By Elizabeth Miller
Elizabeth Miller
MIDAS Training Team Lead
Farm Service Agency
The MIDAS Training team hosted the Super User Boot Camp in Washington, D.C., from Oct. 15-18, 2012. Super User Boot Camp was a four-day workshop designed to provide background information on the MIDAS project, project team, processes and technology. Super Users were provided the foundational knowledge of the MIDAS project required to successfully execute their responsibilities as part of the larger effort to deliver “just–in-time” comprehensive training to FSA state and county office employees. Super User Boot Camp accelerated super user involvement in field office employee training, testing and functional support. Super users heard from MIDAS leadership, business process owners (BPO), and testing and training team members. In addition, super users participated in learning exercises and team building activities throughout the week.
At the conclusion of Super User Boot Camp, super users were prepared with foundational knowledge of the MIDAS project and system, enabling them to begin some of their super user responsibilities, such as assisting in MIDAS training development, material review, and testing support. General feedback collected by the MIDAS Training team showed that 97 percent of participants either strongly agreed or agreed that after participating in boot camp, they feel more committed to the MIDAS Project and feel more comfortable communicating MIDAS topics and messages back to the field. The majority of the responses highlighted the knowledge of the facilitators, knowledge sharing effectiveness, networking opportunities and an overall excitement and enthusiasm about the positive changes to come.
Post boot camp, super users will participate in MIDAS implementation through key activities. For example, super users are participating in the development of MIDAS Foundational Learning sessions, providing valuable feedback and field perspective during training content development. The knowledge gained through these activities will allow super users to provide support for new MIDAS users immediately following Go-Live.
To access the available MIDAS Foundational Learning Sessions, view the MIDAS Training Community. The courses currently on the site include:
- MIDAS 101
- GIS Basics
- Farm Records
- Integration and the End to End Business Process
- MIDAS System Access Overview
- The MIDAS Community on USDA Connect
- MIDAS Search and Analytics
- Security Education
- Product Master
- Business Partner
- Acreage Reporting
To review how to access the USDA Connect MIDAS Community, please read Notice MIDAS 1.
