Developing User Training and Support Plans

After you assess the training and support needs of your users (see "Providing User Training and Support" earlier in this chapter), it's time to prepare the training and support plans. The training and support teams should collaborate with the planning team to develop and review the plans. The purpose of these plans is to define the training and support objectives, tasks, resources, and methods you will use. You should finalize the training and support plans before you deploy Internet Explorer to your users.

You can follow the same four-step process used to develop your deployment plan. For more information, see the previous section, "Developing a Deployment Plan." In addition, consider the following items as you write your training and support plans:

• Roles and responsibilities - If you plan to use an outside vendor for training and support services, differentiate between tasks completed by internal staff members and tasks performed by a representative from the outside vendor. Make sure that you clearly assign responsibility for each task and identify any additional costs. For example, you should identify the people responsible for developing the curriculum and courseware, training the trainers and support staff, setting up equipment and classroom facilities, scheduling student training, and delivering training and user support.
• Migration costs - Carefully consider the costs for migration training and support. You may need to commit a percentage of your budget to preparing your users for Internet Explorer deployment, customizing training and support options to match their specific needs, and helping them learn how to use the new browser software. This investment is necessary to ensure that your users master browser skills quickly and to minimize additional migration support costs.
• Ongoing training and support demands - Anticipate increasing resource demands for ongoing support and training as users begin working with Internet Explorer. Determine a process for ensuring that users successfully complete training objectives. Also, decide how you will track and resolve support issues, and relay information about frequently asked questions to your users. For more information about ongoing training and support methods, see Chapter 23, "Implementing an Ongoing Training and Support Program."