Trainer's Manual

Meginmál

Trainer's manual

D.    Study material
E.    LOs
F.    Annexes

Training Course – Overview (Icelandic Pilot 2007)

ABBREVATIONS AND/OR SHORTNAMES (a – z)

B2B Business – to – Business
eBCM eBusiness Community Model
ebMS eBusiness Messaging Service
eBusiness ICT enabled business operations
ebXML eBusiness Extensible Markup Language
EC European Commission
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
eInvoice Electronic invoice
ETeB European Network of National Test-beds for eBusiness
EU European Union
ICT Information and Communication Technology
LO Learning Object
RFID Radio-frequency Identification
SME Small and Medium Size Enterprise
UNICITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

Trainer’s Manual

The eBusiness workplace – A paradigm shift in a working environment

A. Introduction

1. General

This manual is for trainers of an eBusiness course which was designed to serve the needs of office people, working in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) wholesale supply chain. These are staff and managers that in one way or another need to use electronic communication and information processing technology in their work or work related activity.

The course is the outcome of an EU/Leonardo da Vinci Vocational Education and Training Action Programme project, the eBusiness Community Model - Vocational Education and Training project (eBCM-VET) . The project started in November 2005 and its duration is two years. The knowledge conveyed to the trainees is referenced to the eBCM model, developed in the ETeB / eBCM-RAP project .

The design of the course is based on the "train-the-trainers" concept where a person with hands-on experience within the target sector becomes a personal trainer of individuals or small groups of people, commonly working in the same company as the trainer.

Study has shown that people are generally quite interested in improving their skills and knowledge, but lack the opportunity and suitable channel. Moving the training inside the companies is a way to tackle this hurdle.

2. Theme of training

Business is competitive by nature, with economic prosperity as the main objective. Companies that are able to supply their customers fast and efficiently with quality products and services at good prices are likely to outperform their rivals. This is a race where the single most important success factor is availability of information. The more automated the information flow is, the more competitive the company becomes.

Typewriters and fax machines and to some extent the telephone are the office tools of the past; the desktop computer the tool of the present. New software applications, communication and hardware technologies are gradually enabling people in the target group to do most of their daily tasks on their computers, being an office desktop, home computer, portable laptop, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) or modern type of telephones.

In this transformation of working environment, people are faced with the challenge to learn new skills for maintaining their value as office workers. In most cases people are expected to “learn-by-doing”, which in many cases is fine, but most often people would like more support, someone to “be there” for them when needed. This is where the (personal) trainer steps in.

The trainer is a person that has an overall view of the company’s workflow and the nature and condition of the information received, processed and communicated. The trainer is good to talk to, has a pleasant way of assisting people to do their work on the computer and is always available for consultation.

3. Training objectives

This course is to a very limited degree technology oriented, it is much more about new business practices and what needs to be in place for things to work properly, including the right mindset of people doing the work.

Most people are by nature reluctant to change. During the course you will learn how to approach the subject of change in such a manner that raises people’s curiosity and motivation. You will learn how to enter into a discussion with people to acquire an understanding of their concerns and interests.

After initial discussion with trainees, you will be able to daft tailored study programmes for their review and comment and then initiate the programme’s implementation, guided by the stated objectives which were developed during the discussion.

For a successful implementation of a study programme, it is important to recognise the value of management support.

4. The candidate trainees

This course is designed to meet the needs of people working in the value chain of trading and distribution of products and services for business use. These are office workers and managers that need to use computers in their work.

The target sectors are companies operating business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G), i.e. import, export, manufacturing, warehousing, sourcing and distribution companies.

The final and potential beneficiaries of the training are office workers and managers that are faced with the new working environment calling for computer skills beyond their present knowledge and capabilities, perceived or real.

B. The Trainer’s role and tasks

1. General

In this course you, as the trainer, will learn how to interact and deliver eBusiness knowledge and experience to your colleagues by assessing their current interest and knowledge, design a tailored study programme for their needs with objectives, suitable material and timetable, implement the training and assist your colleagues in maintaining their acquired knowledge in a continuous learning process. The manual will be your guide and reference.

2. Overall training course design

The following illustration shows the overall training course design, with your colleagues as “TRAINEES”.

The individual steps taken in the training include:

SELECTION OF TRAINEES – You recognise the people in your company who are in need for training in the use of computers in their daily work. Basically everyone that is responsible for receiving, processing, storing and transferring information is a candidate trainee.

PRE-TRAINING ASSESSMENT - The level of support needed will vary between people, depending on their background and ability to learn new things. Through a face-to-face dialogue using a checklist, such as the one presented in Annex 1, you will establish an understanding of the trainees´ need and motivation for education and training, forming a basis for designing a tailored study programme for each individual.

