Edition Ten

Subject: The Year in Review

In this edition:

Preparing a Year-end Report
Framing Your Arguments
Who Should Receive the Report
In Closing

ToolBox Tidings
Believe it or not, your eLearning program is approaching its first anniversary.  Congratulations.  We hope that your investments of time and effort have reaped significant rewards for your organization. 

In our last edition, we focused on the various ways to measure the impact and influence of your program.  Now, we’ll empower you to put those results in context so you can share them with management and colleagues, and make informed recommendations for future training efforts.


Preparing a Year-end Report
At its core, a successful report answers three basic questions:

 

Before taking a pen to paper, or putting fingers to the keyboard, first take time to carefully review and digest all of the data and anecdotal evidence gathered in the ROI exercise.  Certain pieces of information may quickly rise to the top, begging to be showcased.  Depending on the nature and extent of your program, these may include (but not be limited to) financial savings, increased number of certifications or employees trained, or goals met. 

Select the two or three areas of strength, and use these as the foundation of your report.  Position these ideas and information so that they get the attention you are looking for.  Other facts/data can be inserted as supporting evidence throughout the report.

Framing Your Arguments
Since you’re trying to sum up a year’s worth of activity carried out by dozens or hundreds of employees, your arguments must be organized and well articulated.  Divide your report into sections or chapters, offering the reader a simple framework to follow.

  1. Executive summary:  For the benefit of the reader, re-cap the eLearning program, its objectives, benefits, timing and costs.

 

  1. Background:  This section may remind the reader of how and why eLearning was introduced, and the status of your training initiatives at the time

 

  1. Research findings/results:  Present key results from performance gains, strategic analysis and cost-benefit analysis fact-finding exercises.  Don’t burden the reader with every detail – but let them know what you’ve discovered/accomplished.  Present a balanced review; include challenges you encountered during the first year, how you’ve met them, and how you expect to resolve them as you move forward. Challenges may relate to increasing marketing penetration, further developing the user culture or fostering greater  management support.

 

  1. Implications of these results: Use this opportunity to communicate how eLearning has impacted your organization and your employees in a very tangible manner (e.g. the positive impact on the business process, goals met in part to eLearning training, etc.)

 

  1. Conclusions/recommendations: Now is the time to turn your information into knowledge and action. Explain how and why the program should evolve, and present new goals and success criteria for the year(s) to come.

Who Should Receive the Report
Beyond the members of your senior management team, consider distributing your report (or sections of the report) to managers who championed eLearning and benefited accordingly, as well as managers who may be persuaded to be more active in the future once they see what they are missing.  Don’t forget to include HR staff, members of your training team (both eLearning administrators and instructor led training staff) – all of whom may have contributed to your program’s success. 

Cover notes may be used to highlight certain/relevant sections of the report for specific individuals.

In Closing
We hope that using technology for learning during the past year has been a rewarding experience, and that you are committed to using My SkillSource to train your employees efficiently, conveniently and affordably in the future. 

We would appreciate if you would share your year-end report with the ETS team to help us understand and anticipate your future needs.  Kindly email a copy to Michael Venuti (mvenuti@enterprisetraining.com).  Thanks again for choosing Enterprise Training Solutions and My SkillSource.