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The ERP is configured, the data is clean, go-live is set. If teams do not know how to do their daily tasks in the new tool, they will go back to the spreadsheet at the first difficulty. Training is the step that turns installed software into a tool people use.
In short
Train by role, not on the whole ERP.
Use each department’s real data and real cases.
Train a few days before the batch opens, not weeks.
Appoint a key user per department, trained earlier and in more depth.
Measure adoption after opening: what is done in the ERP, and what is still done on the side.
Train by role
A picker does not need to see accounting, and an accountant does not need the receiving module. Each role has a handful of daily tasks: create a quote, validate an order, receive a delivery, enter a supplier invoice. Training focuses on these tasks, repeated until they become natural.
- List the tasks
Of each role, from the flows in the requirements.
- Prepare real cases
A real customer, a real order, a real dispute.
- Train in small groups
On the test database, each person at their own workstation.
- Have them redo
The tasks unaided before the end of the session.
The right moment
Training too early is forgotten before opening. Training too late leaves teams discovering the tool on day one. The right moment is in the days before the relevant batch opens, with the test database already filled with migrated data. It is one of the advantages of a batched go-live: each department is trained just before its turn.
Key users
One key user per department, trained earlier and in more depth, answers day-to-day questions and reports what blocks. They know the business, which makes them more credible to colleagues than an outside trainer. They also take part in acceptance tests, which involves them in the project’s success.
One-page guides
No hundred-page manual. One page per task: the goal, the steps in screenshots, the common mistakes. Stored where the team finds them (in the ERP itself, in the internal knowledge base), and kept up to date by the key user. Odoo’s application documentation and Dolibarr’s serve as a base, but an internal guide talks about your cases.
The first week
A batch opens with someone available on site or by video, with no other task, to answer within minutes. The first questions are simple and numerous; answering them fast stops them turning into workarounds. A fifteen-minute check-in at the end of each day lists what blocked and what needs fixing.
Measuring adoption
Attendance at training says nothing. What counts:
- the share of documents created in the ERP rather than elsewhere;
- support requests per week, which should fall;
- parallel files still in use, to find and close.
These measures feed the 30 and 90-day follow-ups of the project’s return.
Switching off the old tool
As long as the old spreadsheet stays editable, it remains an option. Set a date when it goes read-only, announce it during training, and hold it. It is often the move that wins over the last hesitant users.
New arrivals
Training does not stop at go-live. Every new employee must learn the tasks of their role, and the one-page guides then serve as an onboarding path, with the department’s key user as contact.
What to plan in the schedule
Training takes teams’ time, and that time must be reserved in schedules, like workshops and tests. Also plan the availability of key users in the first week, who must have no other urgency. The complete ERP guide places training in the order of project batches. Our CRM and ERP offer includes role-based training, one-page guides and support during the first week.
Frequently asked questions
How much training time per person?
For a role with a few daily tasks, half a day in a small group is often enough, followed by a supported first week. Key users and more complex roles, such as accounting or sales administration, need one to two days spread over several sessions.
Should leadership be trained?
Yes, on its own uses: dashboards, approvals that are its responsibility, reading indicators. Leadership that checks figures in the ERP rather than in a spreadsheet sent by email sends the clearest message about which tool is the reference.
What about reluctant people?
Listen to them first: their objections often reveal a real configuration problem or a task that takes longer than before. Fix what can be fixed, show the gain on their task, and involve them as testers. The date the old tool is switched off does the rest.
Sources
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
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