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Web-Based Program Allows Distributors to Pinpoint Education Weaknesses and Find Appropriate Training

YARDLEY, PA, May 24, 2006 - For nearly three years, distributors using an Activant® enterprise software solution have had access to a free tool that helps them measure their employees' knowledge of the technology they use to run their business.

"The Custom Education Program is an online application that distributors can access via the Customer Web Site," said Bill Patton, senior director of Professional Services at Activant. "Like so many of our Professional Service offerings, it was born out of feedback from our customer base. The program's main purpose is to help distributors pinpoint what their employees know -- and don't know -- about their Activant solution. The software is way too robust for one person to know it all. Fortunately, an employee only needs to know the features and functionality that will help them do their specific job better. But that's still a lot to know. And just when you think you know it all… you find out there's another option or feature that you never knew existed."

The Custom Education Program allows managers to develop online surveys that they can administer to their employees. The survey questions are chosen from a pool of hundreds and hundreds of questions that Activant has developed based on the functionality available in each solution. Best of all, the surveys can be customized to a specific module, functional area, or job role.

Once employees complete their online surveys, the Custom Education Program provides managers with an analysis of what areas of their solution employees could use the most help with, and what educational resources Activant offers to target those needs.

Distributors have embraced the program. In the past four months alone, more than 5,000 unique tests have been assigned to individual employees. Angela Meyer, branch manager of The Mallory Company, is one of them: "The Custom Education Program pinpoints where our employees need more training, so we don't spend a lot of time on what they already know -- we focus on what else they can learn to help them be more productive."

Going Beyond Technology

As a technology partner, Activant makes every effort to help its distribution partners be as successful as they can. That is why, when customers started visualizing uses for the Custom Education Program beyond measuring their employees' knowledge of their software solution, Activant got to work.

Functionality has been added to the Custom Education Program that allows distributors to enter their own questions into the database, enabling them to test employees on their knowledge of any aspect of their business… not just their technology solution. Now distributors can gauge their employee's knowledge of their product lines, the services they offer, their business practices, customer service skills, sales skills, and so on.

Establishing an Educational Path

The single biggest obstacle that distributors experience when setting up an educational curriculum for their employees is the amount of time it can take to organize and manage an effective education program. It would be simple to create one or two basic tests for employees, but it's much more effective to develop a robust, continuing education strategy that targets specific roles and encompasses many levels of progressing difficulty.

A new feature, called the Training Agenda, allows managers to specify a complete educational path for an employee -- whether it's a two-day orientation or a 12-month program -- and then monitors the progress so the manager and employee can see if they're on track to complete the agenda.

The Training Agenda outlines a variety of action items that are required in order to complete the educational program. This may include Computer- and Web-Based Training courses offered by Activant and other tools in place by the distributor. As the employee navigates through this curriculum, the manager is updated via automatic e-mail with their employee's status and scores for each test. So there's no need for the manager to follow-up; the Custom Education Program proactively handles this for them.

"With this tool, distributors can increase productivity in every capacity of their job beyond just their business system," said Patton. "At Activant, we see this free tool as just another demonstration of how we view our relationship as a distributor's true technology partner."

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