EDI Training - Still Highly Sought After?

Surprisingly, EDI training requests continue to lead our inbound service requests. This has been the case for as many years as I can remember. The circumstances that lead to training requests and engagements vary from training turnover/termination backfills and expansion of staff, to product training on newly acquired EDI and business integration tools, to rogue outsourcing firms that land contracts then need to figure out how to get staff trained on all things EDI.

As varied as the reasons are for training, so are the desired approaches to delivery of the training. Some seek traditional classroom product-based training as an alternative to their software vendor offering. A few want WebEx or recorded training. Others want customized training to address specific needs and concerns omitting basic/known topics. Finally, the training that is requested most and is of the greatest interest to firms is on-premises training.

Known by many names, "over the shoulder", "pilot/copilot", "side by side", "on the job", on-premises training is at the client location with client EDI/integration software, in the client IT environment, with the client/partner implementation requirements, and with at least one if not many client resources.

The result of this approach is a staff/consultant experience that goes from integration spec analysis, to development/testing, to production implementation. All this unfolds in a custom manner with staff participation in a real test/production environment, with a real instance of the client ERP system, and with actual partner integration opportunities.

Other than live implementations engagement goals vary based on budget and include: trained staff, documented systems, knowledge transfer, and organizational self sufficiency.

With all of the benefits, no wonder this training approach has been so popular for so long.