What is self-sufficiency?
Pricefx defines customer self-sufficiency as an ability to maintain and modify Pricefx custom solutions with the help of internal customer resources. This approach can help customers be less dependent on the Pricefx team and optimize the cost of the solution maintenance. To achieve self-sufficiency, customers must provide suitably skilled resources to be trained, certified, and mentored by Pricefx.
Which roles are currently covered?
Configuration Engineer – maintains the existing solution, implements new simple/medium-level requirements, and fixes bugs.
Integration Engineering - maintains existing integration connections, updates data sources, and fixes data-related bugs.
Super Users for UI and Support – user management, UI management, and configuration, 1-level of support ("forgot the password; how to find something" type of problems) & 2-level of support (integration and data).
End-User Onboarding & Training – custom user scenario reference guides, documentation, and learning paths. Relevant for big organizations with multiple BUs with many users and user turnover.
What are the steps to acquire self-sufficiency?
To become self-sufficient, companies will need to:
Send the candidates through foundational training
As a final step in the foundational training, candidates will need to pass the certification exam
Once the exam has been successfully passed, the knowledge transfer, shadowing, and mentoring plan will need to be developed with the Pricefx project team. This is the crucial step in preparing the candidates to take over the maintenance and changes in the tool.
The standard duration of acquiring self-sufficiency for different roles is at least six months.
What are the steps to acquire self-sufficiency in configuration engineering?
Configuration Engineering - foundational training – 8 weeks; total time investment ~ 80 hours. (the updated version of the learning path will be published by 12th of February)
After foundational training, shadowing and mentoring should occur for ~ 4 months. This activity is charged hourly and involves the Pricefx implementation team.
Ideally, the candidate starts at the beginning of the month to get into the instructor-led class on time.
What background is expected for this role:
· Professional programming experience of at least two years of object-oriented programming, ideally Java, scripting, and functional programming, is a plus.
· Understand data structures (Arrays, Maps, etc.), algorithmizing and coding skills (variables, loops, conditions), and Groovy language features (syntax, operators, closures).
· Experience with databases and data, ideally SQL, working with tables, and examining data.
· Working knowledge of IDE (IntelliJ Idea or other) and GIT (feature branches, checkout, pull, push, commit, rebase, amend, merge, stash).
· Good spoken and written English, ability to communicate and get your points across, ability to understand technical documentation and requirements.
The expected outcome of the Configuration Engineering Learning Path:
· The candidate will be able to maintain implemented solutions, troubleshoot and make changes to the existing logic and data tables, and implement new requirements within existing customer-specific Pricefx functionality.
Program flow:
A detailed description of the steps and time investment can be found on the /wiki/spaces/GS/pages/4512448748
Post Certification: once the certification has been accomplished along with the shadowing, the candidate will also be provided with a deep dive into the existing solution to acquire the custom solution expertise.
The Pricefx implementation team provides the shadowing and mentoring activities. The shadowing and mentoring require at least 20%-time allocations of Pricefx team members weekly. All activities should be planned and synchronized with the implementation plan.
What are the steps to acquire self-sufficiency in integration?
Integration Engineering - foundational training – 4 weeks (max. three months); Total time investment ~ 40 hours.
After foundational training, shadowing and mentoring should occur for ~ 2 months. This activity is charged hourly and involves the Pricefx implementation team.
Ideally, the candidate starts at the beginning of the month to get into the instructor-led class on time.
What background is expected for this role:
· Solid experience building integration solutions using the Apache Camel framework. In particular, the XML DSL flavor of Camel as opposed to the Java DSL.
· Solid experience writing Java and Groovy code outside of Pricefx.
· Experience using Git for source code repository management and Maven for build projects.
· Familiar with and comfortable working in a GitLab environment. In particular, they should be aware of the process for creating and managing Git branches.
The expected outcome of the Integration Engineering program:
· The candidate can work with the Platform Manager tool to create IntegrationManager instances.
· The candidate will understand the location and the proper way to access the various code components created after implementing a Template in a partition and how to assign permissions to access the various code components created after implementing a Template in a partition.
· The candidate will understand the need for Data Cleansing before implementing a Template based route.
Program flow:
Prequalification test – 1 hour; to confirm the candidate fit for the role and register for the technical class.
Business user self-study – 3-4 hours with the knowledge assessment test.
Admin user self-study – 3-4 hours with the knowledge assessment test.
Class Prerequisites – 2 hours, revision of the critical data structures and components, class setup.
Integration Engineering technical training – 8 hours
Additional optional self-study study for custom solutions & QA with Pricefx trainer - ~ 10 hours
Final project – 6-8 hours, verification of the knowledge acquired during the class and help to prepare for the certification exam.
Exam preparation and exam partition review – 1 hour, verification of the exam readiness.
Certification exam – 3 hours, recorded and later reviewed by the examiner.
Certification confirmation – 2-3 days after the exam, depending on the examiner's availability.
Post-certification
Deep dive into the custom solution (if existing project)
Shadowing of the Pricefx team (if ongoing project)
The Pricefx implementation team provides the shadowing and mentoring activities. The shadowing and mentoring require at least 20%-time allocations of Pricefx team members weekly. All activities should be planned and synchronized with the implementation plan.
What are the steps to acquire internal 1st and 2nd levels of support?
Super Users for UI and Support – foundational training – 2 weeks; Total time investment ~ 30 hours with self-study and deep dive. Private classes can be organized for 4+ people.
After foundational training, a solution/customer-specific deep dive may be required. This activity is charged hourly and involves the Pricefx implementation team or training team researching the solution.
Ideally, the candidate starts at the beginning of the month to get into the instructor-led class on time.
What background is expected for this role:
The internal super user who was involved in the tool implementation or had the necessary skill set for supporting super user tasks.
Knowledge of how the Pricefx tool is implemented and used in the organization.
Tech savvy; knowledge of internal tech infrastructure and data structures used in Pricefx.
Prerequisites:
o Super Admin skillset review.
o Business User Training instructor-led series (paid) or self-study (free)
Admin training
o ILT Series (3 sessions * 3 hours)
o Additional self-study materials
o Q&A sessions with a trainer
Deep dive into a custom solution
o Q&A sessions with internal customer resources and the Pricefx team to understand the custom solution and typical challenges.
What are the steps to build self-study end-user training?
End-User Onboarding and Training (customer-specific)
Pricefx can support a customer in creating a customer-specific solution onboarding material.
These materials can be used for onboarding new users and building a reference guide for existing users through the Pricefx solution.
Fully custom (and can be integrated into customer internal training materials) content.
The main output of this training is a step-by-step digital learning path with custom content, videos, and exercises in a customer QA environment.
How to initiate self-sufficiency training?
· Reach out to Customer Success representatives.
· Specify your needs and expectations.
· Schedule a session with the Pricefx training team to outline the possible plan and estimate the cost.
· Identify the candidates and get the skillset revision from Pricefx.
· Start the self-sufficiency training for fitting internal candidates.
· Track the progress with your CSM.
Conditions and limitations of the self-sufficiency training
The self-sufficiency path targets the skillset of maintaining and modifying existing Pricefx solutions and not creating the Pricefx solution from scratch.
The customer is fully responsible for accomplishing all requirements and training to acquire the status of self-sufficiency.
Once a customer assumes the tasks through internally trained resources, Pricefx is not liable or responsible for any damages that arise from actions from those resources.
Shadowing, deep-dives, and mentoring of the customer resources must be planned and integrated into the project timeline (if the training happens during the active implementations) or discussed in advance to book time on the Pricefx side (if the implementation is finished).