SiteLink Training

GSS

Hello, 

I was wondering if SiteLink has some type of training software for new employees to practice in (aside from training videos). To really understand how SiteLink works requires hands-on. I think it would be cool to have some type of training system that lets new employees do fake move-ins, move-outs, payments, etc. without having it reflect on the actual property. 

Does this type of thing exist?

Thank you, 

Orkocean

One option is to load DEMO mode and let the employees play around in that, but it wouldn't be a 100% true experience as every company has different settings they prefer. Another option I typically use for new hires to get the full experience of our settings and what not is the test/setup site. I've brought this up before but don't recall ever seeing an answer if EVERY company has this or I've just been lucky and everyone I've worked for has it but it lets you do full processes without hurting anything. 

teamcapitola

I remember @Orkocean talking about the test setup, which would be REALLY useful. Seriously, if you ever hear back about that PLEASE let me know!!

Another dream would be to have a "practice" login specifically for your site; basically using your current database and settings but not actually doing/changing anything in/to the real database... like a Virtual Server duplicate environment for testing software.

The DEMO login is a good place for new hires to plod around and get used to the layout, but really isn't a good training tool. You just use the word "Demo" for Corp code, location, user, and password on the login. The account names are worth checking it out!

We have been slowly building up "walkthroughs" of every basic task (payments, move ins, etc..) using a screen capture software called SnagIt to annotate each step... but I still would love a "can't screw anything up" environment to play in that actually matches my site(s).

Sue_C

@GSS, another great training resource is our Certified Professional Training and Development course. Maybe you've already seen it. It's free and available to all Web Edition customers. You can take the course while using the Demo login for practice too. Take it at your own pace, there are currently 3 courses and we expect to add a 4th soon!

Check it out here.

Orkocean

@teamcapitola do you have corp control access for your company? If so just do a quick look at reports and see if you have a test/setup site listed, usually it's the bottom one on the list. If so make you a login for it and tinker away

teamcapitola

  Alas.... No test/setup site is listed! 

I appreciate the tip @Orkocean!  Doesn't look like we have the awesome test environment.

Although this seems to point to proof of concept; I wonder if they would offer a test site for a fee?

Would be pretty easy to populate test site with your existing database as a "snapshot" & allow new hires to run amok in it.

Orkocean

Sorry to hear that @teamcapitola I honestly thought it was something all companies had. My first company was 100+ sites and no one even used the test location yet I still didn't have permission to use it for training.

Sue_C

In the past, we have created some customer specific test locations as special requests from larger operators. It's very time consuming, plus if we're cloning existing data there are privacy concerns. And, there's a chance facility employees could accidentally use wrong database. So as a general rule we advise against it. 

We've found that the Certified Professional course in combination with the main demo account is usually enough to get new employees up and running. Have you tried the demo accounts yet? You can use them for both Web Edition and myHub.