Proposed Business Processes

Central BioResearch Services (CBS) department currently captures learning and development for their staff using a Microsoft Excel document that records annual reviews, home office information and animal and mandatory requirements. Each individual has a staff folder that HR can access on the shared drive which includes scanned copies of certificates and absence and leave forms. Operations Managers (Grade 8) moderate zones. The Excel document comprises a vertical list of everything they cover in sections, for example general information and security. The Excel document has the facility to run filters and create reports, transferring data into graphs and tables etc.  There are 345 compulsory sections that each member of staff must be familiar with before they work with animals. An individual’s skill level is graded by line managers and is given a score between 0 and 5 (0 meaning they are untrained, and 5 meaning they are qualified enough to train someone else). Each task is colour coded, with red highlighting the course is mandatory and green meaning optional. Records are updated at staff annual reviews/CPD where staff discuss what training they have done and highlight areas where further training should be taken.

CBS are obliged by law to work 365 days per year meaning they have limited time to implement new software. Their work is very strictly regulated and the Home Office makes inspections 12 times a year at random, this means that all training information must be available to prove that staff are authorised to carry out their job. These records must be kept for a minimum of 5 years.  Although enhancing learning and development tracking is of importance to the department, a new system does not sit high on their priority list. From a new system CBS would like:

• A more automated system to reduce manual work
• Automatic system to update when an individual has attended a training course (it was suggested that this was done using a computer with barcode scanner/reader at training rooms so individuals simply check in/out and information is automatically inputted into the system).
• Reporting capability to report on individuals and clusters of grades and to highlight any management and resource/time issues
• A role (person) supporting system

Estates Health and Safety function has a remit for providing 2 different training courses – a 4 day Managing Safely course and a 1 day Working Safely course. Attendance is recorded on paper record sheets and any briefings are recorded manually on sign-in sheets. It is the responsibility of each trades team to keep a record of their own team’s accreditation and training requirements. Furthermore, they deliver training across the university, however this is not recorded. Staff have their own compulsory CPD, however this is maintained by the individual themselves.

Enhancing Learning and Development tracking is a high priority for Estates Health and Safety. Currently, they have no formal record of who has been trained, and in case of accident or inspection it would be extremely important for them to be able to say what training has been completed. From a new system they would like:

• Tick list of training required for each job role so system can automatically generate what training should have been done in a specific time period.
• A calendar to schedule plans and predict how many courses will be run each year
• Be able to plan and organise training with the ability to easily search and report.
• Use for CPD conferences and seminars
• Ability to hold all information in one place.
• Alerts to notify when training is needing refreshed
• Ability to record external/other courses they have been on
• Ability for HR to maintain records

The remainder of the Estates departments record their staffs’ training and development using departmental documents including Excel spreadsheets. More detail was provided about the specific process for Estates Support Services - each member of Estates Support Services (Cleaning and Servitorial) staff has their own page containing personal details, promotions and remarks. This also records their sickness, absence, lateness etc. Each Estates Support Services job role has a default training pack with the list of training required for that job. When an individual has completed a course, the date completed is added onto the spreadsheet. If they do a training course that is not deemed mandatory, the course can be manually entered onto the spreadsheet.  This information can be exported from a database to excel to show who needs to be trained in what area. The system also allows the administrator to record holidays by zone to monitor how many staff are on leave at one time. Cleaners are given a training passport that they can take away with them to a new job to show what training they have. Supervisors get a cleaning manual with a list of questions and guidance to follow when delivering training. Furthermore, records of all authorised drives are held locally.

This said, however, Estates as a whole have a very inconsistent way of storing this information across sections. There are lots of different spreadsheets and many are not maintained. Because of this it can be hard to locate data and would be best if all information is held in one place.

Enhancing learning and development tracking sits as a main priority for most departments in Estates, particularly where health and safety for training individuals is concerned. From a new system they would like:

• Individual records – full and connected.
• Consistent and maintained Health and Safety records
• Ability to record mandatory training with course name, date of training, induction.
• Set courses by job title to show what training is required
• The ability to pull ad hoc data and run filters and reports.
• Record cost of training and opportunity cost

Finance Department currently captures learning and development for their staff using a PDP spreadsheet that records all training requirements and objectives, mandatory core skills, and any update courses staff have been on. The spreadsheet allows high level view layers or reporting and evaluation ratings that can be filtered by department/section etc. Additionally, they have a metric that highlights what training is required under each job role. They use annual CPD’s to cover objectives, achieved, time spent on training and annual PDP’s to keep learning and development data up to date. Each individual maintains their own plans manually. Finance have a remit of training up to 1000 staff across the university and record this on Boxi/MyEd booking. They send out an annual survey to find out what Finance related training staff require across the university and tailor training to these needs. The finance department have several professional qualifications to fulfil including HMRC training and RMA training in research.

Enhancing learning and development sits high on the Finance priority list. They are looking into Simply Personnel and external companies for a system if the university cannot offer one. From a new system, they would like:

• Ability to see records to know who’s struggling in what area, training attendance and see what courses they have already done.
• Ability to record attendance and feedback
• Ability to create individual reports on what they have done/achieved.
• Send triggers to alert if they are required to rebook onto a course to refresh qualification
• Would be useful to be able to set tests and print certificates from records
• MyEd to:
  • Send meeting invites to calendar
  • Ability to manage training functions and charge people for non-attendance
  • The option to add external training on MyEd
  • Ability to pull info for reporting or show who has attended
  • Ability to record CPD’s with a link to add external training.

Procurement and Printing department currently captures learning and development for their members of staff using separate consolidated excel spreadsheet documents showing what training has been done, name of course, who provided it, cost and time of course. The spreadsheet shows the number of people with a particular need for training highlighted at their annual review.  This allows managers to choose which type of training to concentrate on and is this should be done on the job/internally/externally. Training needs per individual are highlighted at their annual PDR. The Investors in People (IIP) report allows them to create reports and shows what the team have been trained on, the cost of this and if they are getting return on investment. It also allows managers to forward plan and record. They also record who has attended training courses they have delivered.

The department has several compliance and accreditation requirements to fulfil including the Chartered Institute of Purchase Supply Professional Qualification (CIPS). This is currently not mandatory to keep up to date however Procurement would like to make this mandatory. With proposed law changes they are going to need to do more training and be more aware of required training.

A new learning and development system is not the highest item on the Procurement priority list however they would like their data to be up to date. From a new system, they would like:

• Ability to record who is trained in what area, highlight areas needing improvement, evaluate if training has been worthwhile etc.
• Ability to show who is most up to date in area
• Linked to HR – to easily share information and create reports
• Notification to flag if accreditation is due for renewal
• Various access levels
• Integration with booking/training/calendar = automatically updated when they have attended – drive reminders. E.g. previous MyEd calendar
• Ability to filter training requests to show demand pattern to see what training is required and choosing the best cost/time effective way of delivering this
• Ability for staff to record own training with facility for managers to review this.
• Facility to review training to see that staff have used their learning experiences