Good day Community,
Through my implementation experience I have seen the benefits of a PTO session, so I thought I should share the below:
As an implementation consultant, before you conduct blueprint workshops, it is important to take the customer through a PTO Session. PTO sessions have proven to contribute positively to the Blueprint workshops. They provide the customer with a level of confidence and knowledge which assists them in making informed decisions during the Blueprint workshops. This session also allows for the customer to get to know you (the implementation consultant).
The Project Team Orientation (PTO) is designed to help stakeholders make decisions for a successful implementation and maintenance of the SAP SuccessFactors solution. Throughout the PTO, the customer learns about the terms and concepts of the solution and review the administrator and end-user experiences. The decisions that the customer makes in the PTO assist both the customer and consultant in the upcoming configuration workshop.
Some may find the PTO to be a tedious exercise and want to jump straight into the configuration workshops, however, what value are you going to get out of the blueprint workshops when your stakeholders are clueless about the solution? The goal of running the stakeholders through a PTO session is to ensure a successful Implementation. It is also not good to assume that your customer knows everything related to the solution, so as a consultant it is your job to take them through the solution first.
Structuring your PTO Session:
“Seeing is believing” – As much as your stakeholders may have seen the system before, it may have been a while since, so they might have forgotten what it looks like. It is therefore important to kickstart your session with a demo, this way customers will be reminded of what they are getting and may revive the excitement. Throughout the demo, make sure to explain concepts & terminology so that the customer familiarises themselves and understands what’s coming.
After the demo, you can continue to take the customer through a presentation i.e. the PTO Presentation. The presentation must cover the concepts and processes of the solution.
First, you need to decide on the structure of the presentation. It is important to structure the presentation in a manageable way and follow an order that will make sense and be aligned with your blueprint document. The structure will also depend on your module, for example, if you are going to be implementing LMS, you may for example follow the below structure:
- Security – (Domains, Role Management, Admins etc.)
- Learning Management (Assignment Profiles, Libraries, Curricula, items)
- Content Management & Connectors ( Surveys
- Data Templates (Item connector, References, Learning History Connector etc.)
Tip: During the presentation, It may be beneficial to navigate into the demo system for some live examples.
Benefits:
- Gain knowledge of the solution
- Learn about the functionality/concepts.
- Learn about the solution processes.
- Make informed decisions.
Audience:
It is important to communicate with the project manager about who is required in the session. There is no point in conducting a PTO session with people who will not be part of the blueprint workshops.
Ideally, the following stakeholders should be part of the PTO session:
- Executive Stakeholder
- Business Process Owner
- Team Lead
- Super User
- IT Representative/Technical consultant
Thank you for reading and I would appreciate any additions to this based on your own experience.