Oracle Retail & Stibo STEP Systems Training Programme

The Challenge

With an aggressive implementation plan, the transformation programme launched 3 new systems which would alter ways of working for the entire Buying & Merchandising Division. Any member of staff not trained in all associated elements of their role would be unable to complete their day job post-implementation.

The logistics of training a large number of delegates in a classroom environment within a constrained training window were demanding.

The systems deployed were:

• Oracle Retail Application suite​
  • Oracle RMS focused on foundation, data management and item creation​
  • Oracle RPM ​focused on pricing

• Stibo STEP solution for item induction

The Solution

As part of the training strategy, First Friday identified that it would be essential to ensure that the new business processes, systems ways of working and behaviours were successfully embedded. All impacted staff needed to have the new skills, knowledge and competencies to be able to fulfil their role responsibilities​.

First Friday needed to ensure that training was planned, designed and delivered so that the ‘right staff’ received the ‘right training’ at the ‘right time’ in the ‘right way’​.

First Friday determined that the project training should include process, system, ways of working, theory and best practice so that all staff were fully equipped to meet their new responsibilities.

First Friday identified 18 training courses (supported by practice) which needed to be relevant for all staff (examples and scenarios varied by Director) along with comprehensive delegate material​

The training strategy identified that:

• Training to be job role specific, appropriate to the audience and subject matter​
• Training to follow a concept / process / systems flow​
• Staff to be trained in a timely manner​
• Learning to be interactive and scenario-based​

Roll out was planned over a 16 week window​ with constraints to protect ongoing trade e.g.

• No member of staff to receive more than 1.5 days training in any week​
• No training on a Monday ​
• Where there was more than one member of staff in a role, staff not to be trained on the same day

Once the project roll out was completed there was a process in place for transferring the suite of training to the business as usual (BAU) Training team for on-going training and development of new starters, those newly promoted and job changers.  This process included:

• A review of the project material in line with the evaluation results and lessons learnt​
• Ensuring all collateral was adapted for its new use as new starter/on-going training​
• Project training material was incorporated into existing courses where identified​

First Friday were also heavily involved in pre-training interventions ensuring individuals reached training with a degree of knowledge and expectation of the transformation.

In conjunction with the client, it was determined that staff who did not attend training AND demonstrated a working knowledge of the systems were not given access until all applicable courses​ were completed with support available.

The Results

At the conclusion of the training window:

• 800 staff had been trained across Buying, Merchandising, IT & Finance
• 18 courses were delivered a total of 237 times using 5 classrooms concurrently with a training team of 10 Trainers
• 94% of staff agreed that all training objectives were  met
• Excellent attendance levels of 98%
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 68 (classified as ‘Excellent’)
• ‘Know your stuff’ checks at the end of every training course resulted in staff achieving:
  • 56% gold
  • 32% silver
  • 10% bronze
  • 3% development need (121 support & individual coaching provided)
• Training metrics monitored daily in the roll out window
• Budget successfully managed for both time and cost over 3 years
• Management of training environment, verifying data availability to support a positive delegate experience
• Business as usual trainers upskilled to deliver business as usual training

“This is the largest and most complex programme of change within the business. The First Friday team have delivered a top class, professional solution. Thank you!”  – Change Manager