Software Planner is an award winning web-based application lifecycle management (ALM) solution. It provides test management functionality, including tracking requirements, defects, test cases, test execution and support tickets. It also provides project management functionality, with importing/exporting from Microsoft Project®, customisable dashboards, document sharing and Microsoft Outlook® Synchronisation. Software Planner integrates with a wide range of automated test tools.

Best Practices for Implementing eLearning
If you’re getting ready to release your application to the market, it is imperative that your application allows the end-user to learn the features in a quick and easy way. When considering training, it is also important to understand that not all users learn the same way. Some prefer structured training classes, some prefer feature movies, some prefer printed User Guides, others prefer on-line training. This newsletter discusses the implementation of eLearning methods and offers case studies for different approaches.

Training Delivery Alternatives
There is nothing more frustrating for a user than getting a new application or an update to an existing one, and not knowing what it’s capable of or how to use it. You can eliminate that frustration and ensure users get the most out of your application by providing some mechanism that helps them learn the application and use it most effectively to do their job. It’s critical that users have the resources to climb a short, steep learning curve to rapidly start making use of an application’s features. But what delivery mechanism is the best for your intended audience? Here’s a chart showing some of the more popular delivery methods:Case Studies
Below are 2 real-world case studies with different approaches to training. The training method you choose will depend on the preferences and technical expertise of your users.

1. Junior Achievement (JA). JA Worldwide is a partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers — all working together to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential. JA’s hands-on, experiential programs teach the key concepts of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to young people all over the world. JA enlisted Creative Training Concepts to provide an on-line training curriculum that allows their volunteers to learn the course materials and deploy those volunteers into classrooms where they could teach the young people. With almost 400,000 JA volunteers, they needed a training method that could be easily distributed and could track progress through the training modules. Creative Training Concepts provided JA with an online training program that has received accolades in all major cities the USA.

2. Software Application Training. With more than 70,000 users, the makers of Software Planner had a number of different training styles to please. After surveying its users on their training preferences, they implemented several training options for their clients. The training options included narrated feature movies that illustrate the features of the software, searchable user guides, printable user guides, and on-line training classes.

About the Software Planner newsletter
The Software Planner newsletter is reproduced on this site by permission of the author, Steve Miller. Steve is the President of Pragmatic Software. With over 24 years of experience in the IT industry, he has extensive knowledge in project management, software architecture and testing design.