Training for end users

This is a tricky subject. Its difficult to keep the user base trained as it changes. However, Acumatica offers many no-cost resources like Open University, Help.Acumatica.com, wikis, videos, release notes and various training materials

However, it is up to the companies and their users to take advantage of these tools. I have clients that actively manage their systems and use these tools and their users are well trained. Conversely, I have clients on the other side that rely heavily on their reseller for everything. 

We use an internal helpdesk that is broken into categories. We create our user guides with scribehow.com and insert them there. 

We do need to change when there is an upgrade or a process changed, but it’s easier than editing PDF’s and making sure everyone has the updated PDF.

I feel what gets in the way with some of the training  is customizations we have that are in place.

Default functionality is still there but we may have hijacked a field or changed a process to streamline end user input but it comes with a price as well.  I will have to check out scribehow.com as i am not familiar with that product.

Like others have said, Acumatica is so flexible that the stock training materials will teach you the basics of how to move documents and data from one place to the next, but not when or how or why you’re doing those things.  That’s probably not unique to Acumatica, but coupled with custom fields and statuses, GIs/Reports, and various automations, and no two companies who use Acumatica in a serious way will have identical systems.

Our organization isn’t that big, so it’s pretty easy to wrangle my users.  New employees get a 1-hour tour of the system before starting practical training with their mentor.  A longer, 2-3 deeper dive on the system will happen after a few months, once they get their feet wet.

We maintain a pretty massive Work Instruction Guide (just in Word) with the practical, step-by-step processes we use.  After the dust settles on an upgrade, all users are required to go into their respective section of the book and make any updates as necessary.  Group managers are responsible for making sure it gets done.

Having a sandbox instance is critical, both for training and experimenting.  We’ve been implemented for 5+ years and our sandbox still gets used daily.

My hope is to eventually transition to the Wiki for practical work instructions.  I know none of these things are an exact replica of what Oracle is doing (which sounds rad), but maybe it gives some ideas.

@bleis ,

Good morning.  I am very new to Acumatica and coding in general. I am an end user as well.  I have found so much valuable information here in the community.  I’ve had help from the community to address questions that I had on reports.  I do spend time looking through the topics here to find solutions for items I’m working on.  Like someone mentioned, the software changes frequently, and I feel this is a great place to learn and ask questions.

I was taught my way around prior to us going live.  They provided great information, but the thing is, how do you know what questions to ask when you are not familiar with the software.  

Just my thoughts!

Thank you!

@Jeff96 , I would love to learn any tips and tricks you have using scribehow specifically with Acumatica instruction, and how you organize your how-to’s! DM sent.