Sodexo

Challenges

When the project started, Sodexo had made the following assessment: Unit managers, who are the main users, are very spread out geographically. Information systems are carrying more and more of the key company processes, and play a strong strategic role in the company’s performance. The stakes are high when you roll out a new tool.

For Information Services & Technology (IS & T) the stakes are double:

• succeed in a massive roll-out of the software, training a large number of end-users very quickly and
• ensure the efficient usage of this software once rolled out.

For France alone, the applications needed to be rolled out very rapidly to 2,500 employees. Sodexo was, therefore, looking for a tool that was less complex to manage than a training database, cheaper, and that reduced the number of calls to the helpdesk! Depending on the breadth of the application to be rolled out, IS & T would either need to use this tool for in-class or for e-learning for employees. Because of the number of staff movements, you can have with such a large user base, it must be reusable at all times. Lastly, it must help end-users increase their knowledge once they have returned to their location.

Solutions

Click’n Buy is one of the applications Sodexo needed to roll out to manage the procurement of its locations. The roll-out speed was a critical factor, and up until then had been an important constraint for Sodexo. “To train our users efficiently on Click’n Buy, we were looking for a solution able to make a maximum number of users self-sufficient in a minimum amount of time.” Nataly Coleou End-users Services Director, Sodexo.

Assima Cloning Technology mirrors the reality of applications. It helps to structure the course and puts the instructor and the end-users into real-life situations via the creation of clones. Sodexo captures the exact applications they are creating training courses for and immerses the end-user into a virtual environment that reflects all of its functionalities. The user then has both a copy of his application and a learning tool.

Sodexo now has the advantage of having a tool that is easy to update even in massive roll-outs. With the Assima Suite, they now have one single training material for all instructors, enabling them all to speak in one voice. Sodexo can put it online and use it as training or an e-learning guide.

Another valuable advantage is that most often only the essential parts of the main processes are covered during the course. When the end-user returns to their regular work environment, they have the ability to utilize the ATS online guide when they need further assistance.

For several projects, in-class training wasn’t necessary, such as e-Invoicing and e-End-of-Month. In those cases, the course was entirely built around ATS and massively rolled-out to 2,500/3,000 end-users who were in an e-learning situation.

The duplication of the production environment, the flow of all the job processes and the job guide were the three principals at the heart of the roll-out using the ATS Solution as the training and communication strategy.

Sodexo creates its training courses internally, with about twenty to thirty units per application. They have used Assima solution as an in-class tool for Click’n Buy or Click’n Team, and as an e-learning tool, for e-Invoicing and for e-End-of-Month for example. Job stakeholders and instructors are brought in to build the teaching canvas for each project.

Results and Benefits

The solution has been generalized: all training now systematically uses Assima solution units. Sodexo feels that end-users become self-sufficient very quickly.

Assima Cloning and Digital Assistance is simple to manage for IS & T, and brings a very dynamic environment to end-users. It is as useful in-class as in e-learning situations and enables the end-user to then broaden their knowledge quickly and easily.