Employee Readiness at Microsoft with Role Guide and
Academy
Published: June, 2013
Microsoft employees need to stay aware of new company products, services, processes, and
personnel-related developments in an organization that provides them massive amounts of
information and training content from multiple sources. The SMSG Readiness team at Microsoft
developed a suite of applications that delivers training and information to Microsoft employees
according to employee roles and interests, centralizes and improves content access, and enables
employees to share their expertise with others.
Introduction
Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) is responsible for managing one of the
largest Information Technology (IT) infrastructure environments in the world. It consists of
95,000 employees working in 107 countries worldwide.
The Sales, Marketing, and Services Group (SMSG) at Microsoft is responsible for servicing
the needs of Microsoft customers and partners. It is essential that these 45,000 employees
remain informed about products and services within their areas of expertise and, in turn, to
educate and inform Microsoft customers about these products and services. The SMSG
Readiness (SMSGR) team at Microsoft is responsible for ensuring that SMSG employees
have all of the tools and knowledge they require to deliver significant value to customers and
partners.
Situation
The SMSGR team must coordinate many different readiness scenarios within SMSG at
Microsoft. Different SMSG employees require different levels of information about products
and services at different times:

A technology evangelist needs to know features and capabilities of new products
well before they launch.

An account manager needs to know pricing, availability, and SKU information right
around launch time.

Technical support needs to know technical information about the operations after
launch and as the product moves through its life cycle.
The learning environment at Microsoft is critical to the success of the enterprise. In order to
support the large set of learning needs for diverse groups of employees, the SMSGR team
has developed a set of roadmaps that define what each user needs to know about a specific
product or service. Implementation of this roadmap is a complex and constantly changing
process. Products change quickly, and employees must stay informed of changes that affect
them. To support this environment, the SMSGR needs tools and information that can adapt
to change quickly, without requiring significant effort from development and IT teams.
Solution
In order to simplify employee access to the learning environment, the SMSGR team has
developed two tools that enable employee readiness: Role Guide and Academy.
Role Guide
Role Guide is the most important tool that the SMSGR team uses to manage and implement
the products and services knowledge and skills roadmap for Microsoft employees. Role
Guide is designed to get product learning into the hands of employees, based on their role. It
is personalized for each individual, and provides only the information they require for their
job.
By using Role Guide, employees can access a learning roadmap that outlines their role and
the various Microsoft courseware and learning resources they can access. These resources
consist of both online and in-person training curricula. Role Guide tracks the progress of an
employee’s learning based on their roadmap. Role Guide also enables the employee, the
employee’s manager, and the organization to monitor and manage an employee’s learning
path. Role Guide is available to Microsoft employees through two key interfaces: a web
application, based in Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010, and an app for the Windows® 8 operating
system.
Role Guide Web Application
The Role Guide web application is a dashboard for employee learning development.
Employees can see their role, region, specializations, and other key information that
identifies them within Microsoft. They can also see the list of courses accessible to them,
based on their role, region, and specializations. This course list provides individual links to
online courses, as well as information about in-person courses and regional events. The web
application is customizable and flexible, and provides anywhere access to Role Guide for all
employees of Microsoft. However, navigating the web application involves switching between
several different web interfaces launched from Role Guide, and can involve having up to four
browser windows open to access a single course.
Role Guide Windows 8 App
The SMSGR team wanted to provide a more streamlined Role Guide experience to Microsoft
employees with the Windows 8 app. Using the Microsoft .NET Framework, the SMSGR team
was able to bring the Windows 8 app experience to Role Guide users. The Role Guide
Windows 8 app incorporates all of the functionality present in the web application in a touchfriendly, streamlined interface. The Windows 8 app encompasses all aspects of the Role
Guide experience, and has overcome the multi-window shortcoming of the Role Guide web
application.
The Windows 8 app provides a more immersive learning experience to the employee. One
central interface means one central point of focus for employees. The SMSGR team
designed the interface to give employees quick access to important information, like course
progress and learning results. During the knowledge check process, which tests employees
based on the information they’ve just received, the interface provides links back to course
material for any questions they answered incorrectly. Employees can navigate content out of
sequence, so they can access the most important topics to their project or needs as quickly
as possible. Course progress is tracked in a very detailed manner, and is reported to the
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employee, as well as the employee’s manager. An employee can see how much time they’ve
spent in a course, and how much time the next section of the course will require.
Role Guide is a critical part of the SMSGR team’s ability to keep employees up-to-date on
what is most important to them in their role at Microsoft. With both the Role Guide web
application, and the Role Guide Windows 8 app, employees have complete access to their
learning roadmap from any environment.
Academy
Academy is the internal media sharing tool used at Microsoft. Academy provides Microsoft
employees the ability to share content with each other on an internal, company-maintained
social sharing platform. Instead of public facing social media solutions like YouTube,
Facebook, or Twitter, Microsoft employees can share information that shouldn’t leave the
organization on a protected, controlled, internal solution.
The foundational goal of Academy is sharing ideas. It enables all Microsoft employees
publish their intellectual property and share their ideas and knowledge. Academy content
spans a large number of topics and delivery types, from podcasts for the benefit of specific
user groups within Microsoft, to company-wide strategy announcements from Microsoft
executives. The SMSGR team also leverages Academy specifically as a learning platform for
distributing media that trains employees on certain products and business scenarios as a
complement to the Learning Management System. Academy holds approximately 100,000
different pieces of media. A secondary function of Academy is to connect employees to each
other. The SMSGR team chose to intensify this function when it learned that members of the
Microsoft sales staff were browsing content located in Academy to find subject matter experts
who could help them deliver product information and presentations to potential customers.
Similar to Role Guide, Academy exists in two interfaces: a SharePoint 2010 based web
application, and a Windows 8 app.
Academy Web Application
The Academy web application – based in SharePoint 2010 – is designed to enable the
organization of content across all departments within Microsoft within a single interface.
Content on Academy is searchable according to included metadata, including the publishing
user, department, content type, subject matter, and intended audience. With 100,000 pieces
of media hosted on Academy, providing organization and accessibility are among its most
important functions. Content on Academy is loosely curated into groups called Networks.
These Networks maintain a high level organization of content within Academy.
The Academy web application interface utilizes the built-in uploading and management
capabilities of SharePoint, enabling employees to publish their own content quickly and
effectively, from any supported web browser. This effective metadata tool results in content
automatically appearing under the appropriate network and categories based on metadata
entered by the employee publishing the content. The media player within the Academy web
application interface also provides recommendations of similar media that may interest
someone viewing any specific piece of content.
Management of the content within Academy is built primarily around user-entered metadata,
rather than manual organization or approval. Academy is a social platform on which
everyone accountable for their content. Anonymous uploading is not allowed. Users are able
to rate and comment on content, and the user base determines whether or not content is
useful or popular. When integrated with highly available communication solutions such as
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Microsoft Lync® and Microsoft Exchange Server, users have instant access to content
publishers.
Access to content within Academy is not limited to use of the web application. SharePoint’s
built-in Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed capabilities enable users to monitor users or
networks for new or updated content. Academy also tracks a user’s history, so that they can
go back and find favorite videos if they want to re-watch them or share them with other users.
Academy Windows 8 App
In similar fashion to Role Guide, the SMSGR team wanted to provide an Academy
experience that is optimized for touch on Windows 8 tablets. While the Academy web
application did not suffer from some of the navigation issues that the Role Guide application
did, the team still felt there were efficiencies in use to be gained. This resulted in the
development of the Academy Windows 8 app.
Moving Forward with Role Guide and Academy
Both Role Guide and Academy fulfill their purposes within Microsoft. The SMSGR has begun
the migration process from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013 on Microsoft Office 365®, to
take advantage of the cloud-based infrastructure Office 365. The SMSGR team will also
relocate eLearning and media content from internally managed servers to the Windows
AzureTM platform, which means less time spent maintaining infrastructure and more time
spent delivering innovative capabilities within Role Guide and Academy. Additionally, the
Academy application is being seamlessly integrated with Yammer to encourage engagement
across the enterprise. A Windows Phone app is being created for the Academy system that
will enable consumption of media content while on the go.
Benefits
Microsoft has realized several important benefits from the implementation of Role Guide and
Academy:

