That brand-new hire is starting after a long search. You want them to succeed and become the star that you envisioned when you offered the position. What can you do to help them be successful with Sage X? What resources are available?
SAGE UNIVERSITY
The most obvious resource is Sage University. (http://sageu.com). The new hires can attend classes based on their role or on specific topics or you can even arrange private training. There are Anytime Learning classes which are available on demand as well as WebEx scheduled training. There are “What’s New” classes to supplement any internal training you may have already created. They will have access to eBook versions of the training materials for future reference. Another benefit of the Sage University classes, is it frees you and your staff up to keep doing your regular duties while the newbies are learning.
Before we go any further, do you have a test environment or sandbox that the newbies can use? You don’t want new hires to be practicing in the live environment. Also, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, a test environment is great for going over “what if“ scenarios on setups, screen changes, etc. before applying them to production.
ONLINE HELP CENTER
Acquaint the new hires with the Online help center in Sage X3. Have them check out each tab and what it has to offer. Let's highlight a few important areas
Quick start
A frequently overlooked resource here is the Quick start section. It offers step-by-step numbered instructions accompanied by numbered prints screens to guide you through a task. The documents are typically 1 to 3 pages.
Below is a Quick start document on creating a Sales representative. The document can be exported as a PDF file and printed out so that it is easy to view as they set up a sales rep. Or the newbies can have it out for notes as they shadow their mentors. For all those more experienced X3 users, I find these helpful when going into a function I haven’t accessed in a while.
How to
The How to section tends to contain more advanced topics like implementing Sage Sales Tax. While they might not be handling those areas yet, it is good to know what is there.
Technical help
The Technical help tab is where they will find the Table dictionary, Data models (data flow from table to table), etc.
Home
Home has a History section where they can find a help topic that they have recently accessed. It will display what items have been recently added. Check it out for new Tutorials, How to guides and Quick start documents
Product help
Product help can be accessed through the Online help center menu or through the functions by click on the “?” and selection Field help or Function help.
They wonder what Doubtful receipt enter is.
Access the Click the function and click on the “?” and select Function help
We have a information such as description of what the function is and common error messages. It is always good to check the help for error messages as your issue may be addressed.
REPORTS/INQUIRIES
Do you have a list of reports you typically run? Searching help under Reports dictionary will allow them to drill down to the module then to the individual report. This will give you a description of the report and other details. They can enter transactions and see how the transactions flow to the reports.
The help for Inquiries is found in Help by module / inquires or directly from the specify inquiry. Again, newbies can see how the transactions look in the inquires
You can point out the Criteria button on Inquiries. There may be options in the Criteria that aren’t available on the first inquiry screen.
SAGE KNOWLEDGEBASE
The Sage knowledgebase provides resolutions to errors, how-to information, troubleshooting tips and links to downloads for patching/upgrading. The knowledgebase can be accessed by logging into https://support.na.sage.com/. Note that you must have a user id and password to login and access downloads.
SAGE CITY
Sage City is a great source of information (http://sagecity.com).
To start off with, there are the Sage X3 Support Blogs. There are over 280 articles on technical and application topics. Need more information on how to revaluing an asset based on the market value? Check out How to revalue an asset based on the market value? Lost for ideas on how to troubleshoot an issue? Try: Troubleshooting Tools of the Trade. Curious about elastic search? Review: Elastic Search – The Component you never wanted, but you cannot live without.
Under Resources, there are also links to the year-end resource center to help you get through your annual close, the knowledgebase and Sage University.
Thinking about ways to improve the product? Head to the Ideas section.
Forums allow you to pose questions on customizations, issues, processes, etc. to the Sage community or offer suggestion/advance back to your Sage colleagues. It is also where announcements such as new releases are posted.
Google is a great tool for troubleshooting SQL or Windows type issues.
ACRONYMS
Do you have a list of company Acronyms to provide to newbies? If not, have them start one. It will reduce the confusion as every talks in strings of letters: ADC, PJM, etc. I confess as a support newbie fresh from accounting many years ago, wondering why everyone kept talking about “doing business as.” I overheard, “here’s the DBA info, can you call ‘em?” It all made sense when I found “DBA” was database administrator.
Good luck with your new hire training! I hope you’ve found your next star.