Third in a four-part Office 2007 migration series.

It needs to be said: Finish what you started.

In part one of this series, I highlighted the reasons an estimated 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT departments are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. Part two offered information on how to complete the migration with minimal downtime. This post lays out a project timeline and 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:
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, Web-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio and video 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 and video 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 and video 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 were surprised by the amount of work that goes into a migration, remember that you are part of the way there. It’s not a simple upgrade, but it can be done with minimal pain.

Stay tuned for part four, our free, downloadable Migration Assurance Program Kit.

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Make it OK to not know something — allow your employees to get their work done with minimal downtime and frustration.

According to Godin, managers have two choices in dealing with this errant 2 percent:

“Design systems that have the good sense and gracefulness to permit the 2% to proceed; or annoy, demonize or lose these people.”

Unfortunately, most companies today opt for the latter. In a recession, quality desktop application support usually is the first to go when budgets are cut. It’s hard to quantify its return on investment, and the demand for such support is often hidden.

Companies annoy, demonize or lose employees by making them figure out software problems on their own, but hold them accountable if their workarounds fail. Figuring it out on their own can mean fruitlessly scouring Microsoft help files for solutions, asking for assistance from colleagues who know a little more about software, finding flawed workarounds, or doing nothing at all. That’s the hidden demand, and it wastes heaps of time and money. It also creates frustrated employees.

A smarter solution is to acknowledge that the 2 percent is inevitable and take steps to minimize the effect. Offer software support and training; make it OK to not know something; allow your employees to get their work done with minimal downtime and frustration.

Read Godin’s blog here.

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To combat attrition, researchers suggest starting with the issue of employee engagement.

Researchers for nonprofit HR organization WorldAtWork and consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that employee engagement levels dropped 9 percent since 2008, and by almost 25 percent for top-performing workers.

It’s not a surprise that dissatisfaction is growing among those who still have jobs. They are now responsible for doing their own work, plus that of their sacked colleagues. What’s more, with salary and bonus freezes in effect, those employees aren’t being compensated for their extra efforts. (Granted, those pay freezes did save them their jobs.) A decline in productivity is inevitable.

And there’s one more factor: According to the same survey, 41 percent of employees believe that the cost-reduction measures that have been taken by their employers are adversely affecting quality and customer service.

“This decline in productivity might be attributable in part to employees’ feeling they lack the resources to do their job well,” the researchers write. “But it is also due to declining employee engagement, weakened commitment, less clarity of expectations and fewer rewards for job performance”

To combat attrition, researchers suggest starting with the issue of employee engagement (defined as “a combination of employee commitment and line of sight”). In addition to the obvious move of reinstating bonuses, employers can motivate employees by offering other, non-monetary incentives, such as training and career development.

There is no quick fix, however. The study’s authors advise companies to begin taking measures immediately to offset the ill will generated from cost-cutting actions – but they warn that it could take a while. “It requires, vision, action and sustained commitment over time,” researchers write in the study.

Download the entire report, titled “Looking Toward Recovery: Realigning Rewards and Re-Engaging Employees,” in .pdf form.

Read a related post: “Employee Retention 101.”

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Try teaching organization tips when a deadline is looming or has passed. It’s futile.

And if there’s one thing that can arrest productivity, it’s a full mailbox. (For an interesting look at e-mail’s ill-effect on employee output, read “Avoiding Death by E-mail” written by Tom L. Barnett and published on Computerworld.com.)

Depending on your company’s policy, it can mean an inability to send mail at best, and loss of all e-mail functionality at worst.

Usually, the calls come from users who need to send an e-mail right now, and do not have time to properly free up space. Sometimes they have already begun mass-deleting and they still cannot send mail.

In these situations, callers don’t want to hear about smart mailbox organization. They just want to get their work done on time.

Usually, our consultants offer the caller a solution that solves the pressing issue, and then they may follow up later with a phone call to show him how to archive and organize mail so that the problem does not happen again. (Try teaching organization tips when a deadline is looming or has passed. It’s futile.)

For that caller, his issue is resolved, and, if he set up archiving and created mailbox rules, he most likely will not have the problem again. That’s wonderful. But for every caller who reaches out, there are many more who spend hours whittling down their mailboxes, only to face the same problem again in a week or two.

If e-mail is the dominant form of communication at most businesses, why is it not standard practice to train employees on e-mail software?

It’s amazing what 20 minutes of learning and a little bit of follow-up support will return in the form of increased productivity.

