Siemens FM458 : learning curve

I am new to the Siemens FM458 card, but in future I will have to do changens on a machine with FM458 card.
How many days would it take to become 'experienced' with this card, supposed I have such a card at my disposal for testing.
What do I need for software? What do I need besides S7 400 CPU and FM458 card, to do some usefull tests in the office.
Share your experience about this card

Thanks

First thing, you will need the source code on the machine
Your doing changes on
Have you used cfc in S7? This is the programming concept.
Buy the D7 SYS software. This will be a start
I recommend you sit with a Siemens engineer.