Do you ever look at one of your work assignments and think, “How in the world am I going to accomplish this?”
Sometimes I look at the list of videos I need to make in a week and the number of meetings I have and I have the same thought. When it’s just a list of things, it all feels very overwhelming.But when I prioritize projects and break up my large tasks into smaller chunks, my to-do list becomes more manageable and the anxiety goes down. I determine which tasks take more brainpower, which tasks I can do while Spotify is blasting Coldplay, and which tasks I can do in bulk (e.g. responding to emails). All of a sudden, I can begin checking items off my list.
It works the same when approaching a cloud implementation with your client’s financial institution. Tackling a software rollout can be a daunting task. You have a long to-do list before launch, but it’s not always clear what needs to be done (or how to do it).
When your clients use ScreenSteps to train employees during software rollouts for their financial institution, we don’t want you to feel that unnecessary anxiety when it comes time to set things up.
At ScreenSteps — an application specifically designed for creating learning materials for cloud implementations — I’ve been helping consultants use ScreenSteps with their cloud implementation projects for the last seven years. The good news is it is easier than you might think.
To make implementing ScreenSteps more manageable, we’ve broken it down into three phases:
Phase 1: Configure the ScreenSteps account
Phase 2: Prepare learning materials in ScreenSteps
Phase 3: Determine how you will use ScreenSteps after training is over
In this blog post, I’m going to explain these three phases to setting up with ScreenSteps. That way, when you are working with clients who are implementing new financial software, you can clearly explain what’s involved when you use ScreenSteps as part of that implementation.
Before your client can start using ScreenSteps to maneuver through their financial institution software, you will first need to set up their account (with our help, of course).
There are five steps to configuring your client’s ScreenSteps account to set your client up for success.
Note: These steps do not all have to happen on the same day. They just need to happen before your client can begin using ScreenSteps.
Since ScreenSteps is a cloud, software-as-a-service (SaaS), the first thing that needs to happen is that your client needs to choose a ScreenSteps account name. We recommend keeping the name simple.
Most businesses use the name of their business. For example, if a bank’s name is Silver Mark, they could choose silvermark as their account name.
Once you choose a name, let the ScreenSteps team know what the account name is. Then we will set up the account for your client.
Once your client’s account is named, we need to add administrators and contributors. These are the team members who will be creating the learning materials.
Our ScreenSteps team will set up the initial admins and contributors for your client. Just let us know who the main point of contact is for your client and we’ll coordinate with them.
After the ScreenSteps admins are set up, your client’s administrators can invite additional admins or contributors.
Next, you’ll want to set up a custom domain. A custom domain in the unique site name where your clients will access their ScreenSteps account.
When your client gets a ScreenSteps account, it should be laid out in this manner: their company name followed by dot screenstepslive dot com. But your client will probably want to customize the URL.
For example, a bank named Silver Mark will have a marketing website at www.silvermark.com. They could create a custom domain for the ScreenSteps account like help.silvermark.com or learn.silvermark.com.
Customizing the domain makes it easier for your client to remember where to go when they need to view their learning materials.
Once your client decides on a domain name, you and your client’s IT team will need to set it up. Our ScreenSteps team will work with you so that you know how to do this.
When you set up a ScreenSteps account, you are essentially creating a website filled with learning materials. The ScreenSteps website will require users to log in to view the learning materials.
The easiest way to manage logins will be to configure single sign-on. You and your consulting team will take care of this. If there are any questions, the ScreenSteps team is available to help out so that it is a smooth process for your client.
Having single sign-on configured makes it simple for users to access their accounts. They don’t have to remember yet another password.
The final thing you’ll need to do to configure ScreenSteps is customize the appearance.
How is it going to look for users? Like I said earlier, ScreenSteps is essentially a website for your learning materials. We provide a basic layout that can be customized so that your clients can make it their own. Here’s what that website looks like out of the box.
You and your consulting team can modify the site template and add basic customizations to the website so that it matches the branding of your client. This could include changing the hero image, the color scheme, and including additional information they want displayed on the home screen.
