The annual Advantage Training Week was held September 15-18, at the ACS office in Ann Arbor.  Courses included key Advantage operations areas such as Maximizing Personnel Efficiency and Powerful Contact Management … as well as sessions on Marketing Analysis Reports and Financial Management within Advantage.  In addition, a half-day User Forum addressed the concept of Product Families, Hierarchy, and Granularity.  The User Forum topic was chosen in response to continued high interest among ACS clients in the Access Management and Billing and Business Intelligence Modules.

ACS remains committed to offering training sessions that address the topics that are of highest interest to our clients.  While attendance this year was less than we hoped for, virtually all who were unable to attend cited as the primary reason their organization's travel restrictions due to current economic challenges.  Hopefully, the economy will turn around soon and, once again, we will have Training Week with each class filled to capacity, exciting client networking and, of course, a return to Whirly Ball!

The forum produced a lot of thoughtful debate.

Discussion flourishes in the Product Families, Hierarchy, and Granularity forum.

Andy Wright is known for his sweet tooth, but this is ridiculous!

The 2009 Advantage Training Week will take place in Ann Arbor September 15-18.   We have an outstanding program of popular training courses led by experienced ACS trainers.  The courses offered are in response to surveys taken a few months ago from you … the Advantage user community.  To encourage participation even further, we have reduced the course fees from last year and have increased the discount for those registering for three full class days.

The due date for Training Week registrations is August 17.  After reviewing the brochure, feel free to contact your Account Manager or me if you have any questions.  I look forward to receiving your registration and seeing you in September.

2009 Training Week Brochure (PDF - 205.45 kb)

Advantage Training Week is on the horizon!  This year, it is being held on four days in mid September here in Ann Arbor.  Registration information will be available in early July.  Keep an eye on the ACS website for more information soon.  

Advantage Training Week 2009

Tuesday, September 15 -- Friday, September 18, 2009

Course Titles and Instructors:

* SQL Server DBA Training for Non-DBAs – Molly Mathe, Doug Moore
* Delivering Business Intelligence through Data Cubes and Executive Dashboards – John Sheehy, Levi Hyssong
* Advantage Financial Management: Reconciliation, Auditing, and Reporting – Bob Thornton, Paul DesRosiers, Corey Mantel
* Reducing Personnel Expenses:  Optimizing Data Entry and Customer Service – Mona Hidayet
* Marketing Analysis Reports and Business Intelligence in Advantage—Richard Hile, Karl Davis
* Essentials of Data Warehousing in Advantage – Todd Gilson, Philippe Rowland
* Maximizing Results through Effective Project Management—Tim Zapawa, Tom Hermans
* Enhancing the Customer Service Experience:  Powerful Contact Management – Angie Markel, Eric Burbeck