Unitec wins training tender

By ADAM GIFFORD

Unitec's business development unit is to market a training database application originally developed for Inland Revenue.

Project manager Catherine Rennolds says the application, called Learning Link in the department's version, is an internet-based electronic procurement system for services.

It allows large decentralised organisations to control and get better value from their spending on training.

Consultants map an organisation's training needs to a database of suitable training providers. They monitor providers to ensure they meet standards and negotiate any discounts.

Unitec gets a retainer to cover maintenance, but Ms Rennolds says the long-term margin will be in the service contracts.

"We will receive a percentage of the actual dollar savings customers achieve on their training spend."

As well as selling to large New Zealand organisations, Unitec is looking for a British distributor.

Unitec won the contract to build Learning Link in an open tender, beating training brokers with existing systems. It then created a "virtual organisation" to build and run the system.

Ms Rennolds says virtual organisations are a key part of the unit's methodology, allowing it to make use of its intellectual property and research without having to build up a large staff.

"The key to this project was forming a tight partnership with the technology provider, IQ Technology," she says.

IQ Technology helped develop the Microsoft Access database of training providers and the interface with Inland Revenue's intranet. It also arranged the hosting of the site on a server in the United States.

When Inland Revenue staff go to the Learning Link page, they can search for courses based on criteria such as topics, locations and core competencies.

To book a course, they are presented with a booking form preloaded with the necessary data. All booking and confirmation is done online and the system also sends a reminder two days before a course starts.

Managers receive monthly reports about courses booked and taken.

"It provides another layer of support to our managers and team leaders," says the department's human resources adviser Peter Taylor, the project sponsor.

"It's about providing access to quality information about training providers."

Mr Taylor says the contract went to Unitec because of its ability to map the service to the department's needs, rather than present a smorgasbord of thousands of courses. As well as providing internal courses for staff, such as information about tax changes, the department looks at the personal and career development needs of its 4500 staff as part of the performance management process.

That is where Learning Link comes in. Courses can include anything from computer skills and first aid, to accountancy degrees, conflict management or leadership courses.

No set hours are allocated for training. It is up to individual managers to agree with staff on development plans, Mr Taylor says.

"We take a decentralised approach, which in the past created issues about making sure the providers we were using were of a quality standard and that we were getting a cost-effective service. It also meant success stories weren't shared with other parts of the organisation."

A review of the first six months of Learning Link has identified the need for some small improvements in the technical interface and in database maintenance, "but overall we think we got it right."

In that time 610 courses were booked through the system.