Kronos Workforce Dimensions is a cloud-native, mobile-first solution that makes it incredibly useful for any company that needs to manage human resources (HR), payroll, data and analytics, absence management, timekeeping, and so much more (i.e. pretty much every company). It can also be found in a wide variety of industries, from healthcare organizations to casinos to manufacturing.
One of our recent clients, in fact, was a manufacturing company that ran into some issues when upgrading their system from Kronos iSeries to Kronos Workforce Dimensions. Read on to learn how one of our ace consultants stepped up to the plate and knocked their challenges out of the park.
Kronos Training – Project Overview
Our client (a manufacturing company) was looking to upgrade from Kronos iSeries to Dimensions. They already used a number of Kronos modules, including Accruals, Mobile, and Attendance, but not others, such as Advanced Scheduler. Making things difficult, the client had several thousand employees spread out over more than a dozen different states, which meant this wouldn’t exactly be a “one and done” sort of project. Luckily, the manufacturer had worked with one of Surety Systems’ consultants in the past, so they brought her on board to help out.
Where things got sticky was shortly after our consultant excavated all the relevant information and sent it along to Kronos.
Problem #1—Icebergs Instead of Ice Cubes
Once our consultant had passed along the client’s data to Kronos, the client began to work with Kronos (and then another consulting firm to work as their proxy with Kronos) to handle setting up Workforce Dimensions. It wasn’t long, however, before the manufacturer brought our consultant back into the picture. Why? Because a video’s not so great at answering random questions.
Here’s what we mean by that.
Quantum Physics and Catch-22
Imagine trying to learn about a really complicated subject, something like quantum physics. You could probably find some very educational videos on the topic out there on the web, but unless you already have a firm foundational understanding of stuff like quarks and m-branes, those videos aren’t going to make much sense. And while you can ask a video to slow down or to explain something a different way, that’s not a super successful strategy.
That’s essentially the issue our client ran into when they tried to work with Kronos and then this other consulting firm. The former gave the client access to thousands and thousands of hours of very informative videos on everything one could ever need to know about Workforce Dimensions, but if you don’t already know a lot about Dimensions, you wind up in a bit of a Catch-22 (i.e. you need to know about the platform to move to it, but how can you know about it if you haven’t used it before?)
It’s also a bit like asking a waiter for some ice cubes and getting icebergs instead. Sure, they gave you the thing you asked for, but way more than someone could be reasonably expected to handle.
Problem #2—You Didn’t Ask for a Cookie Cutter
When it came to the other consulting firm, they were willing to break things down into more digestible chunks of information, but their strategy was a bit of a cookie-cutter approach—they wanted to simply train the trainers and then walk away. Wondering what would happen if an employee had a question that the newly trained trainers couldn’t answer? Yeah, so did our client, which is why they brought our consultant back into the picture.
If you recall, we said that this client had thousands of employees spread out across dozens of states. Giving a crash course on Workforce Dimensions (a fairly new solution from Kronos) just wasn’t going to cut it. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and it’s pretty much a guarantee that these freshly minted trainers were inevitably going to run into a super-specific circumstance that wasn’t covered in their Dimensions boot camp.
To avoid those situations, you need Kronos training that’s tailored to your specific needs and audience, training our consultant excels at.
“Super Smart” is Not the Same as “Good Communicator”
Why is tailoring your training to the audience you’re addressing so important? Let’s go back to our quantum physics example. Because there’s a big difference between knowing a lot about a subject and being able to explain that subject to other people. (Just think about how many eggheads in TV shows rattle off some long-winded techno-explanation only for somebody to say, “So what was that in English?”)
In other words, a consultant who’s memorized everything about Workforce Dimensions isn’t going to get very far if they walk around asking line workers, “Hey, what labor levels would apply to you in the system?” They don’t know the answer, the consultant doesn’t have any information to enter into the system, and no progress gets made. An excellent trainer is one that has the necessary “hard” skills (like in-depth knowledge of Kronos Dimensions) as well as the required “soft skills,” (like how to match the level of their explanation to their audience).
Willing to Go the Distance
Another benefit of customized Kronos Dimensions training is flexibility. Neither an informational video nor a cookie-cutter crash course is as beneficial as a knowledgeable person who can answer specific questions employees may have about their unique situation, and our consultant was able to deliver that. In fact, our consultant was on the road for a good six months, delivering tailored Kronos training to pretty much everyone in the company (including site admins, managers, the salaried employees, and salaried non-exempt folks).
Our consultant also helped their solution owner get up to speed, as the client brought that person in about halfway through the project, as well as with the client’s UAT (User Acceptance Testing), which they struggled to set up properly.
Bespoke > Off the Rack Every Day of the Week
Whether it’s a new suit, an automobile, or Kronos Workforce Dimensions training, something that’s been expertly tailored to your exacting standards is always going to fit your needs better than a cookie-cutter solution. And that’s we’re proud to offer here at Surety Systems.
Our senior-level Kronos consulting team is on your side and ready to act as your trail guides to success. Whether you’re looking to migrate to Workforce Dimensions, struggling to set up your work rules, or simply need an unbiased Kronos system assessment, we’re here for you. Contact us today to get started.
