Introducing Kinetic to Our Staff

Kinetic ERP
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Now that we are in the new kinetic interface, I want to host a meeting with some of our staff to show them the ropes when it comes to using and navigating in kinetic. I really want to force them right into the browser kinetic instead of the smart client, or whatever it’s called. We still use a lot of classic forms, that have so far eluded my ability to upgrade them. There are a few things I expect my users to find as issues. These are the points I intend to address at our meeting. Do you have any other good ideas to add?

  1. I can’t get into Job Tracker (or some other form I used to be able to get into). The default menu layout restricts access to most people. So don’t use the default menu. Instead use a custom menu that you design yourself. This is how… (demonstrate editing/saving/exporting/importing layouts)
  2. I want the classic form, and I got the kinetic form. In this case I will request users get used to the new interface. If their job is not possible from the kinetic interface, then I need to know about it so that I can make either a replacement dashboard or figure out a new process.
  3. My right-click open with is not working. Tell me the dashboard and I can try to redeploy it.
  4. How to search for any form with the Menu and search.
  5. How to see your favorites.
  6. How to use field help and application help.

It all boils down to ‘who moved my cheese?’ :cheese:
What else can you think of to tell your staff about with the new interface?
Thanks!
Nate

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if you are on kinetic 2024.1, you can tell them about the new field search within all the apps:

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I would go over some of the navigation basics… as well as some of the personalization stuff. Here are some that come to mind…

  • Right-Click copy/paste is not (currently) available. They MUST highlight and use Ctrl-C & V.
  • They can right-click on a menu / widget and chose to open menus in new tabs.
  • I would demonstrate grid filtering/grouping. (clicking the funnel icon, etc.).
  • I would demonstrate that some grids use “pagination” and you can download more records.
  • I would demonstrate how easy it is to personalize columns… some grids from the start may be missing information they’re used to seeing. They can add them in via Personalize columns, as well as move them around, etc… but also make sure you cement home the need to “save layout”… or they lose all the work they just did.
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Great Idea Tim! I didn’t know you could search by field name. Very cool! Thank you!

Also, great points Dave! I forget that our staff isn’t tech savvy, so pointing out these things that I think are easy might be very helpful for them! I know pagination is going to cause some issue!

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If this goes well, I’ll pay for you to come down here and have this meeting again Mr. Mussolini.

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@timshuwy, Speaking of that search box… it was brought up during CR discussions that it would be nice if Epicor could change the label in there to “Field Search” (or something of that ilk, because I know it also searches cards, pages, etc. as well). I thought that was on the radar to get implemented.

I already have users confused and complaining what that search box is for (even though I DID send out notes on it before the update hit).

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Hi Nate!

I’m in a similar boat with our users as well, and have been spending a lot of time training/easing them into the new system since we will be going live in the very near future. (Converting from a different ERP, so we never used Classic.)

One thing I’ve been trying to drive home to them to increase their comfort level and willingness to accept the big switch is customization.

In our previous system we’ve been pretty limited in our ability to change screens, add fields, remove fields, etc. without having to work with the ERP provider themselves and having them do it for us. But with Epicor there’s a lot of potential to tailor things to our company/specific job functions.

I would encourage them as they continue to get more familiar with the system and performing their job functions with the related screens, to think about ways they think things could be improved to help them and their department perform even better. That could look something like:

  1. Adding fields that show information they didn’t have access to in the old system, but would be awesome to have now.
  2. Removing fields/cards that aren’t pertinent to what they do day to day, which removes the pressure they are already feeling from the switch.
  3. Dashboards, BAQ’s, reports, giving them access to information they didn’t have easy access to before.
  4. Setting up meetings with the different departments to hear out concerns and things like “I hate that I can’t see X anymore, it’s going to create so much more work and I hate that.” or “I’m used to doing things this way, how can we bridge the gap so I can do X like I used to in the old system in the new one?”

I think one of the biggest benefits to this is that if you have users that have been resistant to the change, it encourages them to think about it in a more positive and constructive way.

Even if they aren’t super involved in the implementation or have been expressing doubts and frustration about the whole process, this allows them to be a part of the process in a way that they have direct input on. Instead of feeling like the new system is something determined by the “Higher ups” it also shows we’re listening and want their input too.

