You’ve invested in Office 2007, and now it’s time for the actual migration. You cannot afford to approach the undertaking willy-nilly — a switch to Office 2007 promises to be like no other. The user interface is radically different, and your employees will hit snags just trying to figure out how to perform basic tasks. How you handle the inevitable learning curve depends on your preparedness — and it may dictate future budget allocations, even the health of your IT department. In this series, we break down the components of our Office 2007 migration readiness kit, and give you the information you need for a snag-free switchover.

Part Two, the Readiness Checklist:
You want successful transition to Office 2007 and early ROI. In order to meet those goals, you need to keep your employees informed and trained before, during and after deployment. With a plan in place, you will minimize or eliminate dips in productivity and give your workers confidence to use the tools they rely on every day. This is what you should expect from a migration partner:

Second in a five-part Office 2007 migration readiness series.

Before

• Educate employees about what’s to come via e-mail, newsletters or the company intranet
• Create an employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Offer instructor-led, Internet-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio & visual tutorials
• Train internal IT staff on basic, intermediate and advanced Office 2007 frequently asked questions
• Alter voice response unit (VRU) message to address specific migration calls

During

• Continue employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Offer instructor-led, Internet-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio & visual tutorials
• Provide immediate, expert support on Office 2007 applications, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Deliver “type 2″ and related topic training to all employees during and following support calls
• Offer live, web-based training sessions covering specific applications: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Select group, individual or customized sessions

After

• Continue employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Continue to offer instructor-led, Internet-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio & visual tutorials
• Solution-based call details, productivity measures
• Call analysis identifying targeted training needs
• Quality assurance program measuring user satisfaction, call complexity reporting and downtime analysis
• Monthly e-mail newsletter featuring Office 2007 tips, tricks and shortcuts

If you are surprised by the amount of work that goes into a migration, you should be. It’s not a simple upgrade. No need for concern, though — that’s the migration partner’s job.

Next up: Staffing concerns, cost-per-call analysis, and more. (Jen Darr)

FIND MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools | Migration Case Study | PC Helps eTraining | Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps

Click to read Part One, The Big Picture.

Jenny Sweeney Office 2007, Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program, ROI, Worker Productivity Help Desk, Office 2007, Outsourcing, ROI, software support