There has recently been a significant increase in on-line training offerings. LexisNexis is offering the “On Line University,” the recently formed Affinity Consulting Group (a conglomeration of leading consulting firms for various programs) has launched the Affinity University. Many other consultants have sponsored videos and other training materials. Why is this and just how good is on-line training anyway?
The “why?” is pretty clear: It’s the Economy, Stupid. Virtually all software companies have eliminated printed manuals in favor of massive help files, so there is no “reference manual” people can consult. Law firms don’t want to spend money on training (however shortsightedly, but it’s a fact), and legal programs such as Time Matters, PCLaw, Amicus Attorney, Practice Master, etc. can’t really be rolled out without training, so on-line training appears to offer a way out. It offers the illusion of being cheaper (although, at $99 for an hour’s session, if you have ten users, it is hardly cheaper, even with discounts). In many cases it can be scheduled at a convenient time, you do not have to leave the office (or your desk). Some firms (such as LawBill) offer training CD’s for a fixed price. Other companies, such as PCDocs, offer “how to” manuals which can be purchased for a fixed price. Probably the best on-line training solutions are 3-5 minute video snippets such as Time Matters “help cam videos.” If you are in a relatively isolated area, it can make training available from people who really know what they are doing, as opposed to mediocre training or no training at all – this is really the main thing on-line training has going for it.
However there are three major drawbacks to on-line training.
• The first is that most often, in-house training uses the firm’s actual data. This makes the training and examples more real to users and consequently more effective. In addition, it encourages people to ask questions (an integral part of training) because they know what they are trying to do in various scenarios.
• Secondly, when sitting at your desk instead of in a classroom, it is all to easy to do something else while “watching” the training – make a phone call, answer an email, shuffle papers, etc. I know I’ve done it during webinars. This dramatically reduces the effectiveness of training.
• Lastly, from an instructor’s point of view, with on-line training there is no way to tell when people’s eyes glaze over and you lose one or more members of the “class.” Classroom training is considerably more interactive and hence effective. Although most web-based training solutions offer an option for questions, somehow it isn’t the same as a real classroom. The 3-5 minute video snippets on a single topic are one form of on-line training that avoids a number of these pitfalls.
All things considered, on-line training is a second-best, fallback solution. If you are isolated or a solo it can be a reasonable alternative. And it is certainly better than no training at all.
I recently had an issue with setting up Practice Master to integrate with Worldox for a demo for a prospective client. I called STI and explained that I was a consultant, that all I had was a demo version of Practice Master and that this was for a prospective client. Tech Support was extremely helpful, made no protestations about licensing, and rapidly came up with the answer (a issue with the Worldox API that had subsequently been fixed). Sure enough, I downloaded the latest build of Worldox and problem solved.
That’s what really good tech support should be like.
Out of the box, both Word and WordPerfect are designed for an individual user, not a business user on a network. This is reflected in the default location of documents, which is normally in the user’s My Documents directory. From a business point of view, this makes no sense, so the first thing you want to do is to change it.
In WordPerfect, go to Tools | Settings | Files. The first tab will be “Documents” and there a field for “Default Document Folder.” Change this to the location of your documents on the server, for example “F:\docs” or “F:\clients.” That way, when you save or open a document you will have a few less mouse clicks to locate the proper place.
In Word 2003, go to Tools | Options | File Locations. Select the “Documents” option and click “Modify.” Select the appropriate directory as above. In Word 2007, Click the MS Open button in the upper left corner, then select Word Options at the bottom of that window, and Save options. Change the “Default File Location” as desired.
If you use firm-wide macros and templates you may want to reconfigure the location of your macros and templates accordingly, so that you do not have to go through individual setup every time you have a new user.
