Efficient, Streamlined Government LMS

his week’s ‘Built on Now’ post shares how one customer’s use of ILT training automation and notifications provided a nearly immediate (and estimated 400%) ROI.

Before I begin, a personal note: I have a soft spot for this customer. They have been with us since the beginning, collaborating with us and investing in our growth. Most importantly, their story shows their ingenuity and willingness to embrace ‘the art of the possible’. I am thankful for our partnership with them and excited to share their story with you!

Problem

For PlatCore, everything we do is driven by the value we add to customers’ business. At the New York Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), they faced four key problems in streamlining their training processes:

1. Three disparate (and extensive) training catalogs
2. Staff register and then ‘no show’ for expensive ILT courses
3. Courses require four approval levels, as well as a final purchase
4. Need to validate contractual requirements for annual employee training
   
   

Solution

An early customer, NYC DOT recognized the Now Platform’s extensibility. Based on these four key problems, here is how they increased their training efficiency for an incredible ROI:

1. Consolidated Course Catalogs

The Now Platform’s integration capabilities have allowed NYC DOT to bring all their training catalogs together into one unified, centralized learning catalog. Here is how they created a simple repository for employees:

• Through an external API, they created a data-load web service to execute nightly for globally recognized external providers.
• Transform maps pull data into a temporary ServiceNow table.
• This data loads new course details (including detail, events, and locations – and more) directly into the PlatCore catalog.

Every night, thousands of courses, event dates/times, locations, and more are automatically loaded and/or updated. Now, NYC DOT’s course data is current, consolidated, and searchable. Now they can direct employees to one, elegant, integrated training catalog.

Result: A world-class, unified learner experience.

2. Course 'No-Show' Reporting

NYC DOT was wasting a great deal of their training spend on unattended courses. Using email notifications, attendance requests, and reporting, they were able to increase learner accountability.

When employees are not able to attend, the training team can proactively manage registrations, resulting in significant cost savings.

• When an employee registers for an ILT event, the system creates a calendar appointment.
• They receive e-mail notifications for these upcoming events, as well as request confirmation of attendance “Did you attend XYZ Course?”
• The employee response automatically marks the course complete or non-attended.
• Real-time Out of the Box (OOTB) reports list no-shows, allowing the L&D team to quickly request rescheduling or a refund.

Now the organization has greater visibility into course attendance. They can take action to reschedule training and recoup lost dollars. PlatCore’s reminders and notifications mean that staff are also far more likely to attend.

Result: Hard-training dollars saved, & more staff trained.

3. Automated Approval Workflows

PlatCore lets you designate which courses require approval from LMS Admins or direct managers. But NYC DOT was facing a more complex scenario. Here is how they automated their four layers of required approvals:

• Make a copy of PlatCore’s existing OOTB workflow (see below) and disable it. This ensures your new workflow will never be overwritten when upgrading.
• Add your custom approval steps. For NYC DOT, the workflow was directed at newly created roles in the finance department to approve and purchase training.
• Test & publish the new workflow.
  
  

NOTE: This is functionality that largely does not exist in other Learning Management Systems. In addition, using ServiceNow’s the above workflow can be built quickly by non-technical staff. Learn more about ServiceNow’s Low/No code Development or see more of what PlatCore customers are building.

Result: Automated training approvals in the flow of work.

4. Validate Training Compliance

One of the main functions of an LMS is to help with compliance reporting. While most LMSs have one-size-fits-all approaches, most agencies have unique needs.

In addition to out-of-the-box reports, PlatCore allows you to use the ServiceNow reporting engine with access to your complete training and employee data set. This provides limitless possibilities.

NYC DOT was contractually required to offer at least 10 days of training per year, here is how they verified that requirement:

1. Using the ServiceNow reporting engine, begin with a pivot table report.
2. Build a report with the appropriate data, configuration, and style
3. Select Pivot Chart, and ‘Assigned to’ for the row, and Count of ‘Achievements’
4. 'Total' column shows the number of courses taken towards their training compliance
5. Publish the report and schedule as necessary to your executive teams, team managers, or even individuals. You can also now embed this real-time report on any ServiceNow dashboard.
   
   

You have a defensible training report that ensures management is ensuring compliance with legal requirements.

Result: Reduced legal compliance risk & a defensible audit trail.

Why does it matter?

NYC DOT paved the way to help PlatCore become the LMS we are today. They immediately saw the benefit of our platform to deliver:

• World-class, unified training experience
• Approval accountability
• Course cost savings
• Validate Training Compliance

We thank the New York Department of Transportation's vision, staff, and ServiceNow champions. We would love to drive the same value at your organization, let us know how we can help!