Center for Modern Education of the Kaluga Region (CSO) (Websoft HCM (formerly WebTutor))

2022: Using Websoft HCM to automate the training of civil servants

State and municipal employees need constant advanced training. In most regions, there are special institutions for this. For example, in the Kaluga region there is a Center for Modern Education, created by the Administration of the Governor of the region. Evgeny Senin, Deputy Head of the Information Technology Department of the Center, told how the automated process of education and tracking the progress of students is organized. The project was implemented on the basis of Websoft HCM with the help of contractor M Pro Systems.

The Center for Modern Education of the Kaluga Region is engaged in advanced training of state and municipal employees in accordance with the tasks of the region. The training takes place in full-time, hybrid and correspondence (electronic) format. The Center also conducts assessment procedures for 360 and the assembly center, strategic sessions, and organizes training within the framework of the Presidential Program for the Training of Management Personnel. In addition to training on a government assignment, the Center also conducts commercial classes on request.

Several thousand people undergo training and assessment of competencies at the Center for Modern Education every year, so automation of these processes is an important task facing the organization. For training, Websoft HCM is used - modules related to electronic courses, testing and surveys.

What they faced

1. Information about students (work, position, contacts, accompanying documents, etc.) came in paper format. This was not very convenient, since it was necessary to disassemble the handwriting, enter the data in Excel - the risk of error increased. The process itself took time, and as the number of students increased, the risk of a shift in the start of training increased.
2. Data on employees who have successfully completed the program must be sent to the Federal Register of Education Documents. Previously, they were gathered from different sources - depending on the form of training and the course.
3. The Center conducts a 360-degree evaluation. The organization has a number of its own requirements: each evaluated employee needs to send an individual report, individual skills to describe in more detail, you need to add graphs and matrices to make the report more visual and detailed.

Tasks

1. Automate data collection from training participants - it was planned to do this in the format of a questionnaire before registering users on the platform. Additional relevance to this task was given by the fact that the services of the Center are mainly used by employees of external organizations.
2. Automate the 360 rating taking into account the specifics of the Center's requirements.

Development

Customization of the system in the organization is carried out, as a rule, independently, with the help of full-time IT specialists. External support is engaged for large-scale changes or urgent projects.

These two tasks were solved by an internal team (programmer and coordinator) with the involvement of experts from M Pro Systems.

Task 1. Automate the collection of training participant data

Features of the task:

• The data requirements differed depending on the training program and the position of the participant. Therefore, it was necessary to provide for different types of questionnaires.
• In some cases, accompanying documents may have been needed - accordingly, the questionnaire should have supported file attachment. At the same time, it was necessary to limit the file size so that too large documents did not overload the system.

Questionnaires were implemented through user groups, this allowed you to manage the set of fields for each category of students:

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Фото: Websoft

* With the help of M Pro Systems specialists, the system immediately created a redundant set of fields for all scenarios - current and possible in the future.

• It is easy to adjust the result yourself or with the help of other contractors - several changes were subsequently made that made the work more efficient. At the same time, M Pro Systems specialists always remained in touch, and it was possible to consult with them about the improvements to the system.

After the questionnaires were developed, it became convenient to draw up a summary report on employees who had successfully completed the program and send it to the Federal Register of Education Documents.

Task 2. Automate 360 assessment based on Center requirements

The main refinement of the 360 box assessment module was individual reports:

• Report can now be sent to each employee
• Describe individual skills in more detail
• Added the necessary graphs and matrices

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Фото: Websoft

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Фото: Websoft

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Фото: Websoft

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Фото: Websoft

What needs to be considered?

Despite the external simplicity, the task of creating questionnaires turned out to be quite laborious. For example, in the Center's questionnaire there were much more interrelated issues than originally expected. During the implementation and testing of the prototype, fields were specified, and this entailed changes in other fields.

It also took a lot of time to test - at first a week was allotted for this task, but the processes stretched for a month due to several iterations of tests. Therefore, companies that also want to introduce new functions into the system should immediately put increased deadlines.

Result

1. Automation of the survey significantly accelerated the processes of the training department and made it possible to reduce the likelihood of errors and inaccuracies.
2. With the help of Websoft HCM, it was possible to quickly obtain reliable, up-to-date and individualized data.
3. Automation prevented the burnout of employees who do not have to perform many routine and monotonous tasks. And the leadership has more time for strategic and tactical tasks.
4. There are additional opportunities for analytics: you can quickly collect visual detailed reports and configure those parameters that are most important.