Solution provider takeaway: Consultants can deliver the best SharePoint training by customizing modules according to user roles.
SharePoint Server has gained a lot of popularity with the release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. With the inclusion of document management and enterprise search capabilities, as well as Records Center and Excel Services modules, more and more companies are turning to SharePoint in search of solutions to their business problems. With this growth comes good prospects for consultants, but those who don't have the right SharePoint training approach jeopardize customer satisfaction and business opportunities.
Because a SharePoint implementation can be very complex, involving many types of roles at a business, you'll need to plan carefully to ensure that everyone involved understands how the system works and what their responsibilities are. Some of these roles are often mistaken as being IT-related. In most common SharePoint implementations, at least three roles exist: platform administrator and developer, help desk support person and information worker/end user.
Each of these roles is equally important and requires some type of training. In most cases, staff will take on multiple roles. The key is to ensure every person involved has the right skills and knowledge to make the SharePoint environment a solid mechanism that leverages productivity within the company. To get your customer's staff to that point, SharePoint training really needs to be handled by role; forget about a one-size-fits-all approach. You need to tailor training courses to specific groups of
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users. Here are the standard groups, along with tips for how to approach their training.
SharePoint training by role
Delivery modes
Rather than simply walking staff members through the SharePoint interface, it's important to let them work in a "sandbox" environment, where they can start applying and further developing their newly acquired skills. They're much more likely to retain what you've taught them and walk out of the class actually able to put SharePoint into use in the production environment. When you set up the sandbox, make it as close as possible to the production environment, so users can practice and explore the business solution, but reserve some areas where people are granted elevated permissions for them to create their own sites, lists and libraries.
There are many online SharePoint training classes where people can take advantage of self-paced learning, but instructor-led classes usually produce more desirable results. Providing in-house training by developing custom courses will significantly cut the cost of end-user education and will increase overall satisfaction with SharePoint.
About the author
Natalya Voskresenskaya, MCTS, is a SharePoint architect at Conchango, a consultancy and systems integration company. She has been working in the IT field for 10 years. With experience in design, architecture, development and deployment of Web-based applications, Natalya has been developing and implementing portal solutions since 2000 and working with SharePoint since version 2003. For more information, check out Natalya's SharePoint blog.
