As a unified Corporate Performance Management platform, OneStream streamlines the process of financial reporting, planning, and analysis within your organization, allowing you to make proactive decisions in real time based on the current conditions within and outside of your organization. Getting the most out of OneStream requires all users to be properly trained according to their role in the organization and the tasks they will perform when they go live.
CompIntelligence has a dedicated Education practice, CompTraining, focused on the goal of preparing your user community to fully adopt the OneStream platform on day one. With CompTraining’s OneStream training curriculum, we ensure each member of your team is properly trained to perform their tasks in OneStream regardless of their role. We develop our custom training specifically around your organization’s unique OneStream application, allowing all of your users to leverage every aspect of your CPM platform.
Let’s explore the approach of OneStream training through CompIntelligence to give you a full understanding of how you can best prepare your team for a smooth go live.
Standard OneStream Training vs Custom CompTraining
CompIntelligence offers two OneStream training options. The first is Public OneStream Training which we deliver on behalf of OneStream as a Global Authorized Training Partner. We deliver both introductory and advanced courses that cover all features and uses of the OneStream platform.
These courses are scheduled on a regular basis throughout the year and you can register through our website. While you will learn all aspects of the platform over the coursework, these classes are not specific to your organization’s custom OneStream application nor in the way your users will actually use the software. You will have to take this training away and apply the concepts to your application when implemented.
The second training option is our custom curriculum designed and delivered by the CompTraining team. This curriculum is built based upon your unique OneStream dimensions, workflows, data, and processes. Generally, we recommend this option for clients for several reasons. The first is that the training itself is specific to your platform, allowing us to focus on the exact areas you need to use within OneStream at your company.
Second, a custom curriculum usually results in fewer classes spread out over a longer period of time, and can be more cost effective on your end because fewer people need to attend each class. The core team will develop the skill sets to further teach your individual end users, streamlining the entire OneStream training process across each level of your organization.
How Should Teams Prepare Prior to Training?
Before beginning the training process, you will need to identify your key stakeholders. These include the project team and subject matter experts who will be responsible for making application design decisions. In addition, you will identify those who will actually complete the workflow and/or analyze the data OneStream produces.
The goal of custom OneStream training is ultimately to give your project the capability to train your end users and to provide comprehensive materials they can reference after the class. This ‘Train The Trainer’ model gives you more autonomy in the long run and ensures you have complete knowledge of the capabilities of your OneStream platform in-house.
During your implementation requirements and design phase, consider your entire user community, including all employees who will use the various features of your OneStream application. We recommend this because not everyone uses the platform the same way and there is no practical sense in training everyone on everything. We utilize a User Profile Matrix to understand every user’s needs for training. For example, your Administrator will need to attend the OneStream public Application Build For Administrators Class to support the care and feeding of the application, while the core team responsible for completing the workflows will take the custom training to learn how to accomplish this.
As such, part of your project team’s job will be segmenting the various users within your organization and ensuring each is trained on the specific areas of OneStream they will use to accomplish their individual tasks. During the Build phase of your implementation the CompTraining team develops the training materials that you will need to train the user community and prepares you to deliver.
Prior to User Acceptance Testing (“UAT”), your trainers and testers will be trained. The value here is two-fold: the testers will become familiar with the workflow prior to testing, and the trainers will understand how to train the broader user community.
Aligning OneStream Training With the Implementation Process
Our training approach aligns with the phases of the implementation so training happens, not just at the end before going live, but throughout. We combine our training with the implementation itself, which gives trainees the opportunity to learn in real time on the platform your organization will use. By the end of the implementation process the training will be nearly complete, which drastically reduces the total time it takes to support your users after Go Live.
The implementation phases and how training aligns are as follows:
Initiation
During the Initiation phase, we identify your success factors, define the deliverables, and begin training your project team.
Analysis & Design
During Requirements Analysis and Design, our team helps you review current and future processes, define and prioritize your requirements, confirm your solution design, profile your user community and begin designing your training plan. Toward the end of design, system administrators attend the Application Build for Administrators class.
Iterative Development
During Iterative Development, our team builds the application in collaboration with you. As the application takes shape, we begin building the custom training materials in conjunction with your chosen curriculum and training plan. We also develop your user acceptance testing plan and test scripts.
Validation
In Validation, we perform a full system test and deliver workflow and reporting training for the testers and the trainers just prior to user acceptance testing. After a successful UAT, we’ll plan for parallels and training the remaining user community using the developed custom materials. After each training class, we survey the attendees. Together, we will assess the feedback to ensure the efficacy of our process and plan for any additional sessions that may be needed.
Deployment
In the Deployment phase, we create detailed application documentation and complete any final knowledge transfer with your system administrators.
Closure
Finally, we undergo closure of the training and implementation. At this point, we hand off everything to your team and transition to managed services.
Common OneStream Training Mistakes to Avoid:
Traditionally, we see some common mistakes that occur when companies begin their OneStream training process.
Focusing on Implementation Without Training
The first big mistake is focusing solely on implementation without starting the training process. Training the Project Team during initiation helps them understand the key concepts and terminology so that they can discuss requirements effectively with their consulting team and to make good decisions during design. Likewise, having your admins attend the Application Build class will prepare them to be hands-on throughout the Iterative Development phase. In addition, the implementation team can then better provide knowledge transfer to them as they progress through the implementation. Not assigning this person or having them participate in the Build leaves this person less able to support the application once you go live. Not training testers prior to UAT leaves them blindly pressing buttons during UAT increases the risk of a longer UAT cycle due to simple navigation errors. Not effectively training end users results in more resistance and leads them to avoid using the software or being unable to effectively leverage its full capabilities.
This is essentially an error in change management. The project management team can avoid this mistake by ensuring they dial-in the end user training process in conjunction with the implementation process and do not force users to implement software prior to their being effectively trained.
Conflating User Acceptance Testing With Training
Another major mistake is conflating user acceptance testing with the training itself. User acceptance testing must take place after training on the software. The point of UAT is to judge the software on its full capabilities, which is not possible if users are not fully trained.
Assuming One Size Fits All
A final common mistake that ties into the others is not adequately segmenting the users based on the tasks they need to perform using OneStream. Streamlining your OneStream training depends on teaching each user exactly what they need to know without bogging them down with features and training they will not use. This process includes identifying interactive users from view-only users, with the interactive users requiring more robust training.
Training through CompIntelligence allows your organization to avoid these common mistakes, ultimately saving your organization time and money as you onboard onto the OneStream platform.
Not Continuing Your Training Journey
Since OneStream is a full platform, there is much to take advantage of beyond your initial implementation goals. Likewise, there is more to learn and the OneStream public classes are a terrific place to gain additional knowledge. For example, in the initial implementation, you may have learned how to use the Excel Add-in and can create Quick Views, but now you want to create Cube Views and Dashboards to further enhance your OneStream application. The public classes are a fantastic way to add to your skill set. Learning is a life-long journey. Be sure to explore these additional public classes to enhance your company’s OneStream journey.
Choosing CompIntelligence for your OneStream training
OneStream’s unified CPM offers an incredible array of features and benefits for your organization. Our comprehensive CompTraining curriculum ensures your team makes a smooth transition to the OneStream platform and avoids the common pitfalls that cost time and money during this process. Our custom training is specific to your needs, structure, and end user communities, giving you a superior result compared to training on your own.
To find out how CompIntelligence can help your organization seamlessly transition to OneStream, contact us today.
