General Dynamics Shortens Training Development by 50%, Accelerates User Uptake for New Planning Application
 
 

General Dynamics Shortens Training Development by 50%, Accelerates User Uptake for New Planning Application

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General Dynamics is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and mission-critical information systems and technology.

The company was rolling out Oracle Hyperion Planning for 125 finance users to support planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes for its C4 Systems business group, which develops and integrates secure communication and information systems and technology for defense, government, and commercial customers. Seeking the most efficient and effective tool to enable a smooth roll-out, General Dynamics evaluated and utilized the Oracle User Productivity Kit to create and distribute user training materials.

In the past, General Dynamics had used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint to develop training materials, but the process was time consuming and the results were not easily re-usable across various technology implementations. The company wanted a tool that would enable it to easily develop dynamic, online training materials that would engage users and drive greater user adoption. It also wanted a standard development process that it could re-use for future training needs.

Working with Oracle University, General Dynamics used Oracle User Productivity Kit to develop custom and prebuilt training materials to successfully train approximately 125 finance users in the C4 Systems division on Oracle Hyperion Planning and Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office. The dynamic, online training materials facilitated a better learning experience for end users and drove rapid user adoption for the new Hyperion applications.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from General Dynamics

  • “Training can fall to the wayside when projects run out of time or money; however training is critically important. Working with Oracle University, we found Oracle User Productivity Kit was easy to learn how to use, enabling us to create much better training materials than ever before while easily reducing our effort by 50%.” – John Monczewski, Director of Business Intelligence, General Dynamics Information Technology

  • Ensure a smooth roll out of Oracle Hyperion Planning to approximately125 finance users to support planning, budgeting, and forecasting for government communications and IT projects offerings, which are the core of General Dynamic’s C4 business unit
  • Replace training templates developed in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint with an online, dynamic training tool that is easy to update, roll out, and re-use across multiple projects
  • Reduce training costs
  • Shorten the time required to develop training materials for internal clients

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Collaborated with Oracle University to evaluate and develop training options that best supported business needs, tailoring a custom education plan for using Oracle User Productivity Kit that included Oracle University classes and involved an engagement with Oracle University Custom Training consultants
  • Accelerated development of target content through collaboration between client’s team and an onsite Oracle University Custom Training consultant
  • Sent two employees to Oracle University classes on Oracle User Productivity Kit, to maximize the company’s investment in the tool and complete training material development in two and a half weeks
  • Reduced by 50% the time and effort involved in developing training materials, allowing General Dynamics to ensure a timely roll out of the company’s new financial planning applications that support accurate forecasting and budgeting of large-scale communications and IT projects for the public sector
  • Provided dynamic, online training materials that facilitated a better learning experience for end users and enabled them to go back and access materials again if they needed a refresher
  • Drove greater adoption of the new Oracle Hyperion Planning application, which is essential for projects involving change management
  • Positioned General Dynamics to re-use the pre-built content in subsequent deployments across its eight divisions, saving time and money
  • Began to work with Oracle University and Oracle User Productivity Kit again for a new training program on Oracle’s business intelligence tools

Why Oracle

“Oracle University provided an excellent resource who greatly assisted with the development of the training material for our Oracle Hyperion Planning implementation, and also helped our internal resources learn how to better use Oracle User Productivity Kit. We were able to complete the development within a very short timeframe and deliver the training on time. In short, Oracle University was phenomenal and provided excellent customer service,” said John Monczewski, director of business intelligence, General Dynamics Information Technology.
 

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