Workflows training in a national/24hr environment

1. Workflows training in a national/24hr environment Or, how to go places when you’re not allowed to go places

2. Clifford Chance LLP • It’s “probably the largest law firm in the world”. • Offices in 18 countries. • 7000 staff incl about 200 Information staff. • Culture: demanding, decentralised. Many offices open 24hrs so multinational teams can handle multinational deals.

3. Unicorn development • 1999. Rolled Unicorn (NT version) out to London office’s practice areas. • 2001. New York/Washington and Amsterdam joined and we merged our three separate and very different catalogues into one (thank you, Sirsi). • 2002. Four new offices in California, Hong Kong and São Paulo have joined and will add their collections to Unicorn.

4. Just in passing… • In our multinational special library environment, we need a library system which is easily customisable, stable, very flexible, user-friendly, fast, works well on global networks, can handle various alphabets and languages, can run 24hrs without needing stops for halt/runs or backups. We don’t have all of this with Unicorn yet, but we’re working on it.

5. Unicorn admin at Clifford Chance • We have a multisite Unicorn management team who take joint decisions and agree on shared procedures across all sites. We communicate by phone and email and sometimes teleconference. • We have a broader inhouse Unicorn User group (“CCUUG”!), with members in five countries. We communicate mostly by email.

6. Unicorn, day-to-day • London uses all Unicorn modules • Other offices only use the catalogue • New York (which purchases for all the US offices) wants Serials next and then Acquisitions • Other offices will follow this path in their own time

7. Unicorn - cataloguing • Who catalogues? In London it’s decentralised, with both Resources and Practice staff creating, editing and deleting records. Most other offices have a central library and centralised cataloguing. Keeping people to procedures can be difficult. • We have a single in-house cataloguing manual.

8. Remote training in a 24hr firm with Big Brother and PC-TV… • To train staff in offices far from London, we use a combination of telephone and remote control software. We mostly use pcAnywhere. Sirsi use VNC. There are others. • Our trainers can view and take over the trainee’s PC desktop with pcAnywhere. We talk them through a process and correct what they’re doing by taking control when necessary. See the picture...

10. Advantages of remote training • Cheap and simple - just comms costs if any (and hotel costs sometimes). Can work via modem as well, so you can even train colleagues from home. • Time not used for travelling can be spent on extra training. • Good for brief impromptu sessions - you can just open up a remote session and explain a problem immediately.

11. Disadvantages of remote training, #1 • Stressful. Hard to tell if people have understood because you can’t see their facial expression. • Unfamiliar accents are hard to decipher over phones. Trainees sometimes talk quietly among themselves, perhaps in their own language, which can be distracting. • You need to be in the office at odd hours, if you’re training staff in Asia or California. Hong Kong starts work at 1am London time.

12. Disadvantages of remote training, #2 • Twice as much organisation: booking two rooms instead of one, setting up phones... • Need IT to install and configure Pcanywwhere. • Need to ensure you have the meeting time right at both ends (“Is it 3pm or 4pm now in HK?”) • Most importantly, you need very, very clear training materials.

13. Remote training, tips #1 • Test your set-up before you start the training session. • Try to have a dedicated machine for remote training. Then you’ll be familiar with it. • The trainer needs a room as well as the trainees. Don’t do remote training from a crowded office. You won’t be popular. • Use a speakerphone or a headset instead of a handset.

14. Remote training, tips #2 • Make sure trainees have the same version of the documentation as you do. • Don’t be shy - if you can’t distinguish between your trainees’ voices, ask. Blame it on a crackly phone, but make sure you know who you’re talking to. • Don’t try to train more than two people and on one PC. Running two sessions on your desktop is no fun.

15. Remote training, tips #3 • Follow-up. You’ll need to do more follow-up than you normally do. • Try to see a photo of your trainees. It gets the faces in your head. Send them one of you too. Every tiny bit of communication helps. • Get them to repeat everything you do on the screen so you’re sure they understand.

16. Remote training shopping list • Connection software: pcAnywhere, VNC, Proxymaster. VNC is free and downloadable from the web. • A good telephone with a headset or loudspeaker. • A webcam at each end would be fun.

17. Remote training, conclusions • Can be surprisingly productive/cost effective. • Trainer and trainees must work as a team during the training process. • Training everybody consistently improves data integrity and involvement. • Unexpected benefits. Remote training fosters team spirit and integrates widely dispersed colleagues.