Implementing New Construction Software and the Importance of Training

This article will explore a true life case of why a new software installation can fail despite the best intentions of management. The company name is not revealed for reasons of privacy.

I speak with various users of construction software on a daily basis. The vast majority are very disappointed with the software they now have and want to look for new options. In most cases, their reasons are legitimate and they do need a functionally richer and technologically more advanced solution. However, about 20% of the time they are going to be just as disappointed in new software as they are with what they have. The reason is very basic. The users of the software simply are not properly trained to get the most out of it. I’ve found this to be true regardless of industry or company size.

A few years ago I worked with a medium-sized electrical contractor that had many jobs to complete in a short time frame. They were using very old software that lacked any of the niceties of new Windows software.  Even things as simple as having multiple users access an application at the same time were not possible with their software. Needless to say, the software was a serious hindrance to office productivity.

Of course, the simple answer was to get new software.  After months of research I came across a system which, while not state of the art, was more than adequate for the task.  I sat in on several demos and everyone concluded it looked like a good possibility. The next step was to have the primary accounting person try out the software to see if they really liked it. This, however, meant burning some midnight oil because there was not enough time during the day for the testing.

No one in management volunteered to work with her, and due to the difficulty of the assignment, absolutely no progress had been made within nearly a year.  Finally, after two years, they acquired the new construction accounting software, completed some initial training and started to use it. The staff, who was not very technologically sophisticated, entered all the necessary data in the new system (job cost, work orders, and progress billings, etc.) but insisted on continuing to use the old system in parallel mode for an entire year. Essentially, out of needless fear, they did double work for an entire year! Why? Because no one with experience was there to manage the process.

Several important lessons were learned as a result of this wasteful process. First, key managers should be brought in to initial meetings with vendor trainers to give them an overview of the implementation process, all the strategies involved, and the time-frame.  Second, managers must buy in to the new software.  When the manager doesn’t fully buy in to the process and understand the tasks and time-frame, they may not choose an employee who is the most qualified to learn the system and to train other people.  Instead, they often choose the employee they can most do without for the ”train-the-trainer” sessions.  Without the supervising manager’s involvement, classes were routinely skipped by staff employees and the entire training process broke down.

What the company learned was that the direct managers must be involved in the initial training sessions as well as be active participants in managing the implementation. They need to know what resources will be required to get the system up and running successfully and be prepared to commit qualified people to learn the system and to train other staff as necessary. Everyone must be motivated so they are fully committed to the success of the new system.

Bottom line, software is only as good as the people that use it and that means proper training and motivation.

Comments are closed.