Accelerating Critical SAP BusinessObjects Skills for a National Humanitarian Organization [Case Study]

Challenge

A branch of the National Humanitarian Aid Network (NHAN) required urgent, specialized training for its core reporting teams on their highly customized environment utilizing SAP BusinessObjects (BO). To meet this critical need, they partnered with Ascendient Learning, Part of Accenture.


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 Bridging a Critical Skill Gap Under Tight Deadlines 

Our client faced a critical challenge in their reporting division that required rapid action:

  • Urgent Need for Upskilling: Over 50 participants needed immediate, comprehensive training on their current version of SAP BusinessObjects (BO) to ensure continuity and accuracy in mandatory financial and operational reporting.
  • Need for Version Synchronization: The rapid release cycle of SAP product updates constantly introduces new features and changes, making it essential to have targeted training that aligned specifically with our client's current version and proprietary environment.
  • Inadequate Existing Solutions: No off-the-shelf on-demand content existed specific to the client's unique environment. The initial request was for online on-demand training options.
  • Imminent Deadline: The large cohort of participants needed training prior to the Fiscal Year End (FYE) in June 2025. 

Our Methodology: Customization and Focused Live Virtual Delivery

Given the complexity and unique nature of the client's environment, the required training format was adapted to a specialized Live Virtual approach to ensure maximum relevance and hands-on practice.

  • Customized Solution: The program utilized a tailored Comprehensive Web Intelligence Reporting course. This course was highly customized to the client's specific environment by our SAP expert and trainer, who provided additional practice files and support. 
  • Delivery Format: The solution was delivered as a 3-day Live Virtual program. Days 1 and 2 were delivered consecutively, with a one-day break between Days 2 and 3 (Tuesday-Wednesday, Friday).
  • Program Structure: Each day was considered its own stand-alone course (Day 1: Intro, Day 2: Intermediate, Day 3: Advanced).
  • Scale and Timeline: The training was delivered over a 3-month period, with one course per month, successfully training 52 core participants plus several auditors.

Training Program Solution: Schedule & Topics

In addition to customizing the content and creating the course outline, our expert trainer along with Ascendient’s client advocate and trusted advisor held a debriefing with the client after each training session to continually improve, update, and customize the content for the next cohort. 

Our expert trainer also created a "bonus library" with detailed guides on specialized topics that students could use after the course.

Course Title: Comprehensive Web Intelligence Reporting

Day    Course Level
 Key Web Intelligence Skills Gained
Day 1
 Introduction
 Logging In, Creating Documents, Adding Objects, Basic Filtering, Formatting Reports, Sorting, and Grouping.
Day 2
 Intermediate
 Creating Cross tables, Sectioned Reports, Creating Charts, Using Prompts, Advanced Breaking/Ranking, and Conditional Formatting.
Day 3
 Advanced
 Creating Variables and Functions, Working with Multiple Data Providers (Merging Dimensions, Reading Excel/Text/SQL directly),
Creating Subqueries, Combination Queries, and Linking Report Elements.

Outcome: Enhanced Reporting Capability

The program successfully enabled the client to meet its urgent training requirement and deadline:

  1. Team Readiness: The client brought its teams up to speed before the deadline for the appropriate SAP BO version and customized reporting environment.
  2. Future Planning: The client will require ongoing training to support subsequent product releases by SAP.
  3. The training received an overall 4.92/5 from student evaluations. 

Praise for the training and  instructor from the participants: 

"Overall, I think the class was fantastic. It was well structured, had a good pace, and was mostly hands on making it very effective even though it was only 3 days." 

 "The instructor explained 'why' things were done in addition to 'how' which greatly improved my understanding and retention of the material." 

"The instructor was calm, kind, helpful. It was obvious that he has a great knowledge of the tool." 

"There were a lot of hands-on labs and practice, that is the best way to learn. Many thanks for the practice and show cases! I loved the workshop sessions and all the materials we got, huge help." 

"Hands-on labs were the best. The instructor did them with us and showed use-cases and examples during the whole training and we were able to follow in the lab environment. It was the best way to learn!" 

"I am a self taught user with 10+ years and I learned quite a bit from the class."

Private, Customized Training by Accendient Learning

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