Why is it important?

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.

Module Description

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:

What makes this module different:

• It is easy to use from the “front end” while it supports the real complexities of a business.

• Updating training records can be done in batches. No need to change records one by one.

• Training can be set up with “expiry dates” (e.g. First Aid courses) so that people who are due for re-training will be “flagged”.

• Advanced grouping of training can take place. E.g. if the Induction Program includes Occupational Health and Safety but on the other hand Health and Safety is also a “stand alone” module the system has different ways of linking the two so that duplication can be avoided.

• Advanced features to manage Learnerships and adheres to requirements so that the client can be registered as an accredited training provider with the various SETA’s. Electronic data can be exported directly to various SETA’s

• Training sessions can be arranged as “events” with people responsible for the event tracking the progress and expenses.

• Tracking of training can take place on multiple levels e.g. the course may have modules and each module can be completed separately with its own dates.

• The “master list” of training courses are organised in a “library” so that maintenance is easy and duplication can be avoided.

• A separate data table with training service providers are kept. The compliance to accreditation and BBBEE requirements of these providers are maintained so that valuable reports can be generated to show the proportion of procurement that goes to various types of providers.

• Links between course names and company priorities: This feature allows the users to report training not only in terms of the specific course titles, but also in terms of company priorities or categories. E.g. a report can be pulled on how much money was spent on training related to “Customer Service”. This report will then include various courses that are linked in the back ground to “Customer Service” as a category.

Determine Training Needs

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” were 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.

This module links specific courses required to do one’s work with Key Performance Areas. These will display on a web page were 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.

Reporting

HR Manage has powerful reporting capabilities. For more information, go to the SETA Reporting and Exporting product page.

The supplier will develop any new report required by the user. The following standard reports will be included in the project:

• All SETA related reports
• All Employment Equity Related reports except the Pay Differentials report that will still have to be done by the Payroll since no salary information will be pulled into this database
• BBBEE reports

Integrated Certification Module

As an optional extra, the Certification module generates and keeps track of all certificates. Once training has been completed and signed off, a certificate can be issued and printed directly from HR Manage. The certificate can be completely customised to either print the details on a pre-printed certificate or to print a complete certificate on a blank page. All fonts, graphics and layouts can be customised.

For larger companies, there is also a authorisation process that can be activated for certificates. E.g. the first user requests a certificate for a training record, the Training Manager then Approves the request. At head office the approved request gets accepted and then issued and printed.

The certification module can also generate and print license cards (e.g. Forklift license cards).

Why not completely web-based?

Flexibility

The HR Manage Training Management module is currently one of the most powerful training administration software packages on the South African market. The customization possibilities are almost endless with rich detail, various levels of progress tracking and other integrated modules. Since the Training Module is generally used only by key users, we decided to develop it as a Windows Application. The module is simple enough to manage training for smaller companies and powerful enough to manage training for large corporate companies and training providers.

Performance

Because of the methods and protocols used in web applications, managing large batches of training records and events is considerably slower than in a windows application. For quick reporting, or during audits, you need to quickly retrieve training records / employees who received training as reported on the Workplace Skills Plan & Annual Training Reports. Thousands of records can be retrieved and displayed in a fraction of the time it would take to display a webpage with the results.

Integrated Modules

The ability to generate and print certificates based on completed training, integration of the bursary module and managing tracking of batches of training records makes the option for a full web-based system unrealistic. We are however developing partial web-based functionality where managers can request training for their employees or where employees can request training for themselves. The main management functionality however remains in the control of the Training Managers and Administrators.

Information Request & Contact Details

If you would like more detailed information or would like to find out how we can provide a specialized solution for you, please fill out the following form or contact us with the details provided here.

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