White Papers | Rafte & Company Helps Houston Zoo Tame Software Training Implementation
A computer may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the Zoo, but modern zoos are now as wired and dependent upon information technology (IT) as any office environment.
Chances are your organization has more in common with the Zoo than you ever imagined. But maybe that doesn’t come as a surprise!
Rafte & Company delivers the Houston Zoo a software training solution, IS Educate™, to increase the overall effectiveness of the Houston Zoo’s information technology. Rafte designs and implements course offerings aimed at improving the knowledge and capability of employees. The courses focus primarily on the Microsoft Office system of applications, including Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Project and Word, among others, as well as Adobe Photoshop.
“I’ve actually had guests stop me as I’ve been walking through the Zoo with a piece of computer equipment and express their disbelief that we would have a need for computers,” said Alex Rigsby, senior systems administrator with the Houston Zoo. “I had one person actually say, ‘You feed the animals and clean up after them, what more is there to do?’ But we have to communicate with the rest of the world just like any other organization.
In fact, the Houston Zoo’s IT system includes more than 200 desktops and laptops and nearly a dozen servers for the organization’s 300 employees.
“A lot of our staff members spend the majority of their day in front of the computer working on mission critical applications that are essential for the health and well being of the animals and the fulfillment of our mission,” Rigsby said. “We send and receive tens of thousands of business-related e-mails per month, not counting our e-mail updates to members. We write letters to prospective donors, write grant applications and track Excel spreadsheets with data about exhibits and dosages of various medications given to animals. And people throughout our organization deliver a lot of presentations, so PowerPoint is critical in our communications, marketing and educational mission as well.”
The training program Rafte designed for the Houston Zoo includes one day of training services per month focused on Microsoft Office. Rafte delivers the courses on location in one of the Houston Zoo’s classrooms.
Rafte’s IS Educate courses include but are not limited to the Windows operating system, office productivity applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, as well as iManage desktop client, which is used by many law firms. Rafte offers off-the-shelf classes already designed for each of the Microsoft Office applications designs courses to address specific needs for clients.
“We weren’t doing any type of formal training before Rafte developed our training program,” said Rigsby. “We know we had people who weren’t using the tools as effectively as they could, but I just didn’t have the time to do it. Plus, there’s a big difference between someone like me who is in I.T. versus someone who is a training expert. I can figure out why things aren’t working and fix it, but I’m not a trainer.”
It is common for organizations to run into obstacles when considering a computer application training program, says Kari Richards, who leads Rafte & Company’s IS Educate™ initiative.
“It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the burden of organizing everything – having to select the course curriculum, sending the information for people to sign up and tracking who has signed up for which course,” said Richards, who has a master certification for Microsoft Office. “Rafte & Company can take over that entire responsibility and let our clients focus on what they do best.”
Rafte initially offered the Houston Zoo a range of classes that encompassed Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook, with three levels for each. Later, Microsoft Project and Adobe Photoshop were added to the mix.
“For each of the programs, we had some people who needed very basic instruction, others who knew the basics, but needed a little more skills, and some people knew quite a bit but needed to go to the final level to really get the most out of it,” said Rigsby, who estimates that as many as two out of three Houston Zoo employees have participated in the training. “I asked Rafte to devise a way to alert my employee population about the kinds of classes we offer and then monitor demand for the courses to determine what people need the most.”
Rafte & Company used its easy-to-use online registration system to quickly prioritize course offerings. Rafte posts a description of the course, sends the staff an e-mail that includes a course description, its prerequisites and a link to register. The Web-based system automatically tracks who has registered, how many have registered and makes it easy to generate a roster that can be shared.
“We had everything from people who have no idea what a computer mouse is to people who are really quite skilled and I don’t have the time to figure who is who,” said Rigsby. “It was great that I didn’t need to have anything to do with the scheduling of the classes. Rafte did a great job of figuring out who needs what training.”
While Rafte’s approach to assessing the needs of the Houston Zoo’s employees was fairly straightforward, other organizations require more study. Sometimes, members of the Rafte team go into a client’s office environment to observe how employees use IT tools, which can help identify institutionalized habits or shortcomings in work processes.
“We handle everything and let the client get on with their job,” said Richards.
“For me, it was extremely simple and straightforward,” said Rigsby. “Rafte took the entire burden off my shoulders because I don’t have time to be thinking about training on top of all my other responsibilities.”
Organizations interested in learning more about Rafte’s IS Educate service should call 800-396-9390 or send an e-mail to info@rafte.com. The Rafte team will be happy to learn more about their training needs and offer guidance regarding the types of training courses that can provide the greatest impact on improving the knowledge and capabilities of their employees.
