Hello hivemind!
I am working on creating a formal power user certification program at my organization, and wanted to see what everyone else's power user definition was. My goal is to create a test of sorts that people have to pass to be considered a power user, and, as a result, have higher levels of access in Tess. Ideally I'd like 1-2 per department. We already have a really solid Tessitura admin team, but we want to empower our users a bit more. The idea behind the test is to make the skills quantifiable so that nothing can be misconstrued as personal if the status of power user is denied.
Does anyone else have a formal training/cert program for power users?
What knowledge do you consider essential (especially for fundraising/customer service/marketing departments)?
What would you consider a deal-breaker for someone for someone being considered for that title (attitude, skills, seniority, etc.)?
If you were creating a skills test for power users, what would you have included?
I'm open to any input and suggestions!
Happy Tuesday
I am so interested in this! I'd love to take a practice test if needed. I think a good section would be data standards for your org. I suppose it really depends on how your Org uses the hierarchy of leadership. We are in a smaller consortium so power users have to do quite a bit while respecting the other consortium members. Do your current power users have a job description written out?
Jordan,
Best of luck, it certainly sounds like a worthy goal! We do not have any sort of formal training for power users at all. I am not entirely sure how this would be quantified, but I have generally found that I have often started thinking of someone as a "power user" when they no longer come to me with questions about how List Manager and Output Sets work. For whatever reason, that seems to be the point where they appear to have completely understood the software and how to use it. When they can identify a brand new list they want (so not something they are regularly pulling), go to List Manager, find a way to get that information, get it correctly, and output only the data they need. When that happens, usually they end up already having enough knowledge elsewhere in the system, that I find that I think of them as one of our organization's "Tessitura go to people", which amounts to the same thing as a "power user".
I suppose this might not be extremely helpful for your post, but that is what immediately came to my mind reading your question.
John
I am interested too. It is a perpetual question for me, and my thoughts have shifted over the years. I agree with Eric that data standards are essential and think another area that is important is troubleshooting and being a resource for others in the department. I'd suggest some questions about getting new users installed/logged in (we are self-hosted, so people have to run a script to install Tess on their desktops), about putting open batches on hold, about how to report a technical error properly, about your org's duplicate management process, what to do when a constituent in a household dies, or when a household divorces, etc.
As to crucial qualities power users need, I'd say ownership of the role and initiative are key. Good luck with your plans! Catherine
Yeah, I'm definitely planning on a practice test and/or study guide of some kind so people know what to expect. Once I get one created, would you be interested in taking it and giving me feedback?
Right now we have a dedicated Tess admin team of 4 who are all super users or power users, plus a product owner for TNEW/Wordfly and all things API. So technically, we do have job descriptions for all of those people. It's a great idea to source from those to a certain extent.
Beyond that, everyone is in theory equal within the Tessitura hierarchy. The Tess team handles most major things (season transition, campaign builds, reporting/analytics, etc) as well as support, education, and data cleanup. I really love the idea of knowing data standards. In theory, everyone should know that, but its another question entirely of whether or not they use it practically.
This is helpful! I was definitely thinking something along the same lines. I do plan on part of my test to include a list pull that they haven't done before, but they should know how to. I think that another point along those same line would be pulling an extraction as intended.
Thanks Catherine! These are all great ideas! I've been trying to figure out how to quantify initiative and using their resources. I think one major quality that I've found in power users is their ability to locate and utilize proper documentation.
Yeah definitely! Let me know when you put something together. The data standards thing is right -- everyone should know them
Haha, absolutely perfect reaction! I'll definitely keep you posted on when I get something put together.
Hi Jordan,
If possible, I would love to take a look/test this out and give feedback! Our organization has gone through a high staffing transition and have a lot of new staff, so I'm constantly looking for ways to test everyone's understanding as well as find areas that need extra attention so I can create a training plan. Anything you, or anyone else on this thread is willing to share would be fantastic!
As for knowledge I deem essential for power-users, here are a couple of topics that I would consider (most of them are from a Ticketing/Customer Service P.O.V):
- List Creation
- Output Set - Creation + Editing
- Extractions
- Data Standards
- Troubleshooting Tess (force close citrix sessions, forgot password)
- Merging Constituents
- Refunding transactions
- Making changes to multiple events
- Managing consignment tickets
Hopefully this was helpful! Good luck!