As part of their worldwide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation, a Fortune 100 corporation needed to train project teams on new processes and knowledge management tools. The client held classroom workshops in the U.S., but many team members were located overseas. Thus, a majority of team members did not receive any formal training, resulting in inefficient use of their tools and inconsistent application of their processes. To address this growing training problem, the client sought to redesign the training for delivery over its intranet.

The client envisioned this project as an opportunity to assess the viability and effectiveness of self-paced, technology-based training within the corporation. She contracted Gillespie Associates to redesign the classroom learning content and hands-on exercises to web-based training. Initially, the client called this initiative a "skunk works" project, since there would be so many challenges to overcome.

Despite major obstacles, Gillespie Associates instructional designers surpassed the expectations of our client.

ERP project team members worldwide

• We designed and successfully implemented the first web-based training curriculum for users worldwide. The curriculum for ERP project teams consists of four interactive courses with 14 modules, totaling more than 500 screens of learning content.
• Collaborating with our technical partners, we created front- and back-end systems to manage registration, track learner performance, and capture learner feedback and questions. (The client had no learning management system at the time.)
• Our team created standards for: content structure, design and development processes, storyboarding, navigation and interactivity, learner evaluation and feedback, question-and-answer models, graphics production, and style and format conventions. The client now uses these standards in its other projects.
• After effectively launching the first curriculum and receiving positive response from users, another team of Gillespie Associates designers implemented a second curriculum for a sales audience.

This success story exemplifies how web-based training can be an effective training delivery option within this corporation. The project's success helped gain senior management approval for a major new effort—converting much of the company's ERP classroom training for end users to a web-based, self-teach strategy.