Train roles, not modules
Module-based training ("today: Inventory") teaches people features they'll never use and misses the steps they need that sit in another module. A store keeper doesn't need "Inventory". They need to receive against a PO, scan, handle a partial delivery, and report damage, and some of that touches Purchase and Quality.
So start with a training matrix: roles down the side, modules across the top, and a depth in each cell.
| Depth | Meaning | Who |
|---|---|---|
| DEEP | All transactions, configuration options, period-close tasks | Superusers, the finance manager for Accounting |
| BASIC | The specific transactions this role does daily | Most end users |
| VIEW | How to run and read the reports they need | Management, adjacent departments |
| — | No training, no access | Everyone else |
The matrix also becomes your access-rights design. If a role gets no training in a module, it gets no access to it. The training plan template has the matrix, schedule and sign-off sheets.
How to run sessions that stick
- Small batches. Six to ten people, with a computer each. A projector session for 40 people is a lecture.
- Their language. Many operational users learn faster in Bangla, even when the screens are in English. Run sessions in Bangla where it helps, and give them screen guides with Bangla notes.
- Their data. Train on the UAT database with migrated data, so they see their own customers, products and warehouses.
- Their scenarios. Reuse the UAT scripts. They're already written around real personas and real exceptions.
- Timing. Train one to two weeks before go-live. Earlier and they forget. Later and there's no time to fix what the training reveals.
- Shifts. Factories run shifts. Schedule sessions so supervisors on every shift are covered, not just day shift.
Training sessions are also the last UAT. A warehouse batch may find in the first ten minutes that the label printer produces barcodes the handheld scanners can’t read, because UAT used a different printer. Treat anything found in training as a defect and log it.
Assess, don't take attendance
"Attended training" proves nothing. Every user completes a short practical exercise for their role, alone, on the training database: receive this shipment, raise this bill with TDS, run this payroll for three workers. The trainer checks the result, and the user and trainer both sign.
Users who can't pass get a refresher before go-live, or a named buddy on day one. That list is one of your go/no-go inputs. If 30% of the warehouse can't pass, the warehouse isn't ready, whatever the configuration status says.
Superusers are your real support team
After hypercare, the consultant leaves and your superusers stay. Choose one per department: someone respected, curious, and not the busiest person in the team. Give them DEEP training, involve them in UAT, and make them the first line of support from go-live.
Put it in their job description and their appraisal. Superuser work done on top of a full job, for no recognition, disappears within three months.
Materials that survive staff turnover
Factories and trading companies in Bangladesh often see 20–30% staff turnover a year. Within 18 months, a large share of the people you trained will have left. So the materials have to train the next person without a consultant:
- Short screen guides per task (one page, screenshots, Bangla notes).
- Short screen-recorded videos of the ten most common transactions.
- An onboarding checklist for new joiners by role, owned by the superuser.
- A budget line for refresher training every year.
Exercise (15 minutes). Draft your training matrix for three roles. For each cell, pick DEEP, BASIC, VIEW or —. Then name one superuser candidate per department, and one reason they'd want the role.
Key takeaways
- Train by role with a depth matrix, which doubles as your access-rights design.
- Small batches, the users' language, their data and their scenarios.
- Assess every user practically. Those who fail are a go/no-go input.
- Superusers need recognition, not just training.
- Write materials that can train the next hire without you.
Go deeper: Odoo training plan template and Building an in-house superuser team.