National Urban Renewal Agency

The flexibility of the solution, its adaptability to the schedules of the trained audiences, and its constant availability make it an ideal tool for continuous training, consolidating, and securing the transformation. N.M. Deputy General Director, in charge of transformation projects at the ANRU Agency

‍Project Challenges and Needs

The National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU) is a public industrial and commercial establishment (EPIC) that finances and supports local authorities and social housing providers in implementing large-scale renovation projects in the most vulnerable neighborhoods throughout France.

The challenges of ANRU's project were to successfully achieve the digital transformation of the major version of the IODA business application. This Contract and Grant Management software is developed internally by ANRU.

ANRU's Strategy and Stakeholder Support Department aimed tosupport users before and after the deployment of the 3rd module of the main IODA business application and at the same time ensure successful adoption and use of IODA by their partners.

Context

ANRU had launched the 1st module of IODA in 2018 and the 2nd module in 2019.

User upskilling for Module 2 was conducted in the form of:

• 1 to 2 days of in-person training on PowerPoint and a tool demonstration using a dedicated environment
• Supplemented by a "static" e-learning package
• 15 video training modules.

The Feedback and the scoping study conducted by DXC Technology and the project team from ANRU's Directorate of Strategy and Stakeholder Support highlighted weaknesses in user support during these deployments.

An impact analysis, field interviews, and a satisfaction survey helped define the training methods for internal staff and external stakeholders. These training sessions all needed to include a hands-on component with the tool to enable participants to solidify theoretical knowledge.

As the IT department (DSI) could not provide users with a 'training environment', the ANRU project team, supported by DXC Technology incorporated this limitation into its consideration of the most appropriate support strategy and defined the launch of a 'support project' for Q3 2020.

The solution needed to enable:

The ANRU Directorate

To ensure the upskilling of all stakeholders, both on the IODA tool and on regulatory developments, within an internal transformation context.

The project team

To be able to deploy quality support within short timeframes (a large population to support before deployment) and to maintain it thereafter.

The Users

To be trained in-person and remotely by using the application in an environment equivalent to the screens and processes of the target software – 3rd module and subsequent releases –
To be supported and guided over time and to easily find training materials (or business rules) once in a real work situation.

The IT Department

To find an alternative to the environment, maintenance, recurring resets, and impacts on third-party applications of a potential training database, which was deemed time-consuming, cumbersome, and de facto expensive.

Two distinct target populations, internal and external:

130 internal employees, primarily Financial Project Managers and Regional Project Managers who oversee and provide support for contract drafting, grant applications, and associated payments.

1,500 occasional partner users of ANRU: Regional Delegations, Local Authorities, Social Housing Providers, Public Housing Organizations, etc., each playing a specific role in urban renewal projects and thus in the IODA tool.

Specific project constraints / specifications

The project required short deadlines to prepare the training content, which had to begin in November 2020 for a tool go-live date scheduled for February 2021, knowing that the module 3 of IODA was still being finalized in November.

Solutions Adopted

Recommended by DXC Technology, ANRU very quickly selected K-STUDIO, the Application Simulator, to train all users.

ANRU also decided to conduct a Proof Of Concept (POC) with K-NOW, the Application GPS, to measure the feasibility and benefits of the solution for internal and external users once in a real work situation. ANRU validated the POC and confirmed the widespread deployment of K-NOW.

Project Organization

Training Content Design

Supported by DXC Technology, after quick training by Knowmore, the ANRU project team formalized the training and support scenarios which they then produced.

The production of the various contents began with a scoping phase to list and prioritize exercises in order to deliver relevant training within tight deadlines. Subsequently, design workshops to refine storyboards and learning objectives were held with the project team and business experts. Finally, the actual content production was carried out by the teams trained in the K-STUDIO authoring software.

Remote training for users and partners

A first series of 10 K-STUDIO training contents compliant with the SCORM standard, posted on the extranet, allowed future users to begin hands-on training before the go-live of the new major version of IODA.

Given the current circumstances, ANRU decided to train users remotely and has, to date, trained 50 employees and 300 external partners.

Results

1. Hands-on training by:

• Optimizing in-person or remote training time
• Reducing knowledge loss after training
• By providing dynamic and contextualized access to multimedia reference documentation (business rules, regulatory information)
• Enabling independent, real-world practice on the workstation

The Learner feels like they are practicing in the real application. During training or self-training: modules are accessible via server, LMS, or USB drive.

• They can practice without constraints
• They are allowed to make mistakes
• They can self-correct

The Trainer alternates sequences without worrying about managing or the quality of the datasets.

• They have statements and exercises in a single, comprehensive resource
• They can choose to display statements as desired
• They alternate between viewing media and doing exercises
• They can resume an exercise midway through
• They see the result at the end of the exercise without fear of impacting the production database
• It can track the progress of exercises performed

To date, training sessions meet participants' expectations in over 90% of cases, and the exercises carried out on the simulator are a key success factor. Indeed, when employees and partners are asked what worked well, they respond:

• « The implementation of remote activities (exercises) that allowed participants to put knowledge into practice and maintain their attention throughout the training. »
• « Practical application through online exercises. »
• « The use of the IODA simulator (K-STUDIO) with the help of the virtual assistant (K-NOW). »

1. Digital engagement and adoption by employees through:

• Guiding the user in carrying out their activities in compliance with business processes
• Reducing procedural errors
• Informing through the application about updates to current business procedures and rules

Once trained, in a real work situation within IODA, the user will encounter some of the processes covered in training.

K-NOW supports internal and external users in their daily use of IODA through guidance and messages to guide them and track their grant management files.

Outlook

Following the same methodology, many other additional content items are planned for 2021 to gradually enrich the training sessions and, most importantly, to allow users to practice independently on complex cases. They will be updated very easily with new versions of IODA.

In addition, real-time guidance and contextual help will be progressively added to IODA using the K-NOW solution to provide in-work assistance.

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Providing simulator exercises during training allows participants to appreciate the tool's simplicity and user-friendliness. These exercises, which will be made available even outside of training sessions, are a real asset for users who don't necessarily use IODA daily. A. B. Change Management Project Manager. DXC Technology

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