A worldwide oil and gas corporation (WWOG) is the largest refiner in the world. This corporation has 37 refineries in 21 countries and employs thousands of workers worldwide.

To enable knowledge sharing and to improve document maintenance and security, WWOG changed its information management system from a shared network drive to Microsoft SharePoint 2007, which enables employees to store, protect, and track confidential company documents. By implementing SharePoint, they sought to improve workplace efficiency, enhance collaborative opportunities, and advance document management capabilities while maintaining a high level of security and control.

Each WWOG department or team has its own SharePoint site. Employees in each department receiving a team SharePoint site nominated a Site Collection Administrator (SCA) to build and maintain the department's site. SCAs must understand the specific needs of each business unit and their projects and must be able to support the new SharePoint sites and users in the globally dispersed organization. SCAs must be able to help team members properly use SharePoint in the corporate environment and understand the benefits of using it. The SCAs were normal business users and would be the first to receive SharePoint 2007 training. Technical experience and skill level of the SCAs covered a broad range, from highly technical (IT associate) to minimally technical (petroleum engineer, tax accountant, administrative assistant).

To kick off the SCA Basics training, we delivered two virtual pilot courses, followed by two on-site pilots in January 2011. During the sessions, it became clear that to provide a realistic training experience, our instructors needed access to the SharePoint infrastructure used by WWOG. Since the audience was composed of students with little technical background, it was critical for the instructor to be able to utilize the customized SharePoint environment to conduct step-by-step demonstrations.

Initially, the plan for the SharePoint SCA program focused on delivering training virtually. Increased interest in traditional classroom sessions warranted re-evaluating and modifying the training plan to include on-site courses.

Working with WWOG, we created a training plan that included flexible, customized training solutions delivered globally and across multiple modalities. The pilot sessions of the on-site, instructor-led training began in late January 2011.

WWOG created team sites used specifically for this course, that reflected the actual internal SharePoint environment. Team sites were used for course exercises and instructor demonstrations throughout the training. We also tailored existing SharePoint courseware to meet the corporation's learning objectives.

Each session was two days. The virtual training was offered in the US, Asia-Pacific, and central European time zones, while the on-site training was held at their Texas and Virginia facilities as well as several international locations.

WWOG has successfully migrated to a worldwide SharePoint data management solution. From January 2011 to December 2011, approximately 1,000 students participated in the SharePoint SCA training. As the training continues, it is expected that another 500 employees will participate. The corporation will be deploying SharePoint 2010 in 2012 and has engaged Global Knowledge to create two custom courses: SharePoint 2010 SCA Basics and SharePoint 2010 End User Basics.