The benefits of enterprise learning systems are well recognised, but as their usage becomes more common, HR and training managers are faced with a new challenge: trying to keep the content produced for those systems up to date and under control. Content management software – whether designed specifically for e-learning initiatives or as part of a broader enterprise document management strategy – provide a solution, but how can you approach their installation and maintenance? Angus Kidman investigates
The benefits of enterprise learning systems are well recognised, but as their usage becomes more common, HR and training managers are faced with a new challenge: trying to keep the content produced for those systems up to date and under control. Content management software – whether designed specifically for e-learning initiatives or as part of a broader enterprise document management strategy – provide a solution, but how can you approach their installation and maintenance? Angus Kidman investigates
While the concept of electronic learning is far from new, not all companies have recognised the importance of having a system to manage such training initiatives. For instance, one study by Cutting Edge Information found that within the financial services sector, just 13 per cent of businesses currently had an active learning management system.
Nonetheless, it’s become increasingly recognised that converting training to an electronic system is pointless if you can’t track both the results of that training and the content used to deliver it. (Recognising that, the same Cutting Edge study found that 43 per cent of firms planned some form of learning management system rollout in the next three years.) As pressures continue to embrace electronic learning and information sharing across the enterprise, it will become increasingly important to have a technology strategy that makes managing the content in those systems a straightforward task.
One local company which gained early experience in managing electronic learning content is insurance giant Promina. While the company only changed from its former branding as Royal & SunAlliance in May 2003, the process of creating and managing an electronic learning system had already begun.
The initial incentive to develop a full e-learning system had come through regulatory requirements in 2002. “Our main driver was to do e-learning training for our staff to meet FSRA (Financial Services Reform Act) requirements,” said Gavin Baxter, e-learning relationship manager for Promina. Under the Act, financial services businesses face stricter requirements to demonstrate that staff have been appropriately trained in selling complex products affected by financial regulations. “Under FSRA, having an ongoing and continuous development plan for staff is a requirement,” said Baxter. “With any new legislation from an insurance angle, all our staff needed to be trained.”
With a wide range of dispersed offices, Promina didn’t want to be reliant on conventional face-to-face training. “The geographic split of our offices meant we needed a way of delivering training that was consistent and cost-effective,” said Baxter.
Electronic learning provided an obvious solution, so Promina installed a suite of products from Saba. The Saba Enterprise Learning Management Solution (LMS) includes modules for creating, deploying and analysing training.
FSRA training programs were built around a common template. Each topic featured multiple chapters, defined learning objectives, and a multiple-choice assessment system to ensure that the content was actually being absorbed.
“We also had an obligation to train our authorised representatives, so we made the learning management system available on the Internet,” noted Baxter.
Because of the mandatory learning requirements imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which oversaw the FSRA reform, several outside parties were involved in assessing the content plan. “We used RMIT as our registered training organisation; they verified the content,” said Baxter.
ASIC also required Promina to demonstrate that the system for tracking staff training was secure and couldn’t be tampered with, and that the assessment system was appropriately rigorous. The multiple choice questions were presented at random so that staff members couldn’t simply learn the answers by rote, but at the same time certain key areas had to be covered every time the test was taken – a task that can be more complex than the original content generation.
“Putting it into the system is easy,” said Baxter. “It’s mapping it out that takes the time.”
Keeping track
“A key requirement was to have strong reporting,” Baxter added. Previously, information on staff training had been stored in an assortment of Access, Excel and Notes databases, none of which had been integrated. The new system as implemented makes it easy to identify staff who haven’t yet enrolled for or completed a module.
“Managers have found it very useful,” said Baxter. “Beforehand, they had to chase people to enrol on courses.”
Reporting also ensures training remains current. “On some of the courses, staff are only certified for a period of time. People need to take the training again regularly. It’s a question of keeping them aware.”
Despite the challenges imposed by developing content based around new and untested regulations, Promina has been very pleased with the system to date, and more than 700 staff have used it for training.
“We were the first to get the FSRA licence based on e-learning and we did it all in-house,” said Baxter. To date, more than 1500 learning sessions have been delivered independently using the software, while 400 classroom-based training sessions have utilised it for structuring and testing purposes. “It’s extremely cheap for us to build, and the return on investment has been huge for us. It’s not a nice-to-have; it’s essential for the job.”
Since that initial project, usage has been expanded somewhat. “We’ve now expanded it over to our New Zealand office. One of the main tasks following the split-off of Promina [which combined the Australian and New Zealand operations into a single company] was that the different brands became more focused. We needed to brand the system with an appropriate look and feel in each case,” said Baxter.
Another project has been to bundle together modules of training aimed at particular staff categorisations. “One thing we do is use Saba’s prescriptive training to build a package for employees,” said Baxter. For instance, a ‘starter pack’ for new employees might contain a mandatory bundle of core training (such as induction, EEO and OH&S) as well as specific modules related to their core roles.”
“We’ve also started to look at how the competencies of people’s jobs track against what learning opportunities are available,” Baxter said. “We have the ability to look across the company and say ‘Where are the most and least competent areas?’”
So what advice would he offer to others? “The biggest key lesson is you really need to define your business requirements. With any software package, you want the best fit that you can possibly get. You don’t want to be customising these products. The key for us was getting as many people involved as possible as the requirements stage.”
“Up front, work out what you want to get back from the system. It’s only going to be as relevant as the management information you can pull out.”
Continuous learning
Not all electronic learning projects can rely on such structured content. Within national accountancy firm Ernst & Young, for instance, much emphasis is placed on knowledge management and making sure that relevant information is available on a needs basis, rather than through formal training programs.
“The way we use knowledge is a core part of our business,” said Malcolm Freame, national director of infrastructure and chief knowledge officer for the Australian operation, which has 3,500 staff. “Knowledge can make you more competitive, more efficient and give you a unique brand.” Managing that knowledge content to help people learn on a just-in-time basis provides a different kind of challenge.
Ernst & Young actively wants to encourage staff to share their own expertise via searchable electronic systems, and has developed a portal framework to allow this. The most crucial element of content management in this context is to ensure that content can be readily added. “If it is too much work to take the piece of content they’ve created and put it somewhere, they’ll say it’s too hard and they won’t do it,” said Freame.
An important part of that approach is to automatically categorise content as it is added, rather than forcing staff to manually enter keywords. “The more you make it part of the day-to-day process and not an add-on, the better the chance you have of growing the repository.”
Making that function requires a well-planned taxonomy for data, so that there’s a reduced chance of misclassification and little incentive for people to ignore the central system. “One of the risks without a framework is that people will create their own information resources and then refuse to share them,” said Baxter.
Ease of use and relevance to the current task are critical factors. “Users now don’t need to know or care about how something’s done – that’s all happening seamlessly.”
At the same time, Freame cautioned against making systems so customised that staff managed to avoid seeing crucial information that might prove essential.
“It’s important that you don’t let the users go crazy and put everything the way they want them, because the way they want them may not be of benefit to the firm,” he said. “The best way to mess up an information system is to have users intervening, because they often screw it up.”
