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Comet roll out Chip & PIN training programme on DVD

Comet group plc is recognised as one of the UK's leading electrical retailers, with around 250 stores nationwide, including over 50 large-format ‘destination’ stores.

In August 2004, Comet became the 6th major retailer to roll out Chip & PIN across its entire store network. To achieve this, Comet needed to provide Chip & PIN training for over 4,500 store colleagues. The training needed to have minimal impact on the trading day, as colleagues could not be away from their workplace for long periods.

Vicki Harris a Training Specialist at Comet outlined the approach taken by Comet: "The training programme had two key objectives, to train the procedural changes and to prepare our colleagues for the likely customer questions that the change to Chip & PIN would generate.

"The training required access to Chip & PIN equipment but as we only had a three-week roll out window and the software was not activated until stores were due to go live, this proved to be a real challenge. Our training had to be stand alone, that’s why we decided to take a DVD approach."

Comet created an in-house training DVD to demonstrate best practice in selected customer scenarios, show close-up shots of how to operate the equipment, and provide a quiz to enable colleagues to check the effectiveness of the training material.

Comet appointed Paul Mason Consulting (PMC) Limited to work alongside their team to produce the training programme.

"We selected PMC for their in- depth retail IT knowledge and expertise plus their experience in producing this type of training solution," said Harris. "It proved a successful partnership, in which teamwork was a vital element.

"In fact the key to the success of the project was the effectiveness of its teamwork - Comet provided the operational perspective and process definition, PMC brought their knowledge of Chip & PIN and experience of scripting and directing projects of this nature, while Comet’s Audio Visual specialist, Jonathan Warner was responsible for the filming and DVD production. Our project team from IBM were also on hand to ensure continuity with the Chip & PIN project as a whole, so it was a real team effort."

In addition to the DVD, Comet's programme included a paper assessment, for which colleagues' scores were recorded and the results collated by the training team. Comet’s colleagues were also provided with a set of Quick Reference Guides for use in the workplace. They also received a laminated ‘memory-aid’ card displaying frequently asked questions. This was inserted into the magnetic stripe reader on the POS keyboards, which were disabled when the Chip & PIN card readers were installed.

"The advantage of the DVD is that it can be used in-store, as all Comet stores have access to a DVD player for training purposes," said Harris. "It takes colleagues less than half an hour to watch the DVD and complete the assessment, so there is minimal impact upon the trading day. Additionally, the training can take place in the Back Office, where available, which means no impact at the tills. Flexibility is key. The DVD is readily accessible to all colleagues, irrespective of their work patterns."

PMC created detailed design scripts and storyboards for the DVD, submitting these to Comet for approval. Once the scripts were signed off, PMC worked closely with Comet’s team to organise the video shoot.

Professional actors were used for the parts of narrator and store colleague, as they were required to convey important learning points, and needed to be skilled in both learning lines and reading from an autocue.

Harris explained: "PMC sourced the actors, and together with Jonathan Warner, filmed auditions and submitted draft footage. This approach enabled us to choose the right actors to play both narrator and colleague. The customers were played by people from the extended Comet team."

It was a significant challenge to find a suitable location for filming. Obviously any in-store filming had to take place outside trading hours, so PMC considered a night-time shoot. The acoustics in most stores proved prohibitive, so the team created a film set inside Comet’s merchandising centre at Watford. This venue was used to film all the customer scenes, which were completed within two days.

Harris added: "PMC worked closely with us to help deliver the optimum training solution given our training requirements and the restrictions imposed by the need to maintain ‘business as usual’ during the process. The training DVD and associated material, which was produced with less than 20 days effort, has been extremely well received by all Comet’s colleagues who have experienced the training."

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© 2005 Paul Mason Consulting. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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