Nordstromrack.com|HauteLook (pronounced Hoat-look) also known as NRHL for short, is an online fashion retail store, owned and operated by Nordstrom. With a largely ad-hock training process for employees, they set out to create a system that would increase the efficiency, and efficacy, of their employee training. To develop this culture of learning, they began with the creation of a Learning Center. As a ServiceNow customer, their search for a learning system led them to the PlatCore LMS, the first LMS built on the Now Platform.
The Problem
NRHL's training came from a wide variety of sources; LinkedIn Learning, IT ProTV, Lynx Academy, self-developed content and more. Their attempt to simplify this process for learners led to the creation of a central website that introduced a whole new set of problems. Visibility into training, processing assignments, and tracking progress and completions remained painfully manual.
Every training completion required them to; identify and validate the training need, email the training to individual learners, and send repeated reminders & follow-ups. Upon completion of training, the learner would email certificates to the L&D admin for verification, the admin would record the information in a training spreadsheet and then save the certificate. These manual tasks and overall lack of efficiency had a significant negative impact on the L&D staff and learners. Said one L&D Administrator, "everyone stopped reading my emails, whether it had something to do with the LMS or not. They were basically saying, ‘We don’t have time to read all these emails to keep up with you.'"
With frustrations on both sides of the process and serious compliance issues becoming evident, NRHL L&D needed to improve the learning experience and eliminate the laborious administrative minutia. Learners should be accountable for - and able to - manage their own training. The goal quickly became clear: find a simple, easy to use solution that would lay the foundation of the new learning culture that both L&D staff and learners desperately needed.
The Solution
Thanks to three key PlatCore features, centralized training, the addition of learning plans and native reporting, HauteLook has seen an incredible improvement in efficiency, reducing the manual setup time per training by 86%. The L&D team is no longer mired in administrative tasks, learners manage their own training, required training is set to automatically recur, and automated dashboards and notifications keep both employees and managers informed and accountable.
1. Centralized Training
Using the PlatCore LMS, a native ServiceNow application, HauteLook centralized and consolidated its training onto ServiceNow. Built on the Now Platform, PlatCore provided; security, single sign-on, infinite scalability, native access to data/Knowledge Base content/roles/permissions/notifications, and more. NRHL seamlessly integrated all their learning content, from self-developed courses, to SCORM content, to 3rd party content provider integrations.
"As a company that already uses ServiceNow, this was a great platform to launch our new learning center. Leadership needed reporting that was configurable and familiar. PlatCore's interface is easy and personalized. We were able to build a very comprehensive learning center that allowed us to provide learning paths to enhance job performance and give direction." - Julie Jones, Nordstromrack.com|HauteLook
2. Learning Plans
Another key feature that NRHL uses is called Learning Plans (a curated series of courses), which deliver employee development plans for career advancement. Learning Plans provide the flexibility to combine various courses into a single career enhancement solution. For example, a series of leadership and management courses could be added to the management track for any individual, regardless of department. Learning Plans also allow them to create a single onboarding training plan to significantly improve the new employee experience.
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3. Native Reporting
These automated processes allow NRHL to shift their focus from managing details to planning and delivering world-class training content. Some of the questions they wanted to answer were;
- Where are employees missing a skillset?
- What training can help prepare staff for career advancement?
- What content is popular and/or assisting the daily needs of employees?
Using ServiceNow's robust reporting capabilities, the L&D team can now answer these questions, enabling them to better support employee training needs. ServiceNow's powerful reporting engine provided detailed LMS reporting in a familiar format, with native reports and dashboards providing real-time visibility into usage, assignments, due dates, completions and testing results.
Now, with more bandwidth, the L&D team focuses on continuous training improvement and have gained tighter control of the training budget. They can closely manage spending on expensive course content and licenses, which means they ensure every training dollar spent has the largest impact on learners, and the company.
Conclusion
While building a new culture of learning is a long process, they are excited about the foundation they have created with PlatCore.
"PlatCore is built with people in mind. Creating a culture of learning is no easy task, and people need 'easy-to-use' and 'simple-to-see-results' technology... I have truly enjoyed working with the PlatCore team and they are always happy to help and work with us on our ever-changing needs. I strongly recommend PlatCore and hope to continue working with them for many years to come." - Julie Jones, Nordstromrack.com|HauteLook
PlatCore is honored to provide the platform that helped HauteLook pave the way for their new learning culture. Ultimately, as this cultural shift helps employees grow, it enables the growth of the company, and that's always in fashion.
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