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Article #9

Copyright © 2006 George Ritacco (All Rights Reserved)
 

The Most Important Item To Measure With Your

Elearning Management System.
By, George Ritacco 

Organizations continue to struggle with how to gauge the business value of training.  Research data shows a significant disconnect between what organizations view as the important and valuable areas to measure and what is actually being measured.

What is usually measured?

When you get deep into the research (Best Practices in Training Management, Bersin & Associates – interviewed 140 companies of all sizes), the following is a tell-tale list of the top 6 things companies actually measure:

·       Who has completed assignments and on time.

·       How many trainees/students are enrolled in your training program.

·       Satisfaction level

·       # of hours of training

·       Total cost

·       Compliance

However, when you look at your actual training budget from a business perspective and how much money your actually spending on your training program... the critical disconnect is not having a viable indicator of how all of your training ties back to your business goals and the impact your training has on job performance and your business as a whole.

According to the research, companies SAY that the most important measures of training are exactly that – the impact on employees’ jobs and on the business – but they’re not measuring that.

So why such a discrepancy? 
There are many reasons – but the major one is that most companies lack adequate tools and a performance management process that is needed to exist and coincide with their other measurement tools and reporting.

According to Bersin & Associates’ research... more than 2/3 of organizations do not have an integrated process for employee performance management.

While many elearning management solutions and systems can measure and report on easily available data such as completions, enrollments, delinquencies and satisfaction, so many of them do not have the critical performance appraisal function that is needed to obtain any meaningful data on the business impact of training.

Here’s What You Need.

You need to research the right system for you that incorporates a true performance appraisal and/or certification process that enables you to monitor “hands-on” job performance along side your training program.

The right system will allow you to monitor completions of certain courses and then allow managers an opportunity to set performance goals (tied to the company’s business objectives) and evaluate and rate performance based on those goals.

And then your training message will be clear.

The bottom line is this – most companies need and want to show the true business impact of training and learning.  To do so, they will need to put in place a formal process and integrate an elearning management solution and system that has an integrated performance management tool.

There cannot be any compromise.

George Ritacco

About the Author:

George Ritacco is the Director of Client Services for Global Vision Technologies, Inc (GVT)., www.globalvisiontech.com a premiere software developer specializing in powerful,  easy-to-use, customizable and cost-effective  Internet systems for online training and development.   GVT’s primary goal is to provide our customers with tools for improving productivity, profitability, employee morale and turnover.

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