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The municipality of Houten wanted to better support its employees in using applications such as Microsoft Teams. However, functional administrators had trouble keeping manuals up to date and received a lot of help desk questions. With SelfGuide, employees can now work independently with interactive, step-by-step instructions. Creating and modifying manuals is also much faster and easier. The link with the self-service portal and TOPdesk reduces the number of helpdesk tickets. In this way, SelfGuide contributes to greater self-reliance and better digital skills within the municipality of Houten.
Over the past decades, the municipality of Houten, part of the Utrecht region, has grown from a village of 7,000 inhabitants to a medium-sized city with more than 50,000 inhabitants. With this growth, the need for digital support also increased, especially when using modern applications such as Microsoft Teams. Not every employee has the same digital skills, so the demand for clear and accessible instructions rose rapidly.
Consultant Pieter-Bas Wyne was closely involved in implementing SelfGuide at the municipality of Houten. “Functional administrators ran into time pressure and inefficiency in creating and maintaining manuals. At the same time, they wanted to help end users get started quickly, without having to help themselves all the time,” he says.
The choice quickly fell on SelfGuide; this tool offers interactive, step-by-step instructions that employees can follow directly in their own work environment, in a way that is unique in its kind. Thanks to the link with the self-service portal and TOPdesk, the helpdesk can easily share relevant instructions in case of reports. Pieter-Bas: “The functional manager who was the first to test was immediately enthusiastic: “This meets 98% of what I need.”
“The interim team manager was looking for something to properly explain Teams to end users. When we discovered SelfGuide, that was exactly what we needed.”
Pieter-Bas Wyne, consultant Municipality of Houten
Previously, creating a manual in Word sometimes took days. With SelfGuide, application administrators can now create and modify up-to-date instructions within minutes. Pieter-Bas: “The difference is huge. One admin said, “I spent days in Word, now it's a piece of cake.” This efficiency ensures that the content is always up to date, which is essential in a dynamic organization.
SelfGuide makes it easy for end users to provide immediate feedback on instructions. As a result, they no longer have to create separate tickets; they can immediately indicate which step does not work. Functional administrators can make adjustments so quickly and the integration with TOPdesk makes it possible to link notifications directly to existing instructions. This increases the efficiency of the help desk and increases the self-reliance of employees.
“Often you get a ticket with “it doesn't work”. Now people just say: “This step doesn't work.” That saves an enormous amount of research.”
Firoz Prins, project manager Municipality of Houten
The enthusiasm of administrators was contagious within the organization. A standard quickly emerged: everyone wanted to work with SelfGuide to avoid confusion due to different formats. Within a short time, SelfGuide grew into an indispensable part of the work process. Functional administrators save time, users are helped more quickly and the pressure on the help desk decreases. This proves that smart software, when properly embedded, can make a difference.
“All I had to do was make sure they spoke to each other. One manager told her what it got her and the rest wanted to try it too.”
Pieter-Bas Wyne, consultant Municipality of Houten
SelfGuide offers a clear win-win for administrators and end users alike. According to Firoz, ease of use for functional administrators is a big plus: manuals are quick and easy to create and modify. Thanks to the speed of instruction creation, new instructions are ready within minutes, so everything always stays up to date. For employees, this means that they can learn in an intuitive and independent way, without unnecessary barriers.
In addition, SelfGuide supports various learning styles — visual, practical, or textual — by providing step-by-step guidance. Firoz says about this: “It takes much less effort. You don't have to read it, you just participate.” This lowers the threshold for using new applications and accelerates the learning effect without overwhelming employees with information.
The cooperation with SelfGuide is also smooth and constructive. Pieter-Bas took the initiative to involve functional administrators and, together with SelfGuide, clear information sessions were organized, which was found to be accessible and inspiring. Firoz appreciates the quick contact: “If I have questions about something, they always help within a day, and that contact is very nice.” Pieter-Bas also emphasizes that SelfGuide is open to feedback and wishes from the organization: “SelfGuide thinks constructively and adapts the tool if there is sufficient demand.” As a result, the collaboration remains flexible and focused on continuous improvement.
Do you want to discover how SelfGuide helps your organization create instructions quickly and effectively? Take today contact join us, we would love to think along with you!
