, what, and how of your strategy, you facilitate adoption of your application and reduce support costs.