1. Enterprise training represents just one more example of the types of enterprise-wide initiatives companies use their ERP systems to support. Can you think of other types of enterprise wide processes these systems could influence positively?

2. How can enterprise systems be used to track safety documentation or other records routinely required by governmental agencies?

With nearly 40,000 employees worldwide and US$17 billion in annual revenue, General Mills, Inc. (Golden Valley, MN) has devoted a lot of effort to training its employees. With regard to supply chains, the business operates 31 manufacturing plants across North America staffed with workers who need to be trained for highly specialized operational and technical jobs in the production facilities. The challenge lies in providing training that is of similar content and quality across all the plants. When left to individual work sites, there is a potential that some workers will receive in-depth supply chain training, whereas others will only be taught the rudiments. Employees often preferred different methods of training delivery. Some chose to learn by shadowing a co-worker in a production line and observing how job tasks were done before performing them unattended, and others asked for more hands-on demonstrations and instruction. “Because the training was tracked manually on a plant-to-plant basis, it was hard to even identify what the variations were,” said Ron McGuire, Training and Development Manager at General Mills. “Adopting a standardized tracking system would make those variations more readily visible to training administrators who could then better understand where the variations exist and what countermeasures they could take to start working toward a standard process.”

In a creative move, General Mills adopted an offshoot of ERP software to standardize the manner in which training is conducted, success measured, and results reported across all their plant locations. The software consisted of a consistent global system that all training managers were taught and that was then used as a guide for their standardized learning system. Among the advantages of the global system are the ability to pull up immediate information on the current status of training, exception reports in cases where training methods need modifications, and follow-up documentation for tracking training methods and needed changes when manufacturing processes are changed.

Through a web-based interface, General Mills’ supply chain employees can now register for online classes or hands-on instruction and take online assessments. Meanwhile, those in charge of site training can more easily track and review training history, including verifying that all critical training has been successfully undertaken. The manufacturing plants can jointly supervise and ensure the regulatory and safety training that their employees must take every month. Although these topics change monthly, General Mills’ enterprise system created a way to standardize the topics throughout the plants and the way each plant runs the training—whether with classroom instruction, pop quizzes, online assessments, management training, or a combination. “Rather than have training administrators or HR employees manually gather information by combing through spreadsheets, piles, or handwritten data on sign-in sheets, and forwarding it up the chain, now we have better reporting and a more effective way of tracking training,” said McGuire.