Ask Slashdot: How To Teach IT To Senior Management?

New submitter gagol writes "I recently took a position at a small industrial equipment manufacturer. We are looking to buy a new ERM software package and my boss, who is looking forward to buy the thing, knows nothing about computers or software. I will be providing basic IT training to the senior management and I am looking for your input on the scope and content of said training. I am thinking: basic components and architecture -> networking -> software -> proprietary vs open source. What do you think?"

Trust

[RenHoek]

Tell them to trust IT to make the right decision for them.

Just research the best option and present that. Don't give them a choice between the ideal solution and a runner up because it will just make them argue and possibly select the wrong product.

The only thing they should bring into the decision making process are the business requirements. You set the technical requirements and then find the package that covers them both.

Set expectations

[michaelmalak]

The most important thing to do at this stage is to set expectations:

1. What ERM will streamline (including headcount that could possibly be eliminated)

2. The investment required: the customization needed to match the current business process (or even more complex: taking the opportunity to streamline the business process at the same time). The investment is not just $, but also time for requirements gathering, UI mockups, etc.

3. Most importantly, the problems that can be expected: downtime (and whether there is any fallback plan to paper?), and kludges due to failure to capture all requirements (e.g. putting critical information in the "Notes" field).

In short, management needs to know ERM implementation lifecycle, not nuts and bolts.

Grandma has no idea what's under the hood of a car

[walmass]

but she drives it quite well and she DOES not need to know about how engines and transmissions work. Yes, it would be nice, but it is NOT necessary
You are going to lose your audience if you give them the "basic components and architecture -> networking -> software -> proprietary vs open source".

Without knowing your product, I am betting most people will use it using a web browser.

Here is an outline:

What the ERM will do for the company (I presume they already know this, so no more than a few minutes on this.
To run the ERM, we will need:
new server? (why?)
new computers? (why?)
new network? (why?)
This is how you will use it:
A
B
C