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I thought to myself, “Where do you think all that mail goes? The great .pst in the sky?”

I thought to myself, “Where do you think all that mail goes? The great .pst in the sky?”

That was the bad-mannered former software consultant in me, and I quickly reminded myself everyone has their own areas of expertise — some technical, some not.

Case in point: I know someone who is a carpenter and general contractor. He had very little formal education; most of it has been on-the-job. If you need to know what kind of wood something is made of — whether it’s a common type like Spanish cedar or an exotic species such as Bubinga (African rosewood) — he’ll tell you in a second. That’s his specialty, and he knows it well.

But when he tries to work with document templates and database files for his business, he’s not so nimble. For that, he brings in help.

All this got me thinking about recession, shrinking IT budgets, productivity, and a mess of other unpleasant business stuff. In particular, it led me to wonder why companies cut employee software training and support in an effort to save money.

The current corporate culture views training as a necessary evil, and expects workers to function as experts upon completion. That is unrealistic.

Instruction is important, practice is necessary, and assistance along the way is vital.

Let’s go back to the issue of Outlook folders reaching capacity. My initial reaction was harsh, and I’m thankful it was just a thought that ran through my head and not a comment uttered aloud. In that particular case, a consultant explained the .pst size limits, and showed the caller how to keep folders manageable using Outlook’s AutoArchive and Rules features.

The customer didn’t know that information before he called us, and he may have spent an hour trying to figure it out on his own or with the help of a colleague. (Think of the double downtime.)

The next time he is mysteriously unable to save to his .pst, he may remember how he fixed it last time, or he may not. This time, however, he knows where to find answer quickly.

Less downtime, more knowledge.

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The Computerworld piece that raised her hackles included these suggestions for building employee morale: reward workers and show appreciation by saying “thank you,” and talk about higher purpose by pointing out the company’s philanthropic endeavors and the role employees play in making the world a better place. Those suggestions are meant to take the place of monetary rewards — you know, because we’re in a recession.

Employees will be more productive and hopefully less bitter, and the internal help desk will be free to do its job.

That’s unrealistic and out-of-touch, Levinson wrote. And I wholeheartedly agree.

Levinson finishes her post by asking for morale-building suggestions. Here are my ideas:

1. Give them something they can use: Training, training, training, plus variety, variety, variety. Most organizations dedicate money to training (some more than others), but because people pick up and retain information differently, only a small percentage of employees benefit. Why not offer a range of learning options? It’s good for both you and the worker: You get a more productive employee; and the employee gets a confidence boost, plus a new or enhanced skill to take with him.
2. Lend a helping hand: Outsourcing doesn’t have to quash morale. If you choose the right partner, one that evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of your current IT infrastructure, your employees will get expert support when they need it. They might even be grateful. You’re not eliminating jobs; rather, you’re giving workers the tech support they have needed all along. Employees will be more productive and hopefully less bitter, and the internal help desk will be free to do the job it was meant to do.
3. Communicate and inform: Have you ever booted up your computer to find that IT had installed new software without informing you? I have, and it’s a real resentment-builder. With a coordinated communication plan, you can keep your employees in the loop about IT and help desk changes, and provide them with support outlets for when they are stuck before, during and after the changes take place. It will enable them to feel more confident with the tools they rely on every day. It shows respect, much more than an empty “thank you.”

Of course, more money would help too, but you already knew that.

*The sentences in her rant that won me over? “Gag me with a spoon” and “This is the biggest crock.” Perhaps it’s the Gen-X in me, or maybe I just like when someone tells it like it is, in a language we can all understand.

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In this series, we separate the facts from the myths, and teach you how to get the most return on your investment.

Myth No. 1: You can make Office 2007 look and act like Office 2003.

One of the biggest gripes about Office 2007 is the interface. Features your employees have used for years are suddenly, um, somewhere else. The changes are substantial enough that even the savviest users will be lost.

“With MS Office 2007, the steering wheel is in the trunk, the brake pedal is in the glove compartment and the light switch is on the roof.”

The natural reaction is to find a way to make it look like the previous version, as evidenced by the scads of third-party add-ins that have cropped up. Message board comments like the following are especially enlightening:

“When I buy a new car, I expect the steering wheel, pedals and all other important controls to be where they used to be. In [the] case of MS Office 2007, the steering wheel is in the trunk, the brake pedal is in the glove compartment and the light switch is on the roof.”

