Interview by Amber Christian, Founder – ConsultAce

The shared experiences.  The moments- the pain, the laughter, the growth- it makes us come alive! We are planning the Super User Experience Event- it’s not a conference, it’s an event to behold.  Filled with the opportunity to network and wrestle with what it means to be a Super User community. We breathe life into our Super User communities.  How can we deal with the challenges in order to make them vibrant and alive?

So we’re stacking the deck, bringing you companies and speakers that walk the talk.  They breathe life into their communities, and can help you breathe life into yours.  Will you join us October 26^th-27^th in Irving, Texas?

First up in our amazing lineup- Constance Darnell, with the City of Dallas.  We’ve asked Constance to share more about the City of Dallas Super User community, and her role:

You’re a Coordinator with the City of Dallas Water Utilities- can you tell us how your role led you to be involved in Super User programs?

“Well to be honest it wasn’t something that I was proactively looking for. When SAP was launched, Dallas Water Utilities needed additional trainers and they asked the department I was currently working for, which was Dallas Fire and Rescue, if I could help with training. Well one thing lead to another and I was so impressed with SAP as well as being able to reach out to so many different departments, I wanted to continue to build end-user knowledge on how to be a super user. For me, the Super User program is like a teaching gift that keeps on giving to so many people!”

You’re currently working with 14 different departments within the City of Dallas. This must bring with it a huge variety in terms of the user base. How do you manage the complexity of Super User engagement across so many different departments?

“It can be a challenge when dealing with a large audience and communication is the key to how successful we are. We deliver a Subject Matter Expert Meeting twice a year. Some of the topics may be new functionality, upcoming projects in SAP, or new training resources and we provide breakout sessions for the SAP community. By providing Super User Meetings, it keeps us all engaged and connected.”

Can you give us one hint at your secret sauce to maintaining a vibrant Super User community?

“LOL I love that! Well my secret sauce for maintaining a vibrant Super User Community is customizing our Basic Navigation/CIC course on how the department will use it. As you know, there are so many wonderful ways to perform a task in SAP. By customizing their training, we try and find and/or show the best and most efficient way to perform their task.”

Can you tell us one of the funniest moments along the way to developing your program or something that really surprised you?

 “One of my funniest moments or most embarrassing moments is when we started our initial training for end user on how to navigate. When had test data that was created for the trainers to use but it was not working in class. So, we reached out to the consultants and each time they would use the test data it WORKED. After all the back and forth dance, we discovered that the test data was not created in our training client but in the development client. After all of that, we were well versed that a client is a self-contained unit that has its own set of tables and data. Now looking back, it’s a funny moment.”

Want to know more?  Constance will be speaking in a joint session with the City of Dallas and Holly Frontier as she shares her favorite “SAP Tips and Tricks”.  Register here for Super User Experience event October 26-27^th!  And stay tuned as we share more articles profiling the incredible talent presenting at the Super User Experience Event – We SEE you!