PREPARATION OF TRAINING: OBJECTIVES & INDIVIDUAL STUDY PROGRAMME – When preparing the study programmes, you will draft a couple of study objectives for each individual, select the appropriate material to go through (the LOs) and present a realistic timetable for meeting these objectives. Each study programme should have a limited timeframe, long enough to be considered as a programme and not exceeding the natural time horizon of individuals when considering vocational education and training. A reasonable timeframe could be somewhere from 1 to 6 months. After going through the draft study programme with the trainees and making the appropriate changes, the programme is finalised, introduced to and confirmed by the management and filed for later reference. It is vital that the management is aware of the trainee’s personal training objectives and timetable and that the trainee has a clear sense of the top-level support to the training. That will motivate the trainee to achieve the objectives and also ensure that the time needed to go through the training is reserved and approved by the management. A study programme template is presented in Annex 2.

TRAINING – During the training it is important to follow closely the timetable and always measure the progress against the objectives. This is your responsibility as the trainer as well as looking for internal or external information and references that may give the material more appeal and relevance to the trainees. An actual training session will mostly be up to you to plan, i.e. how you use the course material, the length of each training session and the level and type of interaction. If during the training it becomes evident that some (or all) objectives are unrealistic or easily achieved, you need to be ready to work with the trainee at revising the plan to maintain the trainee’s interest in the study. A revised plan should be presented to the management for reference and confirmation.

POST TRAINING ASSESSMENT – After the study programme is concluded, a post training assessment needs to be made to confirm that the objectives have been reached. Then the trainee gets an opportunity to present his thoughts about the training, what he or she has learned and state his or her interest in further studying. The assessment is then presented to the management for their review and comment. Given that the outcome of the training was as expected, it is then up to the management to decide on whether a new study programme should be developed for the trainee with the respective allocation of resources. Annex 3 shows an assessment form which can be used for this purpose.

An example of a pre-training assessment, study programme and post-training assessment for Mr. James Cook is provided in Appendices xx, xx and xx (Note: NOT PREPARED AT THIS POINT). The demonstration shows clearly the logic behind the course design and can be used as a reference for other cases. The LOs referred to in the study programme are documented in the final chapter of this manual.

3. Attitude and conduct

Being a good listener is a good way to start a training process which requires mutual respect and understanding.

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.
- Wilson Mizner -

There are a few things that are good to keep in mind when approaching a trainee.

Perception - A trainee is a person that likes to believe that he or she is good at his or her work. Given an opportunity and suitable channel, the trainee welcomes the idea of becoming better. That raises his self-confidence and comfort. You, as the trainer could be the channel he or she has been looking for.

Expectations – Peoples´ expectations are often too high or too low. Listening to people expressing their interest and ambition requires mutual trust and respect. In some cases the study programmes need to be revised several times before it is concluded, raising or lowering the objectives. A trainer often can influence expectations, especially in raising them with encouragement and positive references. This should though be done with care, as it doesn’t serve the trainee or the company to raise expectations beyond the capability of the trainee.

Activate - Look for opportunities to activate the trainee. Short, easy assignments in the beginning creates an “I-can-do”-feeling, stimulating interest in the topic and eagerness for further assignments.

Simple communication - Simple wording are most likely to be understood. People feel comfortable when understanding what they need to do and that results in more interest in the task.

Respect questions – A person insecure and uncomfortable does not ask questions. Trainee’s questions are a sign of interest and openness. Be a good listener and always respond to a question showing mutual interest and respect. Admit if you do not know the answer, together you can find the answer. Following an answer with a question is a good way to start an interaction.

4. Workplace relations

The best way to stimulate interest in the study is to use examples from the trainee’s own working environment. When going through the study material, you should prepare for every session by asking the question: “How does this concern my company”. It is not necessary for you to actually know the answer to this question, but it would help to know where the answer to the question is most likely to be found. So, during the session with the trainee you will raise the question and initiate the dialogue. Leaving the trainee with the task to find and present the answer (via email or other) stimulates interest in the subject and motivates him or her to look for the answer. That again may lead to some interaction between the two of you and even other people inside (or outside) the company.

The question for example: “How do standards concern my company” most likely will lead to a list of answers, starting with the size of office paper, electric current, the height of a doorknob and Internet protocols. There are endless ways of making this quest for answers interesting; you can even turn it into a competition between individuals and/or departments.

5. Trainees´ assessment

Assessment of the trainees´ knowledge and motivation to learn and be trained helps you, the trainer, to design and run a study programme tailored to his or her needs.

