Zorggroep Almere provides primary care with its employees and volunteers. By using SelfGuide, they easily and quickly create instructions to ensure optimal use of software applications.
Zorggroep Almere provides primary care with its 2,200 employees and several hundred volunteers in health centers, at the out-of-hours service, and in home situations. The organization serves all stages of life. It is considered crucial that employees from various disciplines possess the necessary digital skills and self-sufficiency to optimally use the more than 60 software applications, of which 15 are core software applications. Instructions play an important role in this process.
Within Zorggroep Almere, there is an awareness of the importance of supporting end users in using software applications. Mieke Hoogeveen, Automation Specialist and SelfGuide Editor, explains that the organization wants to capitalize on the opportunities presented by digital transformation:
“We use over 60 software applications, of which 15 are truly essential. It is crucial that these are used effectively. Why? Because it enables our employees to perform their work both more efficiently and better.”
Software is changing faster than ever, which means that instructions need to be updated more frequently. It is the responsibility of the administrators to keep them current, ensuring that end users at Zorggroep Almere can successfully utilize the available software applications.
The process of creating, maintaining, and making instructions available was not effective before using SelfGuide. Mieke Hoogeveen explains:
“We created instructions in TOPdesk, but it took an enormous amount of time for both creation and maintenance. Additionally, the layout wasn’t visually appealing, and we struggled to deliver the right instructions to the right end users. We were looking for something specifically designed for creating, maintaining, and sharing instructions. We were immediately excited about SelfGuide.”
The choice for SelfGuide was made for the following reasons: the recorder for quickly creating and updating instructions, the editor for editing instructions, the clear format of the instructions, and the central location where all instructions can be found.
Mieke Hoogeveen, as an Automation Specialist, is involved in workplace management, server management, and user support. A key aspect of this role is creating instructions. Mieke explains how the important role of instructions is perceived:
“It is very important for us that colleagues can be self-sufficient. When instructions are available, they don’t have to call the support desk or ask a colleague for help. This saves time for both the support desk and themselves. Additionally, colleagues develop their self-sufficiency and digital skills by applying the instructions. That’s why we create a lot of instructions.”
To enhance the quality of the instructions, agreements have been made with the 10 editors (instruction managers) within the organization. For instance, the taskbar must always be hidden, and elements like bookmarks should be concealed to provide the end user with a clear view. To guide end users to the correct instruction as quickly as possible, irrelevant instructions are blocked using the content channels functionality.
“End users are very enthusiastic about the clarity of the instructions, which makes them highly applicable in practice. This is a significant difference from the instructions we previously created in TOPdesk. Ultimately, the goal of creating instructions is to ensure that end users understand them and actually use them.”
Within SelfGuide, it is possible to combine multiple instructions into a user guide. A user guide allows for more detailed explanations and a comprehensive description of how to use an application, for example. Mieke Hoogeveen explains that user guides are of great value for Zorggroep Almere:
“An example of a user guide is the initial setup of a new PC or laptop. Installing a printer is one of the components. We use this guide for both existing and new employees. By using the guide, employees can quickly get fully up to speed with their work.”
In the future, there are plans to also incorporate exercises, allowing end users to practice instructions independently within SelfGuide.
In the coming years, Mieke Hoogeveen anticipates an increased use of SelfGuide. A significant part of this is the standard instructional material with 2,000 ready-made instructions for various Microsoft/Office 365 applications, created by SelfGuide’s specialized training partner.
“Currently, we have imported the standard instructional material for Microsoft/Office 365 into our SelfGuide environment, but we haven’t yet had the time to utilize it. We see it as a valuable addition to the instructions we create ourselves for Microsoft/Office 365.”
At present, most instructions are created for Microsoft/Office 365, Monaco, ONS, Zenya, and Medimo. However, it is expected that the number of software applications for which there are instructions in SelfGuide will significantly increase in the near future.
