Case study · Training

A twelve-hour hands-on programme for a manufacturer's accounts team of seven

Seven people learned Zoho Books on a copy of their own data over three weeks: sales, purchase, bank reconciliation, GST reports and period close. A short assessment at the end and a Q&A after the first month close.

Zoho Books training
Seven people
Hands-on

Client details and figures changed to protect confidentiality.

7
people in the accounts team: 12 hours
hands-on: 3 weeks
duration

Context and challenge

The situation

A manufacturer had decided to move its accounts to Zoho Books. Seven people work in the accounts team: two on sales and receivables, two on purchases and payables, one on banking, one on GST and one senior accountant who reviews.

The management worry was practical. If the team did not trust the new system on day one, they would keep a shadow Tally running, and nothing would be gained.

The company had already chosen Zoho Books and a go-live date. The training was fixed to end a week before it. That left no room for slipping, so the programme had to be planned backwards from go-live, with the assessment as the gate.

What to watch for

What made it tricky

The team has different experience levels. The senior accountant had used several systems. Two of the juniors had only ever worked on Tally voucher screens and thought in terms of Journal, Payment and Receipt.
Generic demo data does not help much. The team wanted to see their own vendors, their own GST treatment and their own chart of accounts.
Training could not stop the monthly close. It had to fit around real work.
People learn accounting software by doing their own job in it. A session where the trainer clicks and the team watches is forgotten by the next morning. The sessions had to be at least half hands-on, with each person at a keyboard on the copy of their data.

How it ran

What we did

1
Before the first session we set up a copy of their own data in a training organisation, with their chart of accounts, parties and a sample of recent transactions.
2
Ran the programme as twelve hours over three weeks, in short sessions of about two hours, so that people could practise between them.
3
Covered sales (quotes to invoices, receipts, credit notes), purchases (bills, payments, debit notes), bank feeds and reconciliation, GST reports and filing support, and period close including locking dates.
4
Used their data throughout. Each person worked on the tasks they would do every day, and then on the task of the person next to them.
5
Gave a short assessment at the end: ten practical tasks on the training data, marked individually. Where someone struggled, we repeated that topic one to one.
6
Held a follow-up Q&A after the team closed their first month in the live organisation.
7
Wrote a one-page practice sheet after each session, with three tasks to repeat before the next one. The senior accountant checked them.

Outcome

Results

All seven completed the assessment and each has a list of tasks to revisit.
The team posted real transactions in the live organisation from the day of go-live. No parallel system was kept.
The follow-up Q&A after the first close dealt with real questions: a vendor advance, a GST credit note and a bank rule. Those were fixed on the spot.
Two juniors who started the programme unsure of invoice and credit note flows were doing both without help by week three.

What the CA or owner gets now

The senior accountant has a short written guide of how the company does each task in Zoho Books, in their own words and with their own examples.
The CA was invited to the GST report session and now knows exactly where to pull what they need.

More reading: Switching accounting software in the middle of the financial year

Client details and figures changed to protect confidentiality.

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