Training Administration
Learner Management System Overview
Training constitutes a significant part of companies’ expenses. Most companies do not have any concrete indication of how this expense contributes towards their return on investment. In order for training practitioners to provide meaningful analysis of trends, measure return on investment, show the relation between training spent and achievement of specific company priorities, they need a proper Training Administration System in place.
When training data management is only driven by the need to comply with Skills Development – and Employment Equity Legislation, the training practitioners will lose credibility and will only be regarded as an “overhead” to business. It is only where the training practitioner has a proper training data management tool when this perception of an “overhead” will change and become a key role player in achieving organisational priorities.
The “Training Administration Module” is one of the longest running modules in the HR Manage suite and was one of the first proper training management software systems available in South Africa. At the time, the concept of a specialised HR software system that can do proper tracking of training and generate SETA reports was nonexistent. The diagram below shows a high level overview of the process flow supported by this module:
Summary of Features
Powerful User Interface
The Training Manager allows for the management of large amounts of training data and provides quick filtering, batch editing, exporting and reporting of training. Training sessions can be arranged as events with the functionality to track things like progress and expenses while Training Records can be updated in batches from various places, quickly and easily.
This is the best Training Administration software for companies that train thousands of people monthly or yearly, but flexible enough for smaller companies as well.
Customisation
The training module can be extensively customised and clients are allowed to define their own terminology and structures for different types of training. Training Types can be configured with automatic number generators for events, security, inner workings and define which type of training can be linked to which other types. Training can also be configured to be tracked per module or unit standard.
Custom fields and headings can also be defined for Training Events, Training Records and the Intervention and Provider libraries, allowing clients to capture additional custom information for those entities.
Comprehensive Libraries
The Training module’s Intervention and Provider libraries contain detailed information and links between records to allow for the quick scheduling of training. It also contains all the information needed for generating Seta reports correctly according to each Seta’s requirements based on the training linked to it, without needing to capture it again when creating training.
Link courses to providers and practitioners (with their accreditation numbers) to courses and providers to get a shortlist of records when scheduling training, listing only the linked information. This is however an option time-saving feature and if no links are found, all records will be listed.
Detailed Information & Tracking
HR Manage allows tons of detailed information to be captured and loaded about training events and records. Besides the basics like Course, Provider, Date Range and Duration, here are some additional information we keep track of:
- Venue & Training Room (Used for determining how many seats are still available for an event)
- Instructor, Course Manager, Admin Assistant, Assessment & Moderation details
- Detailed cost tracker per cost category with automatic calculation options
- Learnership information, Results, Completion, Expiry information & External certificate numbers
- Training Invoices can be loaded onto Training Events with costs and attachments
- Learner’s training progress can be tracked per sub-intervention / module
Reporting
Various reporting options are available. Standard reports via the report wizard (including gap / training needs reports), custom designed reports via the Internal Report Designer (available to super users) and exporting filtered records to Excel with the click of a button. The system also generates SETA and Training Gap reports based on training captured in this module.
The report designer allows users to design custom branded reports like Attendance Registers, Attendance Certificates, Course Reports and more. Those custom designed reports become part of the training module and can be viewed or printed with the click of a button.
e-Learning Integration
HR Manage connects to the e-Learning system and then courses can be mapped to Interventions in the library (selectable from a dropdown list in HR Manage). Then HR Manage serves as the main portal from where training can be scheduled and it can even automatically sign in on the eLearning Portal (without the user needing to enter another username and password). Training in HR Manage will update automatically as it completes in the eLearning system.
Online Self-Service
Employees can log in online and view training that has been scheduled for them and their sub-ordinates. Instructors, Assessors and Moderators can also see training that they are scheduled for.
Product Highlights and Sub-modules
New Training Wizard
This wizard assist with scheduling multiple people for training at a time and enables users to schedule a lot of training within seconds. Each step is optimised to bring through the essential data that is needed, using internal links (if configured) as the default listed results.
The selection of item on every step of the way is quick and easy with the ability to simply “type-to-filter”. When selecting an intervention, the list of linked training providers are automatically filtered based on the selected intervention and when selecting an intervention, the system automatically further filters out the practitioners that can be selected. Other fields like Duration and End Date are calculated automatically when a Start Date is selected, because it is already configured in the library.
The learners can be selected using the filter engine, but they can also be preloaded in the wizard by clicking the “Create Training” menu item from the Employee Manager (on the selected employees) or from the Training Record manager (by selecting records that will be expiring or has expired).
Upon completion, the training will then be created and the wizard will give the option to schedule more training, either scheduling the same group of learners for other training or scheduling other people for the same training.
Learning Intervention & Provider Libraries
The Intervention library contains all the courses, qualifications, unit standards and their sub-interventions in the system. Each intervention has settings that can be configured that affects the behaviour of the intervention in the system like “Default Duration” affects end date calculation, “Frequency” affects the exipry date calculation and “Tracking” affects whether the training can be tracked per sub-intervention or if all sub-interventions automatically get their status from the parent.
The intervention also contains fields for alignment with the SETA reporting requirements like NQF Level, Company & SETA Priorities and SETA Training Types.
Finally, the default costs can be captured per cost category for the intervention and it can be linked to training providers (who are able to present the training) and to practitioners (who are competent / qualified to instruct, present or assess the training).
The Training Provider library contains all the information one might need including compliance data should it be required. This can be used for keeping track of BBBEE compliance of the training providers.
For both libraries, custom fields can be created to allow capturing of custom information.
Determine Training Needs / Skills Matrix
An important part of managing training is the process one follows to determine training needs. If this process is based on an “open menu” approach the training practitioners will end up as “events organisers” where people are attending exciting training courses based on their selection from an open list but with very little direct relation to specific skill gaps in their own portfolio.
The Job Profiling module allows for the linking of specific learning interventions to Key Performance Areas and Job Profiles using a Skills Matrix. These will display on a web page where an employee can log on and see the “gaps”. The selection of training options is more focused and can be prioritised for the Workplace Skills Plan.
The system also allows the creation of Training Collections that basically contains a set list of interventions. Employees can then quickly be assessed against a training collection to determine training gaps and this can be done either in HR Manage or by managers via the web.
Issue & Print Certificates
With our reporting platform, clients can design their own certificates in HR Manage and link them to a certificate format / type. The complete certificate can be designed from scratch, an existing certificate can be scanned and inserted into the background with fields placed over it or for pre-printed certificates, the text can be placed in the correct locations so that it matches up with the spaces on the certificate template.
Each Certificate Format can have its own approval process defined with security. Certificates can then be requested from the Training Record Editor (or Batch Editor) once training has been completed successfully. Each certificate format determines their own way to generate Certificate numbers and the system is flexible enough to even print license cards for Forklift operators.
Bursary Administration & Tracking
Bursaries and Study Loans can be captured and tracked in HR Manage’s Training Administration software. It stores the basic conditions of the bursary / study loan, automatically calculates the monthly repayment and links to the actual training for the person that the bursary is for so that the training progress can be monitored.
The system also keeps track of payments paid out to providers (for paying the expenses that the loan is for) as well as repayments made by the applicant. The balance of the bursary / study loan can pull through to a Termination workflow (or any kind of workflow as required).
Need more information?
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