Case Study: KBP - Training Needs Analysis System
The Kent Benefits Partnership (KBP) was set up by all the local councils in Kent and Medway. Its role is to help people claim the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit that they have previously been missing out on.
KBP came to Hero with the requirement of creating a system to measure the knowledge of staff in the processing of claims and applications, from which training plans could then be formulated.
Originally the client was after an Access database, mainly because they had experience with working with this technology. However, after discussing the requirements, it became clear that a web-based solution would be the better option, as they wanted various people to be using the system right across Kent. This is what Hero put forward in their proposal which was subsequently accepted.
Key Features
Easy To Follow Assessments
One of the most important things put across to Hero was to make the assessments as easy to use as possible for the end user. A step-by-step wizard format was devised to allow the user to step through multiple choice questions one at a time, with the freedom to navigate back and forth as required. The user can also go to a summary screen to see a list of all the questions, their responses, and with links to easily jump back to any question before completing the assessment.
The questions in the assessment are picked randomly from an appropriate question bank by the system to ensure that no two tests are exactly the same.
Management of Question Banks
An essential part of the brief was that the questions asked during a test could be managed by the client through an administration area. Hero developed an administration area to give KBP complete flexibility in creating new questions and assessments, as well as new topic groups and levels (for which all questions are assigned to). Extra resources such as video clips and images can also be uploaded for any question.
Powerful Reporting
As well as looking at, and printing, individual assessments in detail, the application features a reporting tool to produce a variety of statistics. Filter controls were implemented to give a huge amount of control over what councils and departments were included (as well as a host of other filters), and security was implemented so that analysts can only report on data in their particular area. Once generated the results can then be viewed on screen, printed, or exported to Excel.
Benefits Gained
- Complete control over the questions and assessments available through the system. After a year of use they have never had to come back to us for modifications as they can do most things themselves.
- Access to detailed statistics which before were either impossible or very time consuming to collate.
- KBP have the option of selling access to the system on to other regions to re-coup development costs and ultimately provide a revenue stream from its use.
"We previously used an off-the-shelf TNA which was not very flexible to how we wanted to use it. The new product has made this flexibility possible, and has made administering the system much easier. Because we now own the system, we have been able to keep it up-to-date easily, and add what we need to very simply.
We are very happy with the product that Hero developed for us, and the way they went about it. Everything was clear all the way through the project, and we were able to contact the relevant people easily when we wanted to amend anything."
Mike Cahill, Kent Benefits Partnership
More Information
If you would like to learn more about this project, or discuss how we could do something similar for your organisation, please phone us on 0845 6120620. If you would like to find out more about the work KBP does, visit their website - www.kentbenefits.org.
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