The Department of Energy and Climate Change
Transition from Microsoft® Office 2003 to Microsoft® Office 2007.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in October 2008, in order bring together energy policy (previously with BERR, which is now BIS - the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), and climate change mitigation policy (previously with Defra - the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).
Organisational changes meant that staff from two departments now needed to be able to work together on the same IT system. Many users would be transitioning from Office 2003 to Office 2007, and the organisation wished to effect as smooth a transition as possible.
DECC decided that eLearning was the best way to allow users to practise using Office 2007 before the transition, but discovered that the readily available, off-the-shelf eLearning actually incorporated audio or video narration. Due to the nature of the working environment, where staff work in open plan offices and do not have access to speakers or headphones, this type of eLearning was considered to be unsuitable.
4G was engaged to produce a series of overview lessons for each Office application, as well as dozens of task-specific lessons, which allowed users to decide whether or not they wished to see a short demonstration of the new look and feel of Office 2007, or get hands-on practise with some of the most common tasks. These lessons were interactive, but did not require audio narration, enabling users in an open-plan office to undertake the lessons without disturbing others.
We incorporated DECC branding guidelines to encourage staff to use the organisation's new stationery, fonts, and colour schemes. This was part of a larger programme designed to encourage staff who previously worked for different departments to embrace the new organisational identity. We also included tasks within lessons that encouraged users to use environmentally-sound practices, such as reducing the use of colours and graphics to reduce printing costs and the impact on the environment.
In addition to the standard Office 2007 eLearning (which does not contain audio or video narration), we are in the process of producing a second set of lessons which includes our new Virtual Trainer, which uses 3D animation to enhance the learning experience for those with access to speakers or headphones.
Next: CISSP® eLearning Project