When implementing Microsoft 365 in organizations, in addition to the obvious technical challenge of how to smoothly deploy and migrate resources, an important aspect is the subsequent use of the new tools by employees. For this reason, each major project had to be divided into two interdependent streams – technical and adoption/adaptation. The latter focused on the real need to adapt and implement the tools into employees’ daily lives, so that they could use the modern tools in existing processes.
Why are the two trends interdependent?
I believe that launching a service without key functions will not be positively received by users and they will not want to use it. On the other hand, delivering a complete application platform without established order and security rules will sooner or later end in disaster, or at least communication chaos. Therefore, it is crucial to match business needs with the platform’s configuration and security capabilities. This requires more effort, but provides a secure work environment that will increase user productivity.
However, knowledge of the need to clarify business objectives has not always been properly applied.
I have repeatedly encountered cases in which the great and new features included in Office 365 were presented only to a select group of people. The benefits and capabilities were not communicated. From the perspective of end users who may have experienced the migration process, the key was that “it works like it does now, or faster,” which mostly boiled down to Outlook client support. Demonstrating the capabilities of the new tools was overlooked. Sometimes organizations provided information about access to applications without discussing or explaining their purpose.
Recent years have shown everyone the need to teach users to use applications such as Teams or OneDrive. During workshops/training sessions, it became apparent how little users know about the capabilities of the modern tools they have had at their disposal for many months. This element – introducing the correct and safe way to use Microsoft 365 tools – became my main goal. Through training, workshops and educational materials, I shaped knowledge among employees. However, only a few organizations had dedicated spaces, and only one knew where the training materials were located.
The above problems – lack of materials, a place to store them and employee awareness – can be easily solved by using Viva Learning and a SharePoint site. Viva Learning allows you to provide employees with a dedicated solution where they can access pre-prepared training materials.
Technical details from Onex Group Professional Services
The startup process involves creating a dedicated SharePoint site within our tenant. We then indicate its address in the Viva Learning administration panel available at admin.microsoft.com in the organization’s settings. If a new site has been created, you may need to wait an hour before proceeding to set its address.
After setting the address on the page, a list should appear where we create links to materials in documents.
In the title field, we enter information about the content (it is not displayed later) and a link to the folders with the contents of the training materials.
In the library where we store documents and training materials (linked to the previous image), we need to create specific columns of a particular type.
For the SkillTags column, additionally select the option to add multiple values.
We can place training materials in specific folders. Allowed file types:
The folder requires authorization for a specific group of recipients.
Once properly configured, the materials should appear to users (up to 24 hours) in the Viva Learning tab in the section with the organization’s name.
When we navigate to all the content available from the organization, we get access to a list filterable by provider and course duration. The information we completed on the SharePoint site, such as a description or link to an image, is presented with each course.
We can click a particular course to see its details, or use the “…” option to immediately add it to our calendar or recommend it to a friend.
In the details of a particular course, we can play it, share it, recommend it, schedule it or bookmark it.
Administrator capabilities
The Viva administrator also has additional capabilities to manage and publish content.
One such option is to highlight a course and display it on the home screen to recommend content to users. Within the set, we specify which courses we want to recommend and when they will be displayed.
If several courses are recommended, an option to switch between them appears in the lower left corner.
The administrator can also create a learning path in which to combine multiple courses. As with individual items, these can be highlighted, scheduled and shared.
An additional feature is the ability to restrict access to selected courses within the platform, based on the assignment of access to selected groups.
Summary
With these capabilities, we get an excellent educational platform where, in addition to preparing a space for acquiring knowledge, we can supplement it with materials we already have. We combine ready-made elements within courses and make them available to colleagues in a transparent way. This allows them to keep a record of the training they have already completed and share their knowledge with other employees.
Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to import completed courses that we have accumulated to date, such as Microsoft Learn. This is a common theme raised by people who have been using such portals for a long time.
An additional element is the reporting of completed courses by users. In this regard, Microsoft has prepared a solution to take this information and display it in a report in Power BI. Here is a link to the documentation:
