Big tool for the big money.

* OnDemand Personal Navigator 7.5, software, 2003, Knowledge Products, a division of Global Knowledge (800-387-8878 www.ondemandgk.com), $150,000.

OnDemand has enterprise ambitions. Although the software is sold out of the box, the company says that "about 95% of their customers purchase a customized version to integrate with an enterprise application such as SAP or PeopleSoft. These customers typically work for corporations with thousands and tens of thousands of employees.

One into five

Like the other tools, OnDemand works by recording screenshots and cursor and pointer movements. Its huge advantage, however, is what Knowledge Products calls its "synchronized platform." This didn't mean much to me when I read it in the marketing materials, but it is an amazing, time-saving, and valuable feature. Basically, from one recording, you can create five different types of training and support. The first three, "See It," "Try It," and "Do It," are simulations. The fourth, "Know It," takes you into the actual application and gives hints on how to complete the task. The fifth type is the illustrated documentation OnDemand can generate.

These are catchy names, but you don't get a good idea of what they really mean until you see them in action. "See It" provides a visual representation of the procedure. The cursor moves on its own, clicking buttons and typing automatically. Watch and learn. "Try It" mode again brings up a simulated application. This time a popup window tells you what to do (i.e., what buttons to push) and where to do it (i.e., where to input your text), but you must do all the clicking and typing.

"Know It," a self-assessment, makes you run through the procedure on your own, step by step. OnDemand encourages you through the process, with helpful, supportive prompts such as "If you click the Next Step button now, you'll be marked incorrect. "Know It" really made me think about what I was doing and what I had seen (and learned) in the previous simulations. You get up to four tries with increasing assistance to complete one step, and if you still can't complete it correctly, OnDemand will do the action for you (and mark this step wrong).

Bowled over

The training aid that totally won me over is one you choose to generate. Once you have finished your screen recordings and are satisfied with the result, you and your users can print documentation in a large variety of formats. And what documentation! There are several different reports, including the Training Aid, which produces complete training manuals, and the Job Aid, which prints step-by-step procedures for completing your transactions and includes the screenshots applicable to that step.

Why was I so impressed with this function? If you ask, then you have probably never spent a lot of time trying to create illustrative documentation. TechSmith's Snaglt is a wonderful tool for creating screenshots, but you still have to make sure that your mouse pointer is in the correct spot when you record, that no buttons or links are a different color than they should be, and that you don't skip a step. Then you have to write step-by-step instructions, being careful to be consistent and clear. Finally, you have to make sure everything fits nicely on the page for printing.

No such demons torment OnDemand. It happily produces the documentation all in a day's work. I didn't see enough of it to say whether it is always as good as mine is; however, it looked comprehensive and straightforward, and the massive time savings would more than compensate for a little less personal attention. Heidenreich rave about it as well. "When we first started with PeopleSoft we had to make all the manuals by hand," he groaned. "I wish we had OnDemand back then!"

The new version of the product, 8.0, will be out this fall and will include an extensive tracking system. Who uses the system, how much, when, and which pieces in particular, can all be reported, and trainers will be able to track the self-assessment "Know It" scores. I got a sneak preview, and the reports looked so detailed that you may need a training simulation to learn how to use them! I'm assuming, however, that there will be ways to generate macro, overview reports as well as minutely detailed ones.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Training is not included with a purchase of OnDemand, but they have many training classes. To speed up deployment, Knowledge Products (and I) strongly encourage that at least one or two people from your company attend. They can then train the rest of the development crew.

The initial development is very structured and not particularly flexible, especially as compared to the likes of ViewletBuilder. You must start by building a three-level outline of the procedures you will be following. You then record into specific topics--the third level of the outline. Once you've begun recording, you can't change your mind halfway through and decide that you'd like to move some shots into another topic.

Recommendation

There are other enterprise-level products on the market like OnDemand, and I haven't seen them. However, if I were a large corporation with the need and the cash to spend, there's no doubt that I would consider this product. No, it isn't perfect. Yes, it will improve. (Version 8.0 is due out this fall.) Yes, already the training materials it produces are outstanding, and the savings to your corporation could be immense, both in time and dollars.

OnDemand product rating

Presentation          Average
Ease of use           Average
Ease of installation  Good
Production quality    Outstanding
Documentation         Average
Value for the money   Outstanding
Overall rating        Outstanding