Learning Launch

Challenge and selection

I am an administrative member in the retail team of a consumer goods sales company. One of my  superior’s and my own biggest and most constant challenge is to provide sales information and insights,  both to my fellow staff members and field supervisors.

Putting up information for staff members is reasonably simple because we ‘speak the same language’;  we all have fairly similar academic background and share common knowledge through daily interaction  in the office. On the other hand, supervisors come from different backgrounds -most of them started as  store sellers, some were sales representatives from whole different industries, etc.- so their computer  skills vary from one another, and so does their understanding of words and KPIs that might seem very  common for the staff, such as ‘growth’, ‘variation’, ‘profitability’, etc.

In this occasion, we had the challenge to provide daily sales information and insights to supervisors, in  order to help them focus on the stores and brands that had lower performance. This information had to  be useful, thus, it had to be understood by every supervisor regardless their skills.

We selected the Learning Launch tool to assess the understandability and usability of the information,  by testing the solution with 2 supervisors: “P” a fast learner with the highest computer skills, and “M”  who has a much more traditional workstyle.

Application

The information was sent as a simple Excel file because it’s the most common software used by the  company, and it could be browsed on the field with a cellphone. The file had 3 sheets:

- Daily sales by store, supervisor and brand, both from the current and past year  - Monthly sales target, current sales, and percentage of target fulfillment by store, supervisor and brand  - Sales year over year growth by store, supervisor and brand

We sent the initial file to both P and M, asked them to check the information and share their feedback.  The most important point was if they could easily spot the information that mattered most to them - their stores, their names, and the percentage of sales target fulfillment which would determine their  monthly bonuses.

After a few days, P and M sent their feedback. P reviewed the file and easily understood the  information. She concluded that the information she needed to plan her daily work schedule was part of  the first sheet, and the second one. However M, couldn’t understand the first sheet and just focused on  the second one.

Insight and approach

Using the Learning Launch tool we confirmed that certainly, not every supervisor has the same skills to  read and understand information in a spreadsheet, and they face new tasks in different ways.

M could not understand the first sheet because of the amount of information it contained and the way  it was organized (>450 columns; 2018 sales data on the top, 2019 in the middle and %growth at the  end). She became anxious and skipped to the sheet she could understand and was most relevant to her.

We thought that a way of reducing the confusion while browsing the file, was to simply hide the  columns and rows of the first sheet that weren’t useful to the supervisors.

On the second sheet, the most important to supervisors, thus the sheet they would always see; we  added a column showing the overall sales status with signs and colors:  aligned with the objective,   accelerate, and ! accelerate urgently. We thought this visualization would help giving emphasis to a  macro level, so they could drill down to the detail from there.

We understand that using Excel spreadsheets is quite basic. We would love to use more innovative,  viewer-friendly visual tools, but unhopefully we don’t have licenses yet. With the insights we gained  from this test, we found a new huge opportunity in training our supervisors regarding their computer  skills, and understanding their personal boundaries.


Learning Launch Challenge and selection I am an administrative member in the retail team of a consumer goods sales company . One of my superior ’s and my own biggest and most constant challenge is to provide sales information and insights , both to my fellow staff members and field supervisors . Putting up information for staff members is reasonably simple because we ‘ speak the same language ’ ; we all have fairly similar academic background and share common knowledge through daily interaction in the office . On the other hand , supervisors come from different backgrounds -most of them started as store sellers , some were sales representatives from whole different industries , etc.- so their computer skills vary from one another , and so does their understanding of words and KPIs that might seem very common for the staff , such as ‘ growth ’ , ‘ variation ’ , ‘ profitability ’ , etc . In this occasion , we had the challenge to provide daily sales information and insights to supervisors , in order to help them focus on the stores and brands that had lower performance . This information had to be useful , thus , it had to be understood by every supervisor regardless their skills . We selected the Learning Launch tool to assess the understandability and usability of the information , by testing the solution with 2 supervisors : “ P ” a fast learner with the highest computer skills , and “ M ” who has a much more traditional workstyle . Application The information was sent as a simple Excel file because it ’s the most common software used by the company , and it could be browsed on the field with a cellphone . The file had 3 sheets : - Daily sales by store , supervisor and brand , both from the current and past year - Monthly sales target , current sales , and percentage of target fulfillment by store , supervisor and brand - Sales year over year growth by store , supervisor and brand We sent the initial file to both P and M , asked them to check the information and share their feedback . The most important point was if they could easily spot the information that mattered most to them - their stores , their names , and the percentage of sales target fulfillment which would determine their monthly bonuses . After a few days , P and M sent their feedback . P reviewed the file and easily understood the information . She concluded that the information she needed to plan her daily work schedule was part of the first sheet , and the second one . However M , could n’t understand the first sheet and just focused on the second one . Insight and approach Using the Learning Launch tool we confirmed that certainly , not every supervisor has the same skills to read and understand information in a spreadsheet , and they face new tasks in different ways . M could not understand the first sheet because of the amount of information it contained and the way it was organized ( > 450 columns ; 2018 sales data on the top , 2019 in the middle and % growth at the end ) . She became anxious and skipped to the sheet she could understand and was most relevant to her . We thought that a way of reducing the confusion while browsing the file , was to simply hide the columns and rows of the first sheet that were n’t useful to the supervisors . On the second sheet , the most important to supervisors , thus the sheet they would always see ; we added a column showing the overall sales status with signs and colors :  aligned with the objective ,  accelerate , and ! accelerate urgently . We thought this visualization would help giving emphasis to a macro level , so they could drill down to the detail from there . We understand that using Excel spreadsheets is quite basic . We would love to use more innovative , viewer - friendly visual tools , but unhopefully we do n’t have licenses yet . With the insights we gained from this test , we found a new huge opportunity in training our supervisors regarding their computer skills , and understanding their personal boundaries .