Objectives: Introduction Over View of System Analysis and Design
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| 9.2.3.2 In – house Training The advantage of offering training for the system onsite is that the instruction can be tailored to the organization where it is being offered and focused on special procedures used in that setting, the organization’s plans for growth, and any problems that have arisen. Often, the vendors or training companies negotiate fees and charges that are more economical and that enable the organization to involve more personnel in the training program than is possible when travel is required. There are also disadvantages. The mere fact that employees are in their own surroundings is a distraction, since telephone calls and emergencies can disrupt training sessions. Moreover, when outside firms come onsite, they many present courses that emphasize general concepts but that lack sufficient hands – on training. The training coordinator must recognize this possibility and deal with it an advance to ensure that the course content will meet operating needs. In – house training can also be offered through special purchased instructional materials. A variety of professional training programs on special topics can be rented or purchased from computer training firms such as Edutronics (McGraw – Hill, Inc Deltak, Inc Professional Development, Inc and Learning Corporation of America. Other vendors offer printed and audiovisual programmed instruction materials that are either self - instructional or that supplement other training activities. However, there is no substitute for hands on experience. Training manuals are acceptable for familiarization, but the experiences of actually using the equipment, making and correcting mistakes, and encountering unexpected situations are the best and most lasting way of learning. Training manuals generally take one of two approaches. Some have the user work through different activities step by step. For example, the checklist is provided to list the steps necessary to implement a system. Each individual step is listed in the proper order. The other common approach is to create a case – study example that include all frequently encountered situations that the system is able to handle and that the users should be able to handle. Then the users must use the system to handle the actual situations that is enter data as required, process the data, and prepare reports. If the system is inquiry – oriented, the case study should require the user to pose and receive responses to inquiries. If the results produced do not match those provided in the training guide, the users will know that mistakes were made. During training, systems personnel should be alert to comments made by users or to problems that users may encounter. Although human factors testing, performed earlier, is intended to detect difficulties, some problems may not occur until inexperienced users are directly interacting with the system. Despite testing, awkward keying requirements to enter data, unexpected transactions, or unusual ways of preparing transactions may still arise during training. The trainer must be certain to involve systems personnel when problems in the design are found, while assisting users who are reluctant to change from their old ways to the new methods required to use the system. Of course, the trainer must first be certain that the new methods are necessary and do represent an improvement over current methods. |