Once it’s all configured, the next thing you’ll begin doing is filling ScreenSteps up with learning materials. You wouldn’t hand your client a blank PDF, so you don’t want to hand them a blank knowledge base.
This will take a few months to complete because you need to tailor the learning materials to your client’s software. The important part is to get started and help your client form a habit of adding information to their ScreenSteps site.
After setting up these two points, your client’s authoring team and contributors can help write articles.
What type of articles are your client’s going to need to communicate their policies and procedures?
ScreenSteps has three article types — Standard Articles, Checklists, and Workflow Articles — already ready to go. But you can take that a step further by creating templates that indicate where to put screenshots, have the steps laid out, etc.
While ScreenSteps’ authoring tools are easy to use, they will help speed up the authoring process if you have templates set, especially if you will use the same types of articles over and over again.
It can be a challenge starting from zero documentation to a full-blown knowledge base. It helps if you can start with some content. (Though, you don’t need content to get started.)
If your client already has documentation in another form — like PDF, Word documents, or Excel Sheets — then you can start by uploading those onto their ScreenSteps site. That gives you a huge head start on creating the necessary learning materials.
Later, you can optimize these for user experience and search.
As you build out your client’s articles, use both words and visual cues. You want your client’s employees to be able to follow a guide in real time, so the instructions should be clear and simple.
It helps to set a style guide for your client. Choose when to use the different article guides and company templates. Decide in which situations to use arrows and foldable sections. Select colors for arrows. Formalize where to use screenshots, videos, and images.
Updating content and creating new learning materials in ScreenSteps is incredibly simple. ScreenSteps has a special editor for capturing new screenshots and swapping out old screenshots.
When it comes time for the training event, your client will use your guides and learning materials that you’ve prepared in ScreenSteps and the end-users will be guided by step-by-step screenshots for performing tasks using their company software.
This takes the burden off the trainers because each end-user will access the ScreenSteps learning materials that you have created and they have the instructions right there.
What happens after training is over? Here your client has a couple of options.
They can continue using ScreenSteps after training is over to continue to support their employees. Or, if they only need ScreenSteps for an initial training event, then they can cancel the subscription.
Following any software rollout, it is common for the software and user experience to continue evolving. When your client uses ScreenSteps, they can easily keep their learning materials current and offer a self-help knowledge base to support employees for as long as they need it.
They can even use ScreenSteps for all of their internal policies and procedures. So if your client wants to later expand what type of content goes into ScreenSteps, they can.
If your client decides that they want to continue on with a ScreenSteps subscription after training, they can work with a ScreenSteps coach who will meet with them on a regular basis to answer any questions and help them maintain world-class learning materials.
All throughout the process of using ScreenSteps, you and your client will be supported by the ScreenSteps team. We have courses, a self-help knowledge base, live chat, and support email to answer any questions you have.
After the implementation, we will continue to offer support to your client after the implementation is complete.
If your client decides not to continue with a ScreenSteps subscription after the training event, they can download PDF versions of the learning materials and close their ScreenSteps account.
They are the owners of the information they put in ScreenSteps, so whatever information they author in their ScreenSteps site is theirs.
If they cancel their subscription and decide they later want to return to ScreenSteps, we can restore their account. However, we only keep their site for 90 days before it is deleted from the cloud.
While there are few details to take into account when implementing ScreenSteps into your client’s company, the task is easily managed when you break it into phases.
The three phases of the ScreenSteps implementation for your financial institution help make sure you don’t miss a step in preparing for launch. Together, we can help your clients successfully roll out a new financial software platform in their company.
Using ScreenSteps, we’ve had a company rollout software to 200+ employees at one time. ScreenSteps helps companies swiftly and efficiently train their employees so that they are prepared to handle simple and complex tasks.
Are you ready to get started with implementing ScreenSteps into your client’s company? Or have more questions about how you can partner with ScreenSteps?
Schedule a meeting with our representative so we can form a plan for implementing ScreenSteps into your financial institution.