SAP Enable Now Implementation – Scoping Workshop

Let’s design!

Software implementation is a serious business. This also applies to a learning platform like SAP Enable Now. Successfully implementing Enable Now requires the right people to be involved, strategic decisions to be taken and certain prerequisites to be met. My Enable Now implementation strategy consists of 7 steps, which I would like to explain in 7 blog posts. Written from a consultant’s perspective and based on my personal experience.

SAP Enable Now Implementation Approach

In this third post, we have a look at the Scoping Workshop. Probably one of the most important steps in the implementation. We need to take decisions about how to use Enable Now. Creating, managing and delivering learning content. That’s clear. But what type(s) of content? For which application(s)? In which language(s)? Who creates? Who validates? And how do we get this content on the end user’s screen? A good design up front makes the rest of your project so much easier.

Simulations

By far the best-known functionality in Enable Now is screen simulations. Short videos that explain step by step how the screens look like, which fields to fill in and which buttons to press. With a single recording, different formats of that video and different types of paper based output can be generated. And that's exactly the challenge we are facing. There are 4 versions of the video and about 9 of the hard copy. As for the latter. They are all pretty similar when it comes to content, but differ in level of detail and presentation. The most efficient way to find out which to use, is to make a representative test simulation, print all 9 documents, put them side by side and pick the one that suits best.

Then there are the Demo, Practice, Test, and Concurrent videos. Let’s forget about the Concurrent, since that is basically only used for Companion for Desktop. From a didactic perspective, Demo mode is normally the first one to present to a learner. A Fiori app is presented step by step, without requiring any action. Just play and watch. By watching Demo mode, the Iearner gets a first idea about the process. After that, he can execute the Fiori app at his own pace in Practice mode using the same step-by-step instructions. This is the way to get hands-on experience. Finally, there is Test mode to test your knowledge. No more step-by-step instructions at this stage, but a representative user story asking to execute the Fiori app in this simulated environment. Ending with an official test result. These results can be tracked in Enable Now Manager and can be used to gain insights how well people can perform a process.

So, there is a didactic concept behind these simulations. And there is definitely more than just this single Demo video we all know. But using all 3 scenarios requires preparation and time. What you want your users to learn, determines what you need to record. Which S/4HANA client can be used for the recording to have representative master data? Definitely not the one with ‘Test Material 1’ and ‘Test Customer NL’. How do you prevent your recording from becoming too large? Things to figure out now.

Long-term vision

Enable Now has many options and a lot of great functionalities. But what do you really want to do with the tool? How does Enable Now fit into your learning strategy? How do you want to help your end users? Do you just want to train them? Or do you want to support them continuously? And where are the resources to keep all material up to date? This are the important strategic questions. Once these are answered, you get to the more practical ones. For which applications to create content? In which language? What type of content? Do you want audio in your simulations? Publication in a library? Via SAP Companion? Or both? To what extent do you want to use SAP’s standard content? How does the content creation and review process look like? What steps are in your workflow?

There are quite some decisions to take. Because I've already shown examples as part of the Introduction Workshop, we can now focus on making well-considered choices. My advice is first to define a long-term vision and determine what you ultimately want to realize with Enable Now as part of your learning strategy. Next step: think big and start small. Ideas are endless, but time and resources are limited. A good strategy could be to start with a library containing S/4HANA simulations to train the application. And eLearning created with Bookpages to train the new processes. As a next step you consider Context Help and Guided Tours with SAP Companion. Finally, you add quizzes and assessments. And after that deploying Enable Now for other applications.

But maybe this is already too much to start. And you first want to experience how Enable Now can contribute to effective knowledge building and retention in general. Then you might better start with a pilot. Perhaps with that one department where every month this class of new people needs to be trained. Or this one process that generates the most helpdesk questions. Based on a good evaluation you can determine your next moves.

Content Deployment

After the question which types of content to create, for which applications and in which language the next one pops up. How to present this content to end users? Different channels are available. I always differentiate between people who need to learn something new and people who occasionally need some help when they are stuck in an application. In case you do have a Learning Management System (LMS) available, it makes sense to publish eLearning via that LMS. Enable Now is SCORM-compliant. Of course, you should test thoroughly upfront to see how your LMS responds. Obviously you can publish this same eLearning together with the simulations in your library as well. So far for learning new things.

But there is more than learning something new. Unfortunately people tend to forget things and need support after go-live as well. To prevent them calling the helpdesk for every single question, SAP Companion is your channel to deploy content. Research tells us that knowledge sticks best when you put it in context. Depending on the Fiori app someone is running, pressing the F1 key shows the content relevant to that screen. That’s what we call context-sensitive help. eLearning and simulations are less obvious for this purpose. I would prefer Context Help and Guided Tours to use. But don't underestimate the What's New notifications either. Probably the most underappreciated Enable Now functionality.

It's obvious that the underlying question is how you want to spend your limited budget, time and resources. Are you heading for a one-time training injection? And after that, it's up to the key users and helpdesk to handle all questions? Or do you primarily choose for self-reliance and ongoing support in the application itself? And reduce the pressure on key users and the helpdesk?

Conclusion

To effectively implement Enable Now, choices have to be made. Creating content is not a goal in itself. It's a way to train and support people in new applications and new processes. Define your long-term vision and the path how to get there. Rome and Paris weren't built in a day. The same for getting the maximum out of Enable Now. And if you're in the middle of an S/4HANA implementation, time and resources can be quite limited.

Next Time

Now that we have designed our solution, we are ready to build. Do the necessary configuration, setup the templates, integrate the corporate identity, prepare the library structure, etc.

In my next post I will focus on the Application Configuration. Parallel on this, is the Technical implementation still running.

Let’s Enable!

Transform an SAP project into a success that goes beyond time and budget. Make your SAP solution is truly adopted by your people. Enable Now is SAP's platform to accelerate the development of training materials and support effective training and support of employees. A foundation for creating and optimizing learning content. Not only for SAP, but for other applications as well. The knowledge and experience of Let's Enable guarantee utilization of the full potential of Enable Now.