It goes from Management’s idea to Our idea. I’ve noticed since we started to do this, a lot of the folks that were resistant to the idea and hadn’t taken it as seriously are now much more involved. They know their roles inside and out, and they’ve come up with ideas that I or my team working on the implementation wouldn’t have thought of. It’s been a win-win.

I try to be realistic in what we can and can’t achieve, though. As well as trying to give a realistic timeline of when and how we could make those changes happen that they come up with, or if it’s possible at all. All in all, it’s created a lot of discussion in the different departments and has been positive all around.

The only downside is, I’ve got my work cut out for me in customizations for quite awhile now. (Job security baby). :nerd_face:

I wish you the best of luck!!

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I just checked in Kinetic 2024.2 and :safe_harbor: it appears that your wish has been granted:
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This! Agree 100%.

We walked everyone through training and Go-Live and then let things marinate for a while as they all got more familiar with the system ( and I/we fought all the initial fires). After a couple months, we started doing meeting like @Steen described with department heads and a couple of their top people… and it seemed to make a huge impact.

Instead of hearing background complaining about what they couldn’t do, they realized we wanted to help them be more effective and tailor the system to THEM. They were able to provide feedback on how to improve the system. Even if they provide a laundry list of suggestions/wants/needs… knocking a couple off for each department (low hanging fruit) made them feel more involved, listened to, and part of the project as a whole!

I wouldn’t do these right away. Again, let them use the system you launch first. Launching Kinetic isn’t a one-time event… its a transition period. The first day is just ripping off the band-aid. Here’s the new system, have at it! The next couple months of you listening and providing is huge for long term buy-in and acceptance to the change.

Well said, Austin.

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Great suggestions in this thread! I’d also like to add, they can use the Epicor Learning Center as well, and see a guided video of Kinetic navigation basics. The course is called “Kinetic Foundations - Navigation”, so maybe include this as a resource in your presentation.

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You folks are just the best! Thank you all! These are excellent points and great ideas!

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During our initial stab at implementing the Kinetic UI, I hosted Classes on Kinetic ‘Stuff’
One of the forst things I did was create a layout called “Simple Layout” and instructed then to use that as their layout. I had 2 tabs and 1 or 2 App links on each TAB.

Opps, hit Save…

Then I showed them how to Add Tabs, Delete tabs, add App links, delete App links and then turned them loose.

All that was a couple years ago and all we have accomplished is getting them on the Kinetic Home Page Menu. Now for the next step… Rolling out Kinetic Dashboards, Apps( replacing Classic ) . I have spent the last couple years trying to keep up with developments and hang-ups so when the 1 year warning comes, I have ammunition to push the change ( NOBODY here wants their cheese moved… )

Good luck to all !!

Dean

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If your users are anything like the users I’ve encountered at two different companies now is that they use the Export to Excel option a lot, so I’ve made it a point at both places during our transition from Classic to Kinetic to point out how this now lives in the overflow menu and no longer in the right-click context menu.

I’ll also second the basic Kinetic usage courses on ELC. I’ve utilized those at both companies to group about 10 of them into a custom agenda I call “Kinetic Navigation” and assign that to users. Only about an hour total to do them all and covers most of the repetitive tasks used throughout the system (homepage, search, personalizations, what all of the new menus [overflow, crumb, etc.] and components [cards, etc.] are called. And gives something that users can go back into when they need a refresher.

Pro tip: if you have a lot of users, the EpicWeb team will mass upload to create your user’s accounts and send them emails with their username/permanent password so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of creating contacts for all of them in EpicWeb, then creating their EpicWeb account, and troubleshooting those who have issues resetting their password (because they almost all will due to how convoluted that is in EpicWeb).

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Is it possible to have custom homepages for departments? I think people might want that for their specific teams.

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Yes. As long as you have the correct permissions on your user account, You can create, and publish various layouts they can then load and use. There are posts here talking about how to do those.

Sorry, not at my computer to look for them at the moment.

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This was the first bullet point in my meeting. I showed everyone how to make their own layouts. I can indeed create layouts and save them, but I have to email them or post the layout files on the network for folks to install. It would be nice if I could deploy layouts within Kinetic.

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This functionality exists in Kinetic… there’s a Learning Center course that describes it titled “Getting Started with the Home Page”.

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