Employees now have a single, easy to navigate portal in Role Guide where they can
manage their learning. Users want to use the application.

The Human Resources department at Microsoft has a more complete view of employee
learning progress, due to the increased adoption of Role Guide as a learning portal.

Microsoft has better control over intellectual property within their organization. Academy
provides Microsoft employees the opportunity to share their ideas on a social platform
without exposing important and potentially sensitive information on public social media
sites.

Employees are able to quickly locate subject matter experts on specific topics by
browsing content on Academy and engaging the owner of that content.

Employees can consume Role Guide and Academy content in the way that is works best
for them. The presence of both a web application and a Windows 8 app gives
employees the option to use the interface that best suits their needs, or the task that
they are performing.
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
The social, user-driven content that Role Guide and Academy provide deserve special
consideration. The SMSGR team identified several best practices for this type of
implementation:
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
Avoid over-managing user-submitted content. User ideas and content proliferate in the
social environment when content is user-maintained.

Ensure that user-submitted content contains usable and relevant metadata. The ability to
find content within a library and get what the user needs quickly is critical to adoption.

When developing a user-driven content library, ensure that quality content is available
when the library launches. This will encourage use and set the standard for content
submitted in the future.

Make user-driven content libraries accessible and easy to use. User experience design
is paramount to adoption.

Develop a standard for app design and layout. A familiar interface across multiple
applications will make users more comfortable with new applications.
Conclusion
Role Guide and Academy provide Microsoft with tools that employees can use to perform
better in their roles. The social nature of both tools, and the integrated functionality provided
by SharePoint, enable employees to help each other access the information and people that
they need. Combined with the Windows 8 app experience, the Role Guide and Academy
SharePoint instances provide an accessible, easy-to-use, and user-maintained learning
environment that enables true self-service learning and readiness for Microsoft employees.
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call the Microsoft Sales
Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Order Centre at
(800) 933-4750. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information via the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase
© 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Lync, Office 365, SharePoint, and Windows are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of
actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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