PRE-TRAINING ASSESSMENT - Before training you need to know the following:

- Which topics of the study material are of interest
- What is the level of interest in the topic
- Which topics are perceived job related
- What is the perceived knowledge of the topic
- What is the level of dedication in studying the topic

The answers to these questions will help you to meet the trainee on his own terms and suggest a set of LOs of interest, present realistic objectives and give the balanced level of training intensity.

The following matrix is one way of documenting these factors. A full template is provided in Annex 1.

ASSESSMENT DURING TRAINING – During the training there are several ways to assess the trainee´s study progress and you are recommended to develop your own style in doing that.

One way is to advice the trainee to use a LEARNING DIARY. The purpose is to keep record and reflect on what has been learned through the training. The form can differ, a computer document, blog or notebook. The main purpose with the diary is for the trainee to have a way to document his experience, questions and concerns and then communicate them to you or any other he might be willing to share his experiences with.

Another way would be to organise short informal meetings during the working week, an eCHAT, which could be over a cup of coffee or any other venue which the trainee (s) would find comfortable. There you as the trainer could have a brief general presentation of any type, share news or even ask one of the trainees to prepare a “Thought of the Day”. The purpose of such meetings would be to create a feeling of mutual interest and support, each trainee having the opportunity to ask open questions of concern, dialogue about relevance and best practices. Peer support is for any employee valued and an encouragement for further knowledge exploration.

POST-TRAINING ASSESSMENT – After the training it is vital to learn about how the finished study programme met the trainees´ expectations, i.e. the quality of the programme, what was the value created and what could be the way forward. Following are a few questions that can serve this purpose:

1. Quality

    a. Which parts of the study programme were most interesting to you personally?
    b. Do you have an idea or ideas about how the LOs can be improved?
    c. Do you have an idea or ideas about how the study method can be improved?

2. Value

    a. Which parts of the programme will help you most in your work and how?

3. Way forward

    a. Would you like to learn more about eBusiness, and if yes, what would you like to learn about?

After having these questions answered you, the trainer, will be able to prepare a report to the management on the trainee´s perceived aquired knowledge and his or her motivation to continue learning about eBusiness. Given the management´s approval, a new cycle of studying can be initiated, starting with a new pre-training assessment.

C. Course preparation

1. General

Preparations can be looked at with respect to content of the study programme and the facilities needed for the training session.

2. Content
It is good practice when preparing for implementing a study program to go through the following list and confirm that all everything has been prepared and ready:

• Are the objectives of the study programme clearly defined and in good concurrence with the trainee’s need?
• Are the selected methods of training likely to give the defined objectives?
• Is the study programme easily understood and realistic?
• Are the tasks and assignments ready and relevant people within the company ready to respond to the trainee’s request for information?
• Are you ready to answer the trainee’s expected questions and enquiries?
• Do you have a plan on how to stimulate interaction between you and the trainee?

3. Material and facilities

This course is basically designed as a person-to-person interactive training course, yet it can just as well be used for group training. In the following a checklist on material and facilities is presented.

• Has the trainee received the material required for his preparation for the course?
• Is the training website up and running and is the eBCM training tool working as expected?
• Do you have the entire printed supplementary material ready to be given to the trainee for his or her further studying and task execution?
• Is the facility equipped with a computer and Internet connection?
• Are there tables and chairs ready for the trainer and trainee?
• Is the facility equipped with other required equipment, such as flipchart, text markers and coloured paper?
• Have you planed the communication with the trainee, e.g. e-mail and phone?

D. Study material

The study material for trainees is mostly available in the training website. There the trainee can access the material in a PDF format, read it on the screen or print for own use. The material consists of:

• eBCM training tool, where the trainee can navigate between the topics of interest, leading him to the LOs associated with the individual building blocks of the eBCM model
• The LOs, text and power point presentations
• Supplementary text and links, associated with the respective LOs

Following are the LOs in printed version for your reference.

E. LOs

LO/01 General introduction of eBusiness
LO/02 Change management
LO/03 Timing to enter eBusiness
LO/04 Infrastructure
LO/05 Laws and regulations
LO/06 The necessity to synchronise
LO/07 Contracts
LO/08 Security
LO/09 The value and management of good data
LO/10 eBusiness implementation
LO/11 ICT “Survival” knowledge
Continuous learning

F. Annexes

ANNEX 1: SELF ASSESSMENT OF SKILLS, INTEREST AND KNOWLEDGE

ANNEX 2: STUDY PROGRAMME

ANNEX 3: POST TRAINING ASSESSMENT

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