The commenter’s frustration is almost palpable, but change is never easy. And while some add-ins are effective, they miss the point. You’ve invested in a new version, so why not get the most out of it? The new interface was designed to be intuitive, and to bring attention to features that were buried in previous versions. Holding on to the old interface will only serve to diminish your Office 2007 migration return on investment.

Takeaway Tips

• The all-important Options feature, which used to reside in the Tools menu, is now under the Office button, at the bottom right of the dropdown menu (Excel Options, Word Options, etc.).
• Can’t find the macros menu? You need to enable the Developer tab in order to see it. Go to Office Button | [application] Options. In the “Popular” section, place a check in the box next to “Show Developer tab in the Ribbon.”
• Absolute basics: “Save” and its cohorts are now located under the Office button; basic formatting is now located in the Home tab; and spelling and grammar checks are in the Review tab.

Next post: Debunking the myth that support needs will disappear shortly after migration.

Download the complete white paper from CIO.com.

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In a recent post on TechRepublic, Calvin Sun offers 10 tips on the subject. Here are three that warrant elaboration:

Less Imaginary Widgets, More Genuine Examples

If one of your employees is fumbling with the Access sample database “Northwind,” it’s no wonder. How invested is he, really, in Raclette Courdevault and Geitost*? Give him something that is familiar, like an actual database from your company, with products or figures that have relevance.

If you took a three-day course on jet propeller engine repair, would you submit your resume for a job as an American Airlines mechanic?

“If you can relate to the material you’re studying to something in your own life, your retention will be greater,” writes TechRepublic’s Sun.

Long Distance vs. Sprinting

Sun explains how people are more likely to retain information that is learned in small chunks over time than what is studied during marathon cramming sessions. We know this. We’ve been told at least once in our lives not to cram.

Yet, in the case of Office 2007 migrations for example, employees are given mini courses or just PDF cheat sheets to learn a software suite that is radically different from previous versions. Do you think your employees are going to remember that the chart options have changed in Excel 2007 if they learned it upfront but create only one chart a month?

Use It or Lose It

If you took a three-day course on jet propeller engine repair, would you submit your resume for a job as an American Airlines mechanic? Apply that same logic to standard corporate training courses. While you have given your employees initial training on applications, you cannot expect them to walk out of the classroom as experts.

Still, some companies leave employees to fend for themselves after initial training. On a recent call to PC Helps, the customer wanted to know how to search two Excel worksheets for duplicates. Worksheet One contained 30,000 rows of data; Worksheet Two had 16,000. A consultant showed her how to use a nested formula. The employee was elated, and confessed that she was about to manually vet the data – all 45,000 rows. That’s hardly efficient. It’s an avoidable tragedy. (Jen Darr)

How do you promote efficiency in your office? Tell us in comments or send me an e-mail.

*Raclette Courdevault and Geitost are two products sold by the fictitious Northwind company. The former is cheese that is melted and served over boiled potatoes with lots of ground black pepper – big in Switzerland; the latter is Norwegian dessert cheese that must be sliced paper-thin. But I had to look that up.

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By having customers mine their own trenches, the article continues, the company found a novel way to build loyalty. After all, the customers did the digging. Plus, it left the Norwegian public with a stellar image of Lyse: Let customers decide where to put their trenches, and reward them for doing so with an tempting discount and prices that are lower than the competition’s.

If you give your employees tools to get their jobs done more efficiently, you are allowing them to draft their own plans.

It is genius, and a tactic that can be applied to many industries. As an IT leader, you consider your company’s employees to be your customers. Your department’s image is important, and how well your customers’ computers and software behave directly affects your bottom line.

Swap the shovel for quality training and tech support. If you give your employees tools to get their jobs done more efficiently, you are allowing them to draft their own plans.

An Office 2007 migration is a fitting example. Without a doubt, employee productivity will dip during a migration. (See an earlier post, “Office 2007 Migration Road Map,” to learn how to plan a successful switchover.) Features they have used for years are suddenly somewhere else. The interface changes are substantial enough that without training, even the savviest users will be lost.

But it doesn’t stop there. The difference between digging the trench for them and handing over the shovel is in what you do next.

If you provide only pre-migration training, or no training at all, confusion will set in, and productivity will plummet. However, if you give your employees ongoing support during and after a migration, you are enabling them to work efficiently and to build skills at the same time. Productivity increases. Employee morale rises. (Jen Darr)

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