Measures Required to Achieve Objectives

Knowledge Transfer

The company already had software ergonomics expertise available in the UEC at the beginning of the project. The problem was that relevant information provided by the development teams needed to be used more actively in order for the information that already existed to have an impact: Rather than relying on each individual to fulfill their obligation to provide others with information, the active distribution of information had to be encouraged to ensure that it reached all the development groups and every single software engineer.

The most important single measure adopted was the establishment and continuous updating of a Web site, the "Enjoy Knowledgebase"", to which all SAP staff had access from their computers. This served throughout the project as a coordinating point and information exchange that published and made available all the relevant information on the project and its various objectives. The most important topics for the main target groups (software engineers and usability coordinators) were the descriptions of the methods, the recommendations as to how to solve specific design problems in interaction design and the information on new options available to software engineers, such as new control elements (see [Arlov 1997], [Cooper 1995]). In addition, the Enjoy Knowledgebase offered access to the results of the work done on the focus applications, which, in this way, were able to fulfill their function as models.

A public event, the EnjoySAP Project Forum, was selected for a more dialog-oriented exchange of information. Each week, presentations were given on a variety of topics. There was lively interest in the topics addressed, with up to 500 people present at these events. Questions were fielded immediately after the presentation so that there was a very rapid flow of information about new developments and an immediate exchange of experience between development groups. In addition, the most important presentations were recorded and stored together with the associated transparencies in the Enjoy Knowledgebase, where anyone interested could gain asynchronous access to them.

Another channel of information with a mass impact were posters, which were used as an internal marketing instrument. These were hung up in canteens, recreation rooms, reception areas and hallways. The aim here was to awake interest in the various topics and provide concise information on the latest developments. Anyone who wanted more information could find it in the Enjoy Knowledgebase. In addition, the usability coordinators attended internal courses that prepared them for their role.

Source:  EnjoySAP - Success Factors