Sun Life Financial uses Tata Interactive Systems' training needs analysis
When leading financial services organisation Sun Life Financial decided to implement Oracle Financials to aid its accounting and finance professionals, it asked Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), in association with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to carry out a thorough training needs analysis (TNA).
When leading financial services organisation Sun Life Financial decided to implement Oracle Financials to aid its accounting and finance professionals, it asked Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), in association with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to carry out a thorough training needs analysis (TNA).
Before the project went 'live' last September, TIS carried out a detailed TNA over a six-week period to aid the development of appropriate training materials.
According to TIS's Vivek Achary, TNA is 'a structured and quantified analysis of organisational training gaps and the identification of the most appropriate remedial measures'. It has a vital role to play in organisational development since, as management guru Peter Drucker once said: "What cannot be measured cannot be managed."
"TNA is a cyclic process - not a stand alone event," said Achary. "In keeping with the 'perpetual beta' principle, TNA cycles feed into the next, setting in motion a process of continual organisational improvement."
While TNA should be part of organisational best practices, there are signs that indicate a need for training intervention:
• A fall in workforce productivity - poor morale, accidents, absenteeism, or disharmony
• Poor sales or an increase in negative customer feedback
• Attrition, vendor issues and poor performance relative to the marketplace
"For Sun Life Financial, the TNA began with a planning phase to understand the stakeholders' expectations from the TNA team, the vision for training and the way forward," explained Achary. "During this phase, TIS broke down the various tasks and processes involved in needs analysis and defined the timeframe for completing each activity."
The subsequent steps in the TNA cycle were:
• Deciding the type of TNA required
There are six types of TNA:
o Context Analysis: looking at the business needs or other training drivers
o User Analysis: analysis of the potential participants and instructors
o Work Analysis: examining the tasks being performed
o Content Analysis: looking at documents, laws and procedures used on the job
o Training Suitability Analysis: seeing whether training is the optimal solution
o Cost-Benefit Analysis: analysis of the return on investment (ROI) of training
In this case, the TNA was work analysis, derived from the key training objectives.
• Sample selection and data collection
Having identified the main sources for data collection; the data required to complete the exercise, and the methods of collecting the data, TIS staff held one-to-one interviews with Sun Life's business process leaders to map the processes to different user groups and to the Oracle application components. The team held group meetings with the organisation change management (OCM) team to familiarise TIS's analysts with Sun Life's learning culture and their receptivity to e-learning.
• Data Analysis and Report Generation
TIS conducted a detailed analysis of the data collected, which enabled the team to:
o Map the various user groups to the user profiles created in the Oracle environment.
o Recommend a modular course structure.
o Map course modules to user profiles and groups.
o Define the learning objectives of each course.
o Recommend delivery modes for each course - both web-based and instructor-led training.
o Calculate the approximate learning time for each course.
o Define a structure for the development of training materials.
o Define an approximate schedule for the delivery of training.
According to TIS - and TIS's clients, including Sun Life Financial - the effort spent in conducting a TNA can bring impressive benefits in terms of producing highly targeted and, thus, highly efficient training materials. These can bring rapid improvements in productivity and thus help to achieve business goals in as short a